Chin Huat Live Seafood (Thomson)

I love steamboat. So when a new, huge enticing spot pops up it's quite likely that I'd go to check it out. So J & I went to have a look-see, not really expecting what greeted us.

Chin Huat impresses by sheer variety. You walk in, & you see this dessert station that is a first in all the steamboat places I've been to. A couple of places usually have mango pudding, or herbal jelly, but here, you see this station that makes you go woah, at first glance. Because you can see chocolatey, cakey things, & crispy crackers etc laid in a tasteful fashion. If I remember correctly, there are even red pretty flower petals strewn around quite fetchingly. That won me over by 30%.

A quick look at the range of food items & their concept of being a Seafood Steamboat made up for the 60-70% & both of us were rather eager to seat ourselves to start our little boat.

They have a great range available, & the items are cleverly displayed to whet your appetite. Unlike most steamboat outlets that tend to have their food items in plastic or metal containers, Chin Huat kind of have their stuff labelled in a pseudo-Marche (or Village, whichever pleases) format-squiggly pretty font & all, then very pleasingly spread quite literally before you.

So we sat down, & had our meal. Almost immediately though, I started to perspire. We sat indoors, so it was supposed to be cool. So I'm thinking it was the way the steamboat was set up, in that the flame was too exposed. This discomfort, regretfully, continued & intensified throughout the course of the meal so you know how my experience went. (Being comfortable during my meal is one of my primary concerns !)

In case people go, perspire only ! What about the food ? Okay, there is a BBQ & Teriyaki station where the cooks will help you with your order. I picked Sambal Stingray, Fish fillet, & J had beef & chicken. I wonder if it was because our order was mixed up with someone else's but all the meats tasted the same. Similar flavour & marination. So, that didn't work well for me. The stingray was too tough & some parts were sadly cold.

The steamboat soup base was not flavourful & even with the items cooking, the taste just didn't come through. It was really average. J said that among all the steamboat places he has tried, what's strange about Chin Huat is that the sausage (what he usually likes to dunk into the boiling soup) is very lacking in taste. Now ain't that weird, sausages are like sodium capsules !

Surpise surprise, we did not have dessert at all ! Remember what I said about the dessert station ? Yup, it impressed me at first glance. So after our meal when we went over to check out the desserts, we were disappointed to see browned fruits, uncrisp crackers, & (on closer look) unappetizing chocolate creamy things. Some spots were also unreplenished so the supposed dessert station was actually not a real add-on after all. If there is one thing you should do before dining there, if you decide to, is to seriously take a good look at the items & whether you're happy with them before jumping into the meal upon seeing the colourful variety & pretty display.

Also, the staff are rather slow at plates collecting; I took a look around & almost all the tables were cluttered with empty plates. The service could do with some snapping up & promptness I felt. I mean, in a steamboat place, where it is mostly self-service, this aspect becomes what you can gauge staff service by, doesn't it ? Hmmm.

100g of prawn is allowed per pax so I guess that is quite a draw, along with Chin Huat's range of seafood & other food items. At $18.90++ per person, you might just be getting quite your worth if you are a meat/seafood person. However, for less, I know where I will go for a more enjoyable time & steamboat ! (:

P.S. For me, service, soup base & ambience is important during a steamboat session, so this didn't quite work for me, but if you don't care much for the three, then Chin Huat might be your pot of steamboat :D

P.P.S. OH Shh but .. secretly bring a bottle of mineral water to drink in there because iced drinks are sort of pricey at $2.00 for an average-sized glass. You know how fast you down them during a steamboat !!

Oh man, i've never tried a buffet like this. I kind of miss the predecessor $12 buffet they had in marina. That was cheap and the variety was so much better than what they had now!

My parents initially wanted to sit indoors. But when we stepped in, oh man it smells like the WET MARKET. It's supposedly air-conditioned....supposedly. So we decided to sit outside.

I don't feel like commenting on the food, just some normal steamboat fare with very few choices for a $20 buffet. The only thing i ate more than once was the eclairs. That's nice, the ONLY nice thing I found there. Oh and talk about the speed they replenished the food. By 5pm, some cooked stuff and dessert already ran out! I didn't get to see much of those even later on.

I do not understand why there's still a queue outside with food like that. Would rather pay slightly more for a nicer buffet like sakura (much better variety and ambiance). DEFINITELY won't be back again!

I visited the outlet in Novena at 5.10pm today (19 November 2008), I have a very unpleasant dinner with my wife and my 2 year old daughter and I have also submitted a feedback form to their Novena outlet staff but I wonder they will pass it to the boss.

a) Firstly, my daughter is only 2 year old, when I visited the outlet, I was told to pay $10 for child who is 2 years old and above. Come on, how much can a 2 year old child eat? The most she ate was a small bowl of rice, some soup with some vegetables and that’s it. I don;t think it cost more than $1 even! This is the first time I came across a restaurant charging from 2 years old onwards!

I told the staff that I am not going to eat there and while I was leaving, then he said he will waive the $10 for the kid!

b) After paying, I was given a receipt to collect live prawns and crabs from the opposite counter. I walked over, the staff (a china man) was there chatting on his mobile phone in Mandarin and I could tell it is a personal call. So I told a passing by lady waitress that I want to take some prawns, she shouted to that guy to attend to me but that guy just smile and he continued to talk on the phone. I was standing there for 5 minutes before he finally hung up the phone and unwillingly passed me the prawns and crabs.

c) All the utensils (Plates, bowls, chopsticks etc ) are very dirty. Many of the customers including me were choosing the plates for taking of food. The hygiene level is very very poor and Ministry of Environment should really take action and close the restaurant for 2 weeks at least to punish the operator.

d) All the staffs were not friendly at all. I told one of the staff that the plates were very dirty and she just starred at me as if I am talking to the air. I went to the cashier asking her is the boss around, she rudely said “NO”.

e) I waited for 25 minutes for the BBQ chicken but to no avail. I walked to the BBQ counter, they were talking all the way and my plate were still at their table, so I told him I do not want it anymore and I left the restaurant.

Frankly speaking, last time when the late boss was around, I patronized the Marina outlet twice but situations were good but now, it is terrible. Even it is a FREE dinner for me, I will definitely turn down as well.

I paid a total of $37.80 and I stayed there for less than 35 minutes and we left. We didn’t eat much and even passed the crab to the next table as it really spoilt our evening.

Things got to be changed, if not Chin Huat Seafood’s reputation will be gone forever.

Thanks

Ed