Laiyulai Three-Sauce Simmer Pot, Singapore

Yes, that's still raw in the photo above...they had just put in our three main items into the pot and hadn't even ladled on the sauce yet. Anyway, I had no idea what this sanzhimenguo stuff was. And "three sauce simmer pot" doesn't exactly sound very exciting. But we were at Chinatown Point and figured that this was the chance to find out from this shop from Beijing that opened up in Singapore a couple of months ago (133 New Bridge Road #02-38, 6444-4115).

There was a bit of a learning curve: one first had to pick three proteins plus the sauce and degree of spiciness. That cooked - or rather, simmered - under a lid without broth to create a bit of a sauced-up mix of stuff, and it actually tasted a bit better than I'm making it sound. After finishing most of that, they added whatever extras we wanted plus a good amount of broth to it (a bit like Shanghai's Chicken Hot Pot), but not so much that it became a full-on hot pot. Yes, I'd eat it again, but we'll remember to request the spiciest version next time (or at least ask for that fragrant chili oil on the side).

Separately, we watched Jon Favreau's Chef tonight. I don't think I need a spoiler alert on this, as it seems like there's a lot of stuff written on this already. But just in case, don't click through nor hover over the upcoming links if you don't want to know which shops were featured in the second half of the storyline. It was kinda cool to see them, as well as a favorite comedian of mine making a cameo. And I had no idea until the credits rolled that this was co-produced by one of the original food truck vets too. Cool! How fitting it is that the man behind Swingers works with him to make a movie about food trucks...very L.A.!