I’m not usually a fan of steamboats - I just don’t believe in cooking for myself while paying restaurant level prices (especially since I’m a terrible cook who can foul up even chicken wings at a barbeque!). Still, my friends and I are always on a lookout for good bargains and, as they’re all steamboat fans, I usually end up tagging along (although as long as it also has some cooked food I’m fine).
We stumbled across Mushroom Pot, a mushroom-based steamboat buffet restaurant, while at Singapore Indoor Stadium and, despite my usual reticence towards steamboats, I was pleasantly surprised by the offering. While the actual steamboat is just decent, there’s just a whole plethora of reasons that make it a great dining experience.
The buffet has a pretty impressive list of ingredients, most of which were really fresh. I loved the corn, which was super sweet and really tasty (in fact, I had three servings all to myself!). The meats were also pretty high quality and chewy, although the marinated beef was a tad too salty for me. Similarly, the soup base (we went for the non-spicy chicken broth) was slightly too salty but still had a pretty delicious, lingering taste.
Alas, the main stars of the menu for which the restaurant is named for were disappointed. We were given an entire plate of different types of mushrooms to add into the pot but they all tasted the same and we couldn’t tell them apart.
While the steamboat was just decent, though, what I liked were the cooked dishes they served. The fried rice was fragrant and one dish you have to try if you head down is the monkey head mushroom with house sauce. The dish was crunchy and tasty and totally addictive.
The decor and ambience of the restaurant were nice and comfortable and the service was superb. Not only were the staff friendly and attentive, they even taught us how to cook certain dishes and offered to give us a hand.
Plus, since we were all students, we had our filling share of ingredients at just $19.90++, which is the student price daily.
While the steamboat part (which, admittedly, is its main aspect) was just okay, the great cooked dishes, the friendly service and the affordable price made it an appetizing bang for the buck.
