Guo Fu Vegetarian Restaurant @ China Square
The best part about Chinese steamboat is that the flavors are very clean. (If you're in the mood for a light salad, consider trying a Chinese hot pot for a change.) Obviously, everything is boiled or parboiled in a clear broth so the natural flavors of the items are left entirely intact from start to finish. This form of cooking truly allows you to really appreciate the freshness and purity of the ingredients themselves. This also means that poor quality ingredients have nothing to hide behind--unlike Chinese takeout, food items used in hot pots have no cornstarchy sauces or oily film to mask their nakedness. So, if you want to have a decent hot pot, you had better invest the time and money into finding high quality ingredients (unless of course you don't mind the acrid taste of freezer burn in your food).
Guo Fu Vegetarian Restaurant offers a wonderful ala-carte style steamboat buffet for lunch, which I happened across during one of my many lunch breaks. (Word to the wise: hot pots require time so, if you really want to savor the experience, you are probably better off waiting until you have a bit more time to spare.) Once you're seated, the waitresses will ask you to select from among their many varieties of broth (for those with a penchant for heat, they offer a few spicier broths). I opted for the herbal broth--strangely enough, there was nothing herbal about it (at least as far as I could tell).
While waiting for your pot to heat up over the stove, you order from an assortment of items which the waitresses will bring out for you in individual servings. I was a big fan of the ala-carte style buffet - I was especially grateful to avoid the messiness of buffets where you literally pile your plate up with raw food items and carry it back to your table (Imagine having a plateful of raw veggies mixed in with raw seafood and slices of raw beef/chicken....). Some of the more interesting items on the menu include: abalone/shimeji/enoki mushrooms, fish head, squid, yam noodles, black fungus, taro, and beancurd strips. And, of course, the popular favorites: fish balls, soft tofu, shrimp, and Chinese broccoli. You just CAN'T go wrong with fish balls and a Chinese hot pot (as evidenced by the fact I ordered five servings of fish balls). To be fair, the waitresses kept forgetting whether or not they had already given me my order of fish balls, so invariably they kept giving me extra orders just in case (suffice to say, I did not resist).
Every buffet also comes with a complimentary order of Shanghai-style dumplings (xiao long bao), pumpkin fritters, dessert soup (pumpkin, again), and fresh fruits. The xiao long bao were heavenly: one bite out of these juicy dumplings just to let the liquid encased in the center seep out, mix in a little vinegar and ginger, then slip the little treasure into your mouth and savor the savory aroma of pork meat and sweet broth. The pumpkin fritters were a pleasant surprise - crispy exterior like a croquette, but the interior was delightfully chewy and fragrant. Like pumpkin butter mochi....only better!
Yes, at $16 SGD the buffet is relatively pricey. But, you honestly won't regret it! If you have the time, this buffet is a wonderful indulgence. The ingredients are so fresh and the little bonuses only help to sweeten the package.
Guo Fu Vegetarian Restaurant - China Square Central #01-23/24 - Chinese Court Singapore 048422 / Tel: 6557 0906
