Enjoy Imperial Traditions with Cuisine Master’s Gourmet Hot Pot

Located in Boat Quay, Cuisine Master Hot Pot (食神锅奉行) is upping the ante on the local hot pot scene with its unique gourmet hot pot concept – freshly-made nourishing soups, premium ingredients, and attentive “table-side service” in a fine-dining setting.

With its roots in Beijing, this marks Cuisine Master’s first restaurant outside of China. What is unique about Cuisine Master is, you pick from five nine-course set menus (from $78++ to $198++ per pax). No ala carte menu, no buffet.

Each marble table is staffed by a dedicated server, who explains the health benefits of the ingredients, as she prepares each dish. She will help us to cook the food and divide them nicely for us. The fully-automated hot pot system is housed in the centre of the marble table, in an intricate handcarved copper ‘ding’ (鼎) designed with ventilation side-grills to whisk away smoke as it rises. As the waitress explains, emperors in the past would use a bigger bronze pot so they are trying to mimic the concept and treat us like kings and queens!

With a dining sequence purposefully designed for overall well-being and optimum digestion, the imperial experience starts off with a refreshing fruit platter and a first bowl of soup before the stock gets too rich.

Cuisine Master’s speciality lies in its signature Golden Soup, a rich concoction made from “old hen” and “old duck”, slow cooked over 10 hours for an almost-creamy consistency; and the clear Mushroom Soup, prepared with over 5 types of imported exotic mushrooms, with the wild Desert Mushroom strain costing as much as $800 per kilogram. The soups are freshly prepared with all-natural ingredients, with no additives or MSG.

We each had a $118++ per person menu which started with a “Buddha Jumps over the Wall” inspired dish cooked in chicken soup. The abalone, fish maw, spiked sea cucumber, sliced escargots and dried scallops is well soaked with the flavourful chicken soup and cooked till right tenderness.

When Australian Half-shell Scallop with prawn and grouper combination arrived, it reminded me of Quan Hotpot (寬巷子) which I had in Taiwan. They combine floriculture into their hotpot and make their serving ingredients look pretty and presentable.

Anyway back to Cuisine Master, we had fresh tiger garouper, tiger prawns and clams cooked in milky chicken soup. The glistening, garouper made its way on a royal bed of crushed ice, it was succulent and luscious when cooked in a silky chicken stock.

Minced fish and prawns are made from raw fish and prawn flesh that has been finely minced and beaten to an airy, bouncy texture.

Other than the fresh seafood, their premium kangaroo meat and ribeye got us excited too. The beef has a lovely marbling, but unfortunately sliced to very thin slices. But hey, we also had kangaroo meat, the texture is somewhat similar to pork.

Something commendable is their handmade noodles made with purple cabbage (purple), carrot (orange), egg white (white) and spinach (green). It is served with refillable side dish trio and refreshing plum juice.

Mixed mushroom platter which has a unique 毛肚菌 specially imported from China.

Last but not least, dessert is cold hasma with red dates. You can complement your meal with Chinese Yellow Wine, a popular accompaniment in Southern China, made from sticky rice and served warm with ginger and plum. Cuisine Master stocks over four varieties of yellow wines, Chinese white wine, and over 12 labels of old and new world wines. There are also unique house tipples, like Ginseng Martini ($15++), made with infused ginseng vodka, and Red Date Martini ($15++) or Jujube Sling ($13++), both
concocted with infused red date vodka.

Prices are on the high side, justifiably so for the fresh ingredients, painstakingly prepared broths and good service. Their restaurant has two storeys – first storey is a bar and second storey is where you enjoy your steamboat. So you get the privacy and still can enjoy scenery lah! Oh, I wished Cuisine Master has more choices for their sauce, they currently only have chilli sauce and seafood sauce.

Cuisine Master has 6-courses executive Lunch Sets served with fruit platter, side dishes, dessert and Chinese tea. Each course costs $48++ per person.

Cuisine Master
Address: 68 Boat Quay
Tel: 6438 9979
Operating Hours: Monday to Friday: 11.00am-2.00pm, 6pm-11.00pm; Saturday & Eve of Public Holiday: 6.00pm-11.00pm; Sunday: Closed.