Tian Tian Huo Guo (opp Bugis) - Happy Pay Steamboat and Chef

The English name of this shop is weird - Happy Pay Steamboat and Chef?? I don't know the exact address of this place, but it's at the far end of Liang Seah Street moving away from Bugis Junction. I guess since the Marina South area closed down, everyone has now come to this place for there steamboat gathering. Along this stretch of read there seems to be an abundance of steamboat restaurants and most of them are outdoor seating with a very small amount of tables available for indoor seating. I don't quite understand why Singaporeans love steamboats so much especially because the weather is so hot and you end up bathed in sweat as you sit outside cooking your food in the steamboat. I must admit tho, I do like the cooking your own food bit, just like those table barbecues, but my preference would be to do it in an aircon restaurant. But since space is rather scarce in Singapore I can understand why most of the steamboat tables at these restaurants have spilled over onto the sidewalks.

I know can't see very well, but this pic is of another steamboat restaurant opposite ours. Looks nicer and bigger.

I had wanted to try this place for a long time and was happy when a friend suggested we have our gathering there. I think here you can choose to have table bbq and steamboat or just steamboat. Table bbq and steamboat combo is inside, whilst just steamboat tables are outside. The food for the bbq looked good tho, too bad we didn't get to try. I'm not sure if it's the same price if you do the bbq+steamboat combo.

Our group had chosen just steamboat, since there was 7 of us we had 2 separate steamboats, each pot containing two different type of soups. We had tom yam, herbal chicken and mala. The soups were all very good and tasted very rich after cooking all the stuff in them. But of course I'm pretty sure the soup was very MSG laden because we were really really thirsty during and after dinner. Suppose it doesn't help that the various fish and meatballs available for cooking also contain MSG, so basically you're getting a double dose of MSG for dinner.

The ingredients to put inside the steamboats were quite fresh, namely the clams, prawns, crab were very fresh - no fishiness. The chunks of fish were frozen type, but still tasted good. The thinly shave meats were also good, not very very tender, but good enough if you have teeth :p There were also several types of sauces available, as well as minced garlic, spring onions, pickled green chillies, etc.

Apart frm the soup being MSG laden, I have a few other gripes about the place. First, they were a little slow to refill the ingredients that had run out. The prawns and crabs were pretty much empty most of the time as people rushed to get them as soon as they came out and piled them mountain high on their plates. The meats were also half empty most of the time too, made me wonder if they were unprepared in the kitchen or was left like that on purpose so that you'd just fill up on the fish/meatballs, veges and noodles. Secondly I was surprised that even room temperature water (most likely tap water) was charged at $1 a cup! That's ridiculous even if you do get a free jug of lime juice for the table (not sure if this applies to min. number of diners at the table). Thirdly, empty plates were hardly cleared for you, hubby even had to take them away himself so we could have more room.

I was a little disappointed at the place as I had high hopes for it from the ads u see on tv, but I guess it goes to show not to trust tv ads. I wouldn't mind trying the other ones down the street tho, heard that they had free refills for drinks...hahaha. Miss the ones at Marina South, at least those were cheap (around $13) and filling and they also had cooked food like fried noodles, fried rice and sometimes chilli crab and satay. For $18+ here, it wasn't really worth it. (note: it's $14+ if u pay before 5pm and think weekdays are probably cheaper too).

(right)Liang Seah Street looking towards Bugis Junction