JPot

Bro raved about this place saying "Once you tasted JPot, you never want to eat steamboat anywhere".

Finally went there on Tuesday with bro, mum and grandma..

We had the Yin Yang soup base (bak kut teh and their superior broth). Bak Kut Teh was pretty good and they even had pork ribs in it. Superior broth was normal. Bro said that the Laksa broth is good but guess we'll leave it for another time.

Food portions quite average. Live prawns at $9.50 - quite costly but pretty worth it as it was very fresh. Basically food was quite fresh so was quite an enjoyable experience. oooh, did i mention that the fried yam was quite delicious? Careful not to cook it for too long cause it will disintegrate....

One downside was that their garlic chilli sauce was more sweet than spicy! Quite a disappointment there.

On the overall, nice place with nice ambience. For the whole month of July, there's a 20% lunch promo so quite worth it. Total damage came up to $75 for 4 pax which is quite reasonable. They also have a promo for people dining after 9.30pm as well although it'll be quite a rush since they close at 11.

Worth to try if you crave quality steamboat. Food is served upon order so definitely clean.

Chinese New Year is here as well as the season for festive mass meals like hot-pots and yusheng. But unlike in the recent past, families that traditionally dine at home have taken to restaurants for a fuss-free reunion dinner. We check out JPot at VivoCity as a choice for the yearly reunion dinner.

THE FOOD:

Each person has an individual stove of which they can choose from seven different types of soup bases: JPot Superior Broth, Bak Kut Teh, Herbal, Laksa, Silky Porridge, Tom Yum and Vegetarian.

The other soup bases were good but the Superior Soup Broth was especially outstanding. The Bak Kut Teh soup, on the other hand, was less than satisfying and way too peppery when boiled long enough. All soups can be re-filled as many times as you like.

There is a wide range of sauces and suggestions for mixing them. We liked all the suggestions for mixtures and particularly liked the sweet garlic chilli sauce just as it is. There is only one sauce bowl per person in the table setting but servers will promptly dish out more when requested.
Now, finally to the mains. What JPot offers other steamboat outlets probably do as well but what makes it stand out is the amount of thought put into preparing the food and its quality. We felt that steamboat has never been so meticulously prepared at JPot. The well-thought presentation of their raw food and the interactivity required really made steamboat more fun. For one, fish meat is presented in a tube form and diners are encouraged to go the do-it-yourself way. For the lazy, ask and the servers will do it for you.

Quality is a highlight at JPot. There is nowhere else in Singapore you can get high-quality meats for hot-pots, such as Sri Lankan crabs, Wagyu ribeye and Kurobuta pork and more. As promised (and probably guaranteed by the price you are paying), the scallops are fresh, succulent and sweet, as were the Red Garoupa fish fillet, and only king-sized prawns were served. Spinach Tofu was pretty bland but passable when dipped in their delicious sauces. Beef the way we liked it - very thinly sliced. And they weren't kidding when they said Live Sri Lankan Crab. The crab was so fresh that it was still moving when we put it into the soup despite it being already chopped up. However, the Sri Lankan part about the crab was downsized quite a bit. And as mentioned, this is one of the few places you can find quality Wagyu Ribeye and Kurobuta Pork for steamboat.

JPot also offer a limited Dim Sum selection, which includes Shrimp & Wood Fungus Dumplings, Fried Fish Skin and Fried Wanton among others.

The set lunch is a pretty good deal starting from $9.80. Ala carte ordering tends to add up to more than you expect to pay. Be prepared to pay almost twice you have to pay for the typical Bugis street style steamboat for the food quality and hygiene, air-conditioned location, and ambience. Otherwise, it may be better sticking to the cheaper alternative.

THE MOOD:

JPot offers a nice harbourfront view of Sentosa and the construction it is undergoing right now. I suggest you make reservations for the limited seats with a view though. Reservations could be made online at their website.

By its affiliation with Jumbo, it is no surprise the decor within is more classy than your typical road-side hot-pot restaurant. We liked the well-spaced out seating but are disheartened by the lack of communal dining tables - our group of six was assigned to two separate four-man tables. The food may be good albeit the steeper pricing, but if they run out of tables big enough to accommodate your family, it might be better staying home or dining elsewhere. After all, it is reunion dinner. Otherwise, JPot is a good choice for a hot-pot treat.

For photos, go to http://www.freshgrads.sg/index.php/articles/lifestyle/dine/665-jpot.html

Nice decor with far apart seating arrangement that suits a cosy gathering with friends except that this place is kinda noisy when its crowded.

Unique part of this place should be the DIY sauce from a buffet table of condiments complete with recipes for sauces - perfect for those who cant tell your dark vinegar from soy sauce.

Food wise, I would say the portion is sufficient for a medium eater (though those spoilt by buffet steamboats will complain that the servings are too little). A portion for dinner costs about $17.90++ (10% off with Citibank credit card)
Though the portion may not compare to a buffet, the ingredients are of reasonable grade like the marinated sukiyaki pork slices (though quite salty), prawns, sotong, mushrooms, fish, etc.

Soup base comes in a variety of flavours - one of the most I have come across so far in a buffet steamboat place - bak kut teh, their own in house special (too much MSG and not as good as herbal), herbal (nice), tom yam and the usual other suspects.

I would say that in a steamboat place, you can only rate the food in terms of the soup base and the freshness of the ingredients and this place do not excel when it comes to value for money, neither does it gives you the feeling of being fleeced. Bearing in mind that there are lots of buffet steamboat out there offering much more value for money, I guess Jpot is riding on its Jumbo brand to draw in the business but for how long, thats anybody's guess.

Service wise, I find the waiting staff rather efficient and prompt. Dont have much to complain about, except one of them seem to have a sour face.

I am not so much a steamboat person as I tend to get my tongue burnt whenever I have steamboat so I have very little other places to compare this with. But comparing this to another ala carte steamboat joint I went to, located at the basement food court of Roxy Square II, I think this one wins hands down. For better ambience, fresher ingredients, less pushy staff and at seemingly more value for money.

Speechless!

Try it on you own risk, esp those who order a-la-carte... Unless you have loads of $$$, i suggest u go for set menus...

We had been looking for the steamboat place that we had heard about that served individual hotpots with soup choices including the bak kut teh soup base. When we came across this place at Vivo, we were very excited and went in immediately.

As the set menu wasn't very attractive (we are greedy pigs, and it was too limited), we went a la carte. The little plates of food will add up (especially for greedy pigs).

The good thing about steamboat places is that the food gets served instantly. In this case, the food was served right after I had finished exploring the sauce bar. My only disappointment was that I was unable to mix up Japanese-style peanut dipping sauce from what was provided (as I don't know what goes into it) - there was some peanut paste thing that tasted like peanut butter. However, the freshly brewed signature sauce was enough to keep me happy.

I had the default soup (think it is chicken-flavoured) and my boyfriend had the bak kut teh. Both tasted great straight out of the kitchen, even before food had been cooked in the soup.

The little touches - such as the quail egg that decorated some of the food items, but was fun to cook and eat as well - were appreciated.

I don't remember anything particularly bad about the service, but nothing particularly great as well. Was in soup heaven anyways.

Whatever it is they put in the soup, it's making me want to return to eat there.

I was at JPot over weekend, the place was crowded. Mind you, if you didnt make a reservation, you have to sit & queue. 3 of us shared the 2pax set dinner, portions weren't really huge. It was more of 3 little mouse eaters here.
I like the idea of mixing your own sauce but you can do it at the Bugis steamboat buffet too. Quality of food is really much better, broth was pretty average, comparable to Bugis'. Service-wise was pretty average, the waitress didnt seemed to understand their menu very well.
I might be back 'cos there isn't really much variety at Vivo otherwise.

On 15 Oct (Thurs), my family and I went to Vivo City for dinner. It was my first time there.. my review -

1. Ambience is quite nice

2. The sauces are special. You can mix your own sauce and they even have displays on how to make j-pot special sauce on your own. So, you scoop 1 spoon of light soya sauce + a quarter spoon of sesame oil + half spoon of garlic ... (whatever the guide states)

3. The quality of food is good. It's not like most of the steamboat buffets we went to for which the mass items were not of good quality (usually)

4. Portions - We took a 2 person set meal. The portion is quite small and thus, it's not value-for-money (if you compare it with steamboat buffet, of course)

5. The silver pots (whatever you call it) that holds the broth seems somewhat low class. seems like what you can get at the coffee shop. They don't match the ambience.

6. Service is terrible - Not only did the waitress who served us had a grouchy face, she also made a number of mistakes which reflected poor customer service -
1. we ordered a spinach tofu, which she did not key in the order. So, we had to wait for sometime and to remind her subsequently
2. we ordered fried beanskin which she keyed in the order but did not bring it to us. she only made a check after we reminded her. She returned and made the excuse that the kitchen needs sometime to fry it. I doubt the kitchen wld have taken 20 mins to fry 6 pcs of fried beanskin. She didn't even apologise for the oversight
3. When we requested to top-up the laksa soup, she poured tom yam soup into the laksa pot! when I asked her why is the color so light, only then did she realised that she poured the wrong soup base! And she just stared blankly at me while I had to request for her to bring me a new pot of laksa soup.
4. she only served us ice water and brought soup bowls to us after 1-2 reminders. shouldn't this be provided right after the request?

What does the J in JPot stand for? Jumbo? (because of the restaurant's affiliation with Jumbo) Or perhaps Japan? (given the recent wave of interest in Japanese themed restaurants)

Being die hard steamboat fans always on the prowl for good deals, my kaki and I decided to give JPot's set lunch a shot. Set lunches (starting from 9.80+++) are a wallet friendly alternative to dinner as ala carte prices tend to be toppish.

The restaurant is tucked in a quiet corner of Vivocity. We literally skidded to our seats as the wooden floor was quite slippery. Other than that, the restaurant's interior is aesthethically pleasing with good ventilation and a picturesque view of Sentosa.

My kaki ordered Set A (9.80+++ comprising of marinated pork slices, 2 pork balls, a small basket of vegetables and mushroom and a bowl of rice). She chose a bak kut teh soup stock.

I opted for Set B (12.80+++ comprising of beef slices, 2 beef balls, a small basket of vegetables and mushrooms and a bowl of rice). My soup base comprised of a "superior broth" concocted by the restaurant.

Enticed by mouthwatering HGW reviews of the "popping" fish skin (3.80 a portion) and "DIY" fish noodles (3.50 a tube), we ordered a serving each to share.

I preferred the beef set to the pork set as the thinly sliced beef was a breeze to cook and boasted sufficient bite and flavor (as opposed to the marinated pork slices which was over-tenderized to the point that it didn't really taste like real meat anymore). The soup stocks initially came across as peppery and bland but gradually took on a lovely umami flavor after fully absorbing the meat and vegetable juices.

The sauces/condiments range is extensive and fun to experiment with. I sprinkled multiple portions of fried garlic bits on my rice while my kaki devised her own special peanut sesame sauce. We thoroughly enjoyed immersing the fish skin into the bubbling stock (the crackling sounds emitted from the popping skin are strangely therapeutic). The same cannot be said of the fish noodles, which sadly didn't taste as good as it looked. The stringy lumps of paste did not form a nice swirl and broke up into small unappetising pieces.

This was definitely a fun lunch date. However, there are many other steamboat restaurants offering better set lunches at an equivalent or even cheaper price (e.g. The Chinese Feasts @ Suntec and Bei Shan Chuan Spicy Steamboat on the 3rd floor of Vivocity)

Visit my blog for pictures =)
http://waragaw.blogspot.com/2009/10/fun-but-forgettable.html

Hygienic - as the steamboat soup is served individually. Each person / seat has individual induction stove embedded on the table for you to enjoy mini steamboat.

Fun – as you could order different kind of soup base and you could mix your own dipping sauce.

Good quality – do not compare to all you can eat steamboat. Try to order live prawns, any slice beef and pork then you could tell right away the quality that I’m talking about. The price that you need to pay for the quality is also very reasonable.

I came in a group of 4, so got a chance to try different soup base and enough varieties of dishes. My favorite so far:

1. Superior broth and porridge soup based.
Put your clams and prawn to the (no-rice) porridge soup, then all the freshness and sweetness of the seafood will come up.
Superior broth, taste like a normal soup base, but this one no MSG after taste.

2. Must try: deep-fried fish skin. Deep it to the soup for a while (2-3 seconds), you will hear the popping sounds, but when you put it into your mouth it is still crispy yet juicy!
From the same section, order the beancurd skin, this one you need to dip it really fast, one quick dip then you will enjoy the texture and juice from the soup.

3. The sliced beef – price closely related to quality, but don’t worry, even the cheapest one still taken care and sliced nicely, much better than a typical all you can eat steamboat.

4. Fish noddle – squeeze it yourself… how long can you go

5. Corn – a good example of a normal vegetable with an attention to quality. They used hokaido breed corn, or some people call it pearl corn, which is very sweet and more difficult to find than normal corn.

Cannot list all items, obviously the above items are really unique or left a deep impression even after I went back home to write this review.

By the way, aside from the individual serving of soup base, I saw three big tables for a group of 10-12 people, or few round tables for 4 pax. In this table, they used the typical bigger pot with 2 containers for 2 soup flavors.

Will come back again for lunch, as the set lunch is very attractive and again with their table setting we now could enjoy steamboat individually :) Although sharing is still better.

i used to dislike steamboat because i will end up feeling very thirsty, overeating and having sore throat the next morning because of the high contents of MSG in the soup base. And the quality of the food served in steamboat restaurants are usually the normal fish balls, crab meat stick, etc... those that i will add on to my maggie mee haha.

But after reading the good review on soshiok.com about the superior broth & of cos their premium meats selection @ JPOT i decided to give it a try!

yummy things we ordered:

(1)Soup base:
JPOT superior broth - i had this, it was clear and good, the typical steamboat soup base taste (minus the msg)

Bak Kut Teh - i find it a little too peppery, go for the real bak kut teh at your friendly neighbourhood instead.

Herbal - my friend had this, i thought it was good!

(2)Our dips:
Wagyu Beef slices - great marbled looking beef, my fav! Value for money, it most probably be much more expensive in Japanese restaurant!

Kurobuta pork slices - fav & good too! and value for money!

Handmade fish balls - fresh and good, no fishy smelly.

Handmade prawn balls - i think it taste almost the same as the fish balls, skip this.

Red garoupa fish fillet - few thin slices, not too sure if worth the $$, but still sweet and fresh, i like this.

Prawns - about 7 or 8 fresh and big prawns for $8. value for money!

Scallops - sweet & fresh!

Pork Liver - very fresh!

Vegetables & mushrooms - typical selection of fresh veges, shitake mushrooms, fried egg tofu

Condiments - great selection of dips, fried garlic, spring onions, but most of the time not required because the food were so fresh!

Serving size - about 3 to 4 pax, if you want variety and not over-eating.

Overall presentation of the food was good, clean and of cos VERY FRESH! The restaurant interior deco, tablewares, makes you feel a little atas dining in there. The service staff was ok, but will be better if they smile more. They do top up the broth for individual hotpot. Price was reasonable, the total bill came up to $84 for 3 of us. Reservation is recommended because we waited for 45mins w/o doing so!