Dinner at Hai Di Lao Hotpot 海底捞火锅, Clarke Quay

Another birthday celebration with evil sista. This time, the birthday girl wanted to have steamboat. So here we are at the hugely popular upmarket steamboat restaurant chain from China. We visited the original branch at Clarke Quay.

Take lift here to level 2

This restaurant is well known for its extra services provided on top of premium quality food. Free snacks & drinks, manicure, magazines, kids playroom etc. to ease the waiting time blues as queuing time can be long during peak periods.

Waiting area

Fruits, drinks & dessert

Popcorn dispenser

Manicure service

Kids corner

We had a reservation, so we didn't get to experience those extra services and was ushered swiftly to our table inside.

Reservations list

The restaurant is quite dimly lit inside. Tables are generally smallish in size and not really catered for large group dining. Our party of 8 adults and 3 kids have to squeeze at one of these square tables. The space around the hotpot on the table is so limited that most of our food were not placed on the table but on a trolley at the side. Good thing is that the serving staffs were all quick to serve us whatever we wanted to cook. They even peeled the prawns and de-shelled cockles when we're ready to cook them.

Mala & Chicken soup $22++

The restaurant provided a wide range of condiments and sauces to go with the food. Free flow starters, fruits and dessert are also offered at $4++ per pax. And free flow beverage (Liang teh, Sour plum juice & water) at $3++ per pax.

Fruits & sauces

Soya pudding

Despite having a small table, we still ordered over 20 servings of fresh ingredient to be cooked in the hotpot. A glimpse of what we had for dinner...

Pork belly slices $16++

Pork belly slices

Beef slices $18++

Fresh prawns $10++

Luncheon meat $8++

Tender chicken $12++

Crispy fish skin $8++

Crab sticks $8++

Pork, Prawn & Sotong pastes $22++

Enoki mushroom $7++, beancurd skin $6++ & quail eggs $6++

Sweet corn $6++

Cabbages $4++ & Tanghoon $6++

Fresh cockles $8++

We also had 3 portions of the Kungfu noodles 功夫面 $4++ where the staff would perform the pulling of flour dough into noodles by the table side. Photo taking time!

The end product was super springy noodles that was a delight to eat...slurp!

Kungfu handmade noodles $4++

At the end of the meal, we tried the fruits and soya pudding which were very delish. The serving staffs also presented a complimentary fruit platter for the birthday girl.

Hai Di Lao definitely provided great services inline with their reputation. Serving staffs were always prompt and attentive to our needs, soup and drinks were constantly refilled, different size plastic bags to protect the mobile phones, aprons for diners, bag covers and hot towels whenever they saw a need to use them. They are always checking with us if we needed anything. Food wise, ingredients are undeniably fresh and of good quality with a huge variety to boot. Coupled with the unparalleled services (for steamboat restaurants), it was really worth the extra dollars paid.


Hai Di Lao Hotpot 海底捞火锅
3D River Valley Road #02-04 S179023
Tel: 6337 8626

Mon to Sun: 1030h - 0300h

Birthday Cake from L'Atelier TiramiSu

Mini Doraemon Cakes from Taiwan

Lunch at The King Louis Grill & Bar

We had a birthday celebration with our evil sista at this medieval themed restaurant. This place is located at level 3 of Vivocity (opposite Daiso). It has both indoor and outdoor entrance, the outdoor facade is much grander with two armored knights guarding the 'castle' doors.

The diner was dressed in Halloween theme during the month of October. The interior of the restaurant is furnished with custom made tables, chairs and benches, and more armored knights with swords and shields. The restaurant also boast a scenic harbor view for diners sitting by the full length glass windows.

Simple table settings and the menu.

Some of us ordered drinks first while we take our time to explore the extensive menu. Most of us had the Bottomless drink $7++ (free flow Coke, Sprite, Fanta grape, Root beer & Ice lemon tea).

Bottomless Fanta grape $7++ & Tropic zest $7++

Apple juice $5++

We ordered a few sharing platters of Starters Combo sets and one main course each. The food serving were rather huge, we indeed feasted like Kings and Queens for this birthday lunch!

Platter C $24.90++

 

Platter A $21.90++

Platter D $26.90++

Caesar salad $13.50++

The starters were good, I especially liked the Banana bacon bites and the Prawn twisters. The Mussels and Scallops in Platter D were also super fresh. I didn't touch the Caesar salad though as it was covered with loads of cheese.

For main course, I had the Pan Fried fillet of Snapper $23.90++. The chunky snapper fillet was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, very tasty! The roasted potatoes were a nice change from the fried version on the other dishes.

Other main courses ordered were Beer Battered Fish & Chips $21.90++, Roast beef & BBQ ribs $35.90++, Dragon tail Aglio Olio $19.90++ and Seafood Marinara $25.90++.

All the main courses were huge, even the caesar salad was served in a gigantic bowl. Some of us didn't managed to wolf down everything on the plates. Food was generally yummy, ingredients were fresh and well prepared. I find the menu a little too meaty with very few selection of non meat dishes. Service was good as the diner was quite empty during lunch hours. Overall, it was a nice dining experience.


The King Louis Grill & Bar
VivoCity, 1 Harbourfront Walk #03-07A S098585
Tel: 6276 0862
Hours: Daily 1200h - 2200h