HK Charcoal Claypot 港式打邊爐 @ Bugis

Princess and I were running errands in town and went for dinner at Liang Seah Street. Our initial destination was already closed, as this street was overtaken by Chinese capital with many Chinese regional cuisines popping up everywhere.

We were not in the mood of any of these as we just came back from a holiday in China. In the end we settled for HK Charcoal Claypot 港式打邊爐 right at the end of the street, a style of hotpot Princess had never tried before.

The interior used mosaic tiles that reminded one of MTR stations in Hong Kong, as well as other elements that shouted Hong Kong. The dialogs from classic Stephen Chow movies caught my eyes and brought a chuckle.

The usual condiments (chopped chilli and garlic, seafood sauce, etc) were available, along with a selection of snacks like luncheon meat, sautéed instant noodles, Dongbei style shredded potato, lemon chicken feet, etc.

I quite liked some of the appetisers, like the lemon chicken feet – nice eat for a hot summer night – and the green bean noodles. The chef must be from Dongbei as these were quite authentic eats.

The cuisine on offer is HK-style hotpot called Dabinlou 打边炉 or “hitting the side of the stove”. The concept is simple – you take the raw ingredients and cook them in the boiling stock like Japanese shabu-shabu. The common hotpot features a metal pot on a stove. The traditional HK hotpot uses an earthen stove with burning charcoal with a claypot. We ordered a pork bone broth and mushroom stock Yuenyeung pot (a novelty for me as I have not seen it in a claypot, usually stainless steel), as I wasn’t sure what you get for that price for the really premium fish maw chicken broth. I heard too much of the “science” behind to create “authentic” tasting soup with using the ingredients.

The charcoal came from the common kitchen that also served the Korean BBQ next door. I understood from the staff that they were both owned by the same Korean bosses who were sitting next to our table when we entered the restaurant. This is the first charcoal based hotpot restaurant in Singapore besides the Teochew fish head steamboat restaurants that also use charcoal stoves to heat the hotpot.

There’s quite a long list of choices for seafood and meat (beef, chicken, pork, lamb of different cuts) but none of them was any premium choices. If you want, there’s an a la carte menu with slightly more choices and less appetite. We didn’t pick a lot because we were quite disappointed after the first serving. The soup was also “狠活” (“Henhuo” a recent Internet term to refer food that has added a lot of artificial seasoning) that would cover the lack of tastes in the ingredients.

Given the price per head, it was quite reasonable. But if you are seeking for a good eat with choice ingredients and a more robust stock, look elsewhere.

HK Charcoal Claypot 港式打邊爐（鲜入围煮）
1 Liang Seah St, #01-02, Singapore 18902

Visited Jun 2026

#打边炉 #HKHotpot #Singapore