If you can beautify yourself from within by drinking collagen soup, then why not? A bowl of warm collagen soup warms the soul and nourishes your body. Who wouldn’t want it? No wonder restaurants like Beauty in The Pot which serve collagen soup are pretty popular in Singapore.
Besides, I dare say that Singaporeans love eating hot pot. I am not sure if it is just a Chinese thing where we like to gather around a big pot of soup and dip our favourite meat and vegetables into it. But I do know that such communal dining affairs, over comfort food, are indeed heartwarming.
Beauty in The Pot
I’ve tried collagen hot pot before in Singapore but I’ve not tried Beauty in The Pot. My friends who are fans of eating hot pot often quipped about their favourite go-to hot pot restaurant – Beauty in The Pot. With that in mind, I knew I had to make a trip there one day and so here I was – having a hot pot lunch at Beauty in The Pot (Star Vista outlet) to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
In addition, Beauty in the Pot is also one of the restaurants under Paradise Group, an established Singapore-based restaurant group. LeNu, Le Shrimp Ramen and Canton Paradise are all under its restaurant arm.
The Post-Circuit Breaker Hot Pot Experience
Before heading into the restaurant, we were told to log into SafeEntry and then sanitise our hands. They even provided a small ziploc bag for us to keep our mask during eating.
Since we booked a table, we were able to get in quickly and grab a seat. The restaurant was pretty full at around lunch time.
Since COVID-19, safety measures were put in place and we were specifically told not to take off our masks unless we started to eat. They even provided extra anti-bacterial serviettes so that we can clean our utensils before using them.
Each table has a mini drawer packed with tissue paper and some toothpicks. Whatever we need is all at hand.
What we ordered?
We ordered from their restaurant’s iPad. My friend has been here many times so I let her decide what to order while I just eat whatever is laid in front of me. It turns out that she ordered some of the popular hot pot items which are also recommended by other food bloggers.
Twin pot: Beauty Collagen Soup ($15.50) + Spicy Nourishing Broth ($12.50)
She ordered the classic Beauty Collagen Soup, made from Shark collagen. If I knew it was shark collagen back then, I would not have even dined at this restaurant. Sorry, I am against eating sharks. Besides I find that chicken collagen soup tasted way better than shark collagen soup.
My friend ordered a hot pot duo so that we can enjoy their signature collagen soup and spicy nourishing broth which tastes like Mala soup.
In my personal opinion, I prefer the collagen soup at Tsukada Nojo Bijin Nabe restaurant. The collagen soup served here tasted quite blend and diluted. The spicy nourishing broth tasted pretty average to me. Hai Di Lao’s spicy Mala soup triumphs this spicy nourishing broth anytime.
So why people are still coming back to Beauty in The Pot for hot pot time and time again? That’s because their soup is refillable and their hot pot ingredients are pretty good. They place the glass jars filled with soup stock at the side of your table so that you can refill the pot with soup on your own.
Even though their soup tasted pretty mediocre, their side dishes like fried beancurd skin and assorted balls are relatively quite tasty.
Meat: Nagano Belly 1/2 ($11.40), Pork Collar 1/2 ($7.00), Assorted Balls Platter ($13.80)
I’m not quite a fan of the sliced meat but they tasted pretty alright. What stood out for me are the assorted meat balls. A couple of the meat balls are stuffed with yummy cheese sauce.
Vegetables: Chinese Cabbage 1/2 ($3.90) + Lotus Root 1/2 ($3.40) + Potato slices 1/2 ($2.20)
To add some fibre to your meal, ordering some Chinese cabbage would be good. I did not really try the lotus root or potato because I was into the collagen soup, hoping that the collagen in the soup will help ‘beautify’ my skin.
Even though there isn’t much solid scientific evidence to prove that consuming collagen preserves one’s youth, I still eat them anyway. After all, they are just proteins which help in muscle building anyway.
Fried Beancurd Skin 1/2 ($5.40)
Their fried beancurd skin is a must-order dish here. You are supposed to dip the long beancurd skin roll into the soup for 3 seconds before you pop it into your mouth. It will taste soft on the outside and crunchy on the inside.
Ebiko Prawn Paste
The other dish I really enjoyed is the Ebiko Prawn Paste. It comes in a raw lump of paste where you have to use the wooden spoon to shape the paste into a ball and dunk it into the soup. You can also request for their staff to shape the paste into balls for you if you have no idea how to do so.
Maybe I should have taken a photo of the cooked prawn paste balls which are so bouncy and chewy in texture.
So, how much did we spend in total? It works out to be about $100 for 3 pax. I would say it is not so bad but we were feeling very full at the end of the meal. I can’t remember if they started charging for the condiments after Circuit Breaker but we did not order any sauce because we were too engrossed in drinking the soup.
Desserts
Beauty in The Pot serves complimentary yuzu ice as desserts. It’s a really nice tangy drink to have after chomping down on all the savoury dishes. It’s a very refreshing drink and you can ask for more. But that day we were told that we could only ask for a one-time refill. My friend told me that they allowed unlimited refills previously though.
Complimentary Birthday Cake
If you are organising a birthday meal for a friend, it is best to bring them to restaurants which provide a complimentary birthday cake for the birthday baby. Their staff will not only serve you a beautiful cake but also some photo props for you to take pictures. You can also make a request for them to sing the birthday baby a birthday song.
We had a rainbow birthday cake given to us that day. It’s a good old buttercream sponge cake which tasted quite pleasant.
My Verdict on Beauty in The Pot
Overall, the dining experience was pleasant. Their service was relatively quite good except for one instance when the staff kind of sulk at us because we asked her to take a photo of us. She seems rather irritated when we asked for another round of dessert refill as well. Beats me. Maybe she is just having a bad day.
Food was mediocre in my honest opinion. There’s only a couple of nice side dishes but other than that, it’s just a decent Chinese hotpot restaurant.
Would I head back there again? I doubt so.
