So, I don't know if you've heard, but apparently there's a beauty hotpot that's all the rage in SG. When I googled it, it was as though it's a pot of liquid gold that everyone loves. Even my bff told me she and her bf loves it. They've gone there on multiple occasions because they love the Bijin Nabe a lot.
After hearing and reading such positive reviews, I had to try it out!
Is it worth the hype..?
Here are the pictures.
You'll get a pot with some tofu looking thing in it. That's the collagen jelly that's supposed to slowly melt into a thick creamy broth.
After roughly 2 minutes or so, the jelly has fully melted into a milky broth, revealing chunks of chicken along the way. At this point of time the server will ladle a small amount of soup for you to taste the original flavor before adding any other ingredients.
These are the ingredients that come with the hotpot. I would say it's 80% vegetables. You'll get a short bamboo stick of meat. I don't know how else to describe that lol. You'll also get 4 prawns. The rest are... Veggies. And that's not a watermelon.
It's a radish! Cute! (But tastes bad to me :/)
You also get to choose from 3 different kind of noodles. I apologize but I've forgotten the choices except the one I chose, which is the thick mochi mochi noodles.
This is the final product. The server will add the ingredients into the pot for you so no worries about wondering which goes in the pot first. The prawns are left alone though. You only cook it when you want to eat it otherwise it'll go hard.
This seaweed paste is served while you're halfway through your meal, specially made for you. (Every table has it though so I don't see the special in this.)
What I think of this :
Well... You must know that if you're a #foreveralone, you probably would skip this as the minimum order serves two. Of course if you're a big eater then go ahead.
I'll talk about the food first. I love the broth. It's very creamy and savory but it's also slightly too salty for me. But it's still addictive as I'm the one who drank most of the soup. My bf hated this soup as he felt that not only was it salty, it tasted milky. He hates milk. I'm not sure if any milk was added into this though I highly doubt it. Maybe it was just really creamy.
The chicken in the soup is supposedly, no ordinary chicken. It's "Jitokko", chicken that's raised in an organic way. Rare chicken. Yup, it's really tender. But then again it's as chicken as the chicken you get in SG. I can't taste anything rare about it. Don't hate me, I'm just being blunt.
The veggies are just veggies, nothing special. The prawns however are really juicy, sweet and fresh! My favorite! But only 4 comes with the pot :(
That's about it for the food. Service was great, the staffs were all polite and friendly. The way they operate however, is just STUPID. Not to be rude or anything but the person who came up with the idea of NO RESERVATIONS must be "square brain". Now I don't visit the Chinatown branch as it's not as accessible as the PS one. The PS outlet is really small so it's really easy to achieve a full house. This Bijin Nabe is only served after 5pm. That's when most people are out to get dinner. You can't reserve seats. So at 5pm, you MUST be there to "chop" your seat. Imagine you're damn unlucky and people do actually start queuing as early as 4pm. You might just have to wait till 8 plus or 9 plus for your dinner. (I went there at 5 plus once and was told that they will be full till closing.)
If they're afraid of no shows, why can't they be flexible and allow reservations and cancel if the patron is 10 minutes late? I have absolutely no patience to be hungry and wait till night for a pot of soup filled with veggies. This concept pisses me off. And honestly, the meal for two without any other order adds up to roughly 30 per pax which is sooooo expensive! $30 for a soup filled with mostly veggies is just unacceptable for me. It's overrated and overpriced. I would rather take the money and go enjoy several plates of sashimi. And if you're eating it for the collagen, I'd advise you to spend your $30 on actual collagen drinks or powders instead. One pot isn't gonna do you any good.
In conclusion, I will not return unless someone's treating me to it. It's just not worth it and I can eat a cheap buffet with that amount of money. I have no patience and a hungry me is an angry me.
Also, here's what you're eating.
Heh. It's full of fats! With collagen of course. (It will look like this when it's cooled so if you don't wanna lose your appetite, keep the soup cooking.)
Love,
Domo
Disclaimer : This review was based on MY opinions. Don't hate me if you feel differently as we all have different tastes. I'm not a professional food blogger or critic. I'm just ranting/reviewing away based on my thoughts after consuming this.
