Tanyoto, Liang Court, Singapore

The name of this Liang Court-based restaurant may sound Japanese, but it's actually a chain of Sichuan hotpot restaurants from mainland China, having now planted itself here in Singapore (177 River Valley Road #01-25, 6836-6839). And a darned upscale hotpot place it was. We're not talking about any beat-up all-you-can-eat place anymore; we're talking about a place with warm oshibori to start, plush seating and tableware, and some of the most courteous service I've come across in a place like this.

Of course, the prices were upscale too. Even without having ordered the wagyu option here, two of us broke past the triple digit mark just by loading up on individual plates of meat. Arguably, it was worth it, mainly due to the high quality of the ingredients. But next time, I'll also be wiser in my menu selections by passing on some of their touted specialities, such as the fried Sichuan pork thing as well as the tomato-based broth. While the latter was fine, I preferred the light and savory fish-based broth much more. We didn't quite venture onto their so-called "secret recipe fish lips" though. If anyone tries that, please let me know if it's worth it or not.

Actually, they had a few cooked dishes here too, including a reasonably-priced weekday lunch set. But I had bones to pick with most of those (too oily, too salty, or too garlicky). And admittedly, after having eaten here four times in the past three days, I've gotten a bit sick of it all. But I am still impressed enough with this place to give it a thumbs up in my books. Now I've just got to eat enough salad this weekend in order to purge out all of the grease built up in my belly.