Ms Skinnyfat

My concept of steamboat/hotpot has evolved over the years. It used to be the cheapo $10 eat-all-you-can buffet in the sweltering heat at Marina Bay (what to do, i was a poor student). I believe the potential of anyone getting salmonella from all that exposed food was pretty high.

These days, i prefer a cleaner and more refined steamboat dining. Imperial Treasures rank high up there for ambience; Jpot is still my all time favorite (read why here) and recently i checked out Peach Garden Restaurant's steamboat offering at their latest outlet at The Metropolis Buona Vista (just above the BV MRT circle line exit).

We couldn't resist ordering some of Peach's signatures and we were not disappointed. The Roasted Pork Belly (8 cubes, $10) had the right amount of fat to meat and that crackling was extremely addictive.

The Roasted Peking Duck ($30/$55) should not be missed. We had half a duck to share and it was done 2 ways. I liked the lightly seared egg crepe which was used instead of the usual steam rice roll/paper. It lent some additional flavors and texture to the otherwise bland roll. Love this one.

The rest of the duck was chopped up and stir-fried with crunchy and refreshing chunks of water chestnut and mushrooms. Have this on the keropok or wrap it with fresh lettuce and pop it in. I've never had this style before but it's certainly my favorite option now!

The Fried XO Carrot Cake ($9) was just so so though. 

Ok finally moving on to the steamboat! Sorry for the digression. There are set menus catering to groups of different sizes. Or you could also go with the a la carte menu. 

We decided to do the mixed pot so that we could try 2 soups. American Sliced Beef, Live Prawns and Pork Neck Meat

Beef Balls, 

The Tomato Pork Bone broth was really good. It's a delicious savory broth flavored with the sweetness of the tomato and hence it was also tangy. I liked that it had just that little bit of spice. The Superior broth was more bland and milky but still delicious. The flavors are more well balanced towards the end after cooking all the meats.

The prawn items were good too. We had the freshly made prawn paste which was squeezed into the boiling soup. The fresh prawn dumplings were fat and succulent too. Peach Garden's live prawns were also sweet and juicy. 

Meat wise, I enjoyed the American Sliced Beef the most. Marbling could be better but this was decent enough. The beef balls had a powdery texture inside and was missing the meaty texture. 

Along with the vegetables, we had the deep fried gluten puffs. I was actually looking for the fried beancurd skin (腐皮卷) but they didn't have that. These were a favorite with my group though. Eat it simply or give it a quick soak in the pot before biting into it.

For desserts, we had the Mango Sago Pomelo with some special jelly. I loved the rich mango cream which wasn't too sweet. The osmanthus jelly was rather plain in my opinion.