Our Review On Upin Hot Pot (The Central, Clark Quay)
The place was fairly crowded and luckily, they had a table for two with a nice view across the Boat Quay area.
We managed to take photo of the Interiors after some of the customers left and the staffs were quick to clear up the tables. Also surprisingly, there was a small room at the corner where there were customers actually singing karaoke inside.
The Run-through, Menu And What Ordered
— The Run-through
After we had settled down, one of the staffs asked if this was our first visit and we said yes, and he gave us a quick run-through – one or two soup bases to start with and their popular base is the Tomato Soup (some posters on the wall that explains the ‘whys’ in Chinese), ingredients can be ordered via the iPad, can join their free membership by scanning the QR Code on the table (and get a complimentary serving of Taro Stuffed Sweet Potato Balls) and get free flow drinks if you do any personal review on your Upin Hot Pot experience in any of your Social Media Profiles.
— The Menu
For this Upin Hot Pot Clark Quay Outlet, they do not have the Buffet Option and it’s only available at their Orchard Gateway Outlet.
In their iPad, they have many food categories to choose from – Single or Double Flavour Hot Pot, Signature Dishes, Handmade Balls, Seafood, Beef / Mutton / Pork, Meat, Mushroom, Soy Products & Others, Vegetables and Snacks.
— What We Ordered
We ordered their Double Flavour Hot Pot (Tomato Soup and Herbal Pork Bone – $17.00), Beef Tendons ($14.00), Beef Slices ($12.00), Pork Belly ($10.00), Enoki Mushrooms ($5.00), Cellophane Noodles (Glass Noodles – $4.00), Crown Daisy ($6.00), Potato Slices ($5.00), Lotus Root Slices ($5.00), Free Flow Beverages ($3.00 per person) and Free Flow Seasoning ($3.00 per person).
The Taste
— Seasoning
Before the soups were served, we were told to help ourselves to the Seasoning Section (since we had paid for it). The seasoning selections over at Upin Hot Pot were quite a lot and there were interesting sauces like Mushroom Sauce, Featured Chilli Sauce, Sichuan Fragrant Sauce, Spicy Shrimp Sauce, Roasted Soy Beans. There were also cooked items like Peanuts with Chilli, Kimchi and Radish.
Those sauces like Mushroom Sauce were worth a try as they were like mushroom diced into very tiny pieces so combining them with other sauces gave that extra chewy texture. Kimchi, Peanuts and Radish were also good, quite addictive and a good start to whelp up our appetite before the Hot Pot. For $3 per person, we thought it was a good value.
— Beverages
For their Beverages, they had options like home-made Barley and Chestnut and we went with Barley. The service from the staffs was good as they kept refilling our cups without having us to call out for them. Barley taste was just nice, not too sweet and tasted home-made.
We believed that the $3 per person also included option for their Mingo Ice Cream and there were flavours like Vanilla, Lime, Chocolate and Lychee. We tried the Chocolate Flavour and it was really frozen hard on first bite. The taste was quite chocolatey.
As mentioned earlier, Upin Hot Pin had a promotion where we just had to share a review on our Social Media Profile and we could get one of our Free Flow Beverages Fees waived. The caveat here was that since we were two paying customers, we had to do two reviews to get both waived. We only knew about this when we were paying.
— Hot Pot Soup Bases
The soups were served shortly after sending the orders via the iPad. Tomato Soup was quite thick with chunks of tiny tomato bits and the first taste of it was a nicely controlled tomato soup taste, not too thick and warmed the body.
The Herbal Pork Bone Soup came with a creamy texture and in it was big piece of pig bone, dates, goji berries, mushrooms and cucumbers. The pork taste was quite significant and seemed like this soup had been cooked with the ingredients and pork bone for very long. The soup taste also got better after cooking with the ingredients we ordered.
The staffs were also very helpful and they helped to scoop the layer of foam/oil from the soups as well as helping to control the electric stove while we ate.
— Free Membership & Taro Stuffed Sweet Potato Balls
Another promotion from Upin Hot Pot was to join their Free Membership (can scan their QR Code from the Small Display on the Table) which we needed to provide personal details like Email/Mobile Number, Name and Birthday. In return, we got this basket of Taro Stuffed Sweet Potato Balls which we found to be quite nice – bit of crispy on the outside, lots of taro and sweet potatoes within and not too oily.
We had to present a bar code for the Cashier to scan during payment in order to recognize that we had signed up else the Taro Balls would be charged. Anyway, we did earn points with the scanning.
— The Ingredients
For the Beef Slices and Pork Belly, they came in around 20 pieces each and were cut n long thin strips. They cooked well in under 30 seconds with the soups and most slices had a bit of fats in it. They tasted good on their own or with our sauces.
The Beef Tendons were thick, chewy and most pieces got lost in the soup bases. Potato Slices were nicely cut and we had a hard time finishing them up. Lotus Roots had a slight sweet crunchy taste. Glass Noodles may look small in servings but turned out to be a lot after trying to cook them.
Not in the pictures were the Crown Daisy Vegetables and the Inoki Mushrooms – they were in a trolley next to the table. Inoki Mushrooms were normal. For the Crown Daisy, they were not something common to us and they had a bit of minty-kind of leafy taste.
Payment
Payment was made at the front counter and the total bill came around to $104.31 after adding in the 10% Service Charge and 9% GST. The staff also did verifications on our Social Media Review and our Membership.
Payment was then made with our ShopBack App + Amaze Card + Citi Reward Card. Cashback amount was around $5.22 which we can earn on our next visit.
How To Get To Upin Hot Pot?
Address: 6 Eu Tong Sen St, #03-87, Singapore 059817 (Google Maps)
Opening Hours: Daily from 11am – 12am
Other Outlets:
Other Details:
- Online Order
- Reservation Hotline: 6221 5550 (Clarke Quay Outlet) / 6288 5550 (Orchard Gateway Outlet)