The Sheep Mongolian Steamboat, Singapore

This was a totally random selection resulting from frustration with traffic along Beach Road tonight and feeling the need to stop for food instead. Now, this area around Bugis is filled with hot pot places, not all of which are particularly memorable, and hence not an area I frequent regularly. This one (7 Tan Quee Lan Street, 6339-3086, with another location at Serangoon Garden Way) looked a bit different though, claiming to serve Mongolian steamboat, if there were such a thing (then again, shabu shabu's origins were allegedly from Genghis Khan, if the story I heard were true).

Well, never having been to Mongolia (and no, Mongolian BBQ does not count), I don't know if it were really Mongolian or not. But perhaps not unexpectedly, these guys served a broth that was already filled with all sorts of random spices and veggies floating in it. In fact, the spicy side of the pot was filled with so many seasonings that it tasted almost curry-like (but still with a bit of chili pepper heat). If Indian cuisine had a hot-pot-like dish, then this is what I would imagine it to taste like. It wasn't something that I could adjust to at first, but it grew on you after a while. And yes, they still had the usual thin slices of meat, veggies, etc. for you to choose from.

Still, I probably won't be yearning to come back, as I still prefer the cleaner taste of the Whispering Man. Maybe my experience tonight was further spoiled by the excessively sweet Mainland Chinese sa cha sauce that they had here (now I see why that one hot pot lady wondered why I would want to eat hot pot with sa cha sauce, something she complained to be too sweet...I finally saw how different it was indeed from the tasty Taiwanese stuff that I'm used to). Well, they did have some interesting little sides that one could order, like some skinny Mongolian beef roll (so small that it looked like a burrito for a dwarf) as well as some pumpkin pancake thing (neither of which blew me off my feet though). If you do come try it, you may want to plan for a shower and change of clothes afterwards, as you will come out of the place smelling like the spices.