Xian De Lai 鲜得来

Went with friends on a Saturday to Bugis and we were wondering what to eat when this auntie, who was pulling guests, mentioned us in. The menu on the door stated that we can order as much as we want and the list of food available was quite long.

However, we were disappointed because even though there were many choices on the food list (you have to tick the food you want on a paper checklist then they'll bring to you), some food were not available (the service staff said the chef has not arrived so the food item was unavailable. Seriously.

The plates were really small and the portions were pathetic for a buffet. So for the second round I checked each food item twice, meaning that I indicated double for each food item. Yet the service staff still brought only ONE set. And they weren't keen to serve customers as well.

Overall, I wouldn't go to such a place again as I believe that with the same price paid I could have gotten a better meal elsewhere.

SGD 20

though there are several cheaper options along the street, the steamboat place is still always popular with diners with its quality of food offered and the more comfy air conditioned setting. Plenty of sauce mix combination available. One unique soup base is the bah kut teh version. Also the signature soup base is the spicy chicken whereby they actually served you the deep friend chix bit with dried chilli, so you eat it like a side dish first, then they will add in water to the dried chilli. some of my favorite dishes here include the special meat ball, fish slices and chicken balls. Drinks are payable separately and cost around $1.80 per can of soft drink. Food is served to you on a tray. Crabs are on the menu as well.

2012-12-23

SGD 25(Lunch)

I went for a steamboat buffet dinner with some of my colleagues and ex-colleagues. We reached about 7pm and finished by 9:30pm. It is steamboat place that is air-conditioned but a little cramped. You then tick on a piece of order paper and they will serve you your items. Their serving is quite small, so we have to order a few times the same item. Food and taste is ok but not their service. Their service is slow.

2012-03-27

SGD 25(Dinner)

So long time ago that I have been to this steamboat place for a few times. I found it the steamboat broth was very refreshing and tasty in eating a lot of the ingredients. We had chicken and ma la soup, the chicken soup was almost tasteless and ma la soup had a weird aroma. Variety of the food items was still ok but their cooked foods were too expensive to order. Atmosphere was average, as the tables were placed very near to one another. The Services is generally okay... however, the first waitress that serve us... haha.there is a large variety of steamboat items there...But, Personally, I prefer those steamboat buffet that.. I can just take any amount I want from the tray la... don't really like ala carte steamboat buffet at Xian De Lai, which come in small portion each time...

ha-ha... And one more thing... is that they do not have free flow drinks... so we order a can of soft drink la... As for the food... some items quite good... services okay la... but the ma la soup I dun really like it... Overall not really recommended by me, nothing fantastic... I wouldn’t go back again...ha-ha... Would want to explore “better" and "cheaper" place for steamboat!)

2012-03-26

SGD 20

a group of us had a gathering ... we intend to have steam boat together hence we went to this place

i loved their soup.. we had one plain herbal soup and one ma la hot based soup

they had a variety of usual hot pot ingredients.. what i liked was those that were home made.. such as meat balls..

their meat were fresh~

will be there again

I find this concept really interesting. We order the herbal chicken and ma la soup base. When the pot was brought to us, there was no soup in it. Instead, we only found ingredients! The ma la pot has chicken bits in it and I must say that it is rather spicy. But I like the chicken. Once we are done with the chicken, the crew will add soup to the pot.A variety of dishes to order. However, it is not recommended if you are really hungry and in a rush. Coz whatever quantity you order, they only deliver one. And if you ordered a whole list, it is guaranteed that not all will turn up. You just need to repeat your orders.Our cooking. We don't really have a system. Just dump everything in.The menu. Don't bother writing the quantity coz they will only bring one plate of whatever you order. 2 if you are lucky. And if you are really really lucky, you get every single type of food you choose.

SGD 25(Dinner)

Xian De Lai Shanghai Cuisine for lunch with my girlfriends! We opted for the chicken herbal soup based as we heard it was one of the most popular ones here. There was so many ingredients to choose! Ranging from fish to meat to veggie to finger food! We ordered practically so much! I particularly like their seafood such as prawns and squid as they are very fresh.

SGD 29

i went with my hubby and children to xian de lai for a nice steamboat dinner. we came across xian de lai and decided to give it a try. we got to choose two soup bases, as always, we ordered the spicy and non spicy. the variety of dishes for the steamboat was so so, nothing unique. my favourite was their sliced beef, went well with both the mala and normal soup. my hubby found the seafood really fresh and delicious.

Initially wanted to have M Hotel steamboat buffet but when I called it was fully book. Then sis recommended that we had steamboat at Crystal Jade which she said somewhere in Bugis Street. Thus, we went there but to found out that it was no longer there. Had no choice but to just settle for what's there so we went in to this steamboat restaurant.

This place has 2 storey or 3 I suppose. We were allocated to the 2nd storey. While on the way up the stairs, I saw a server with a pot of soup and was heading up another storey. I was very concerned with his safety! A while later I saw another server clearing a tub of dirty plates walking down the stairs. Then I wonder what if the server slip and fall? *Shake head.

We ordered and while waiting I scanned around and thought "nothing much special on the tables."Indeed, it wasn't special or even okay. Dish served were not fresh - very clearly it was just taken out from the freezer. Not a dish I tried left me an impression.

Really nothing much to say about this place.

2011-05-21

SGD 18

If you love soup especially when it comes to steamoat, try their duck soup!
If you love spicy soup, try their tom yum soup!What's more? there's a variety of soup choices for you to choose from!
If you love seafood, be spoilt with choices of crab, prawn, cockles, and many more!
If you love chicken, try their speciality chicken!
If you are tired of standing up to get your food, you dun have to, just order from the order sheet!
If you love you tiao, they have it too!
Also, they have complimentary dessert
All for just about $50 for 2 people!

2011-05-29

SGD 25(Dinner)

Ever since I went to crystal jade’s xiao long bao buffet, I have not been very open to the idea of going to another restaurant for steamboat buffet. So when a friend said he wanted to celebrate his birthday at Xian De Lai, I was not very willing to go. However it turned out better than I expected.

They had a unique kind of soup, the own recipe Duck Soup, it was very tasty and goes really well with the ingredients. The pork rib soup was somewhat normal as compared to the delicious duck soup.

They had a wider selection of steamboat food choices as compared to crystal jade. And they did not provide free drinks! But if you are craving for something different, do drop by to try the duck soup, it is something unique!

unlike many steamboat restaurants, xian de lai offers a unique soup, Duck Soup. u may wonder if duck soup will it be nice, i can guarantee u it is awesome, even better then their pork ribs soup. the soups are all very tasty and not oily at all!

they have a huge variety of ingredients ranging from normal chicken meat to squid to crab to sliced beef.

yummy! everything is eat all u can. the steamboat concept is same as crystal jade XLB where u order they serve. their variety is more too, but they dun have the yummy XLB and dian xin that crystal jade have.

On top of that, the drinks are not free flow. was very thirsty after eating all the food. if only they had free flow drinks then it would be awesome!

This is one of my favourite steamboat restaurants. The main attraction to me is their spicy chicken soup base. It is served with deep fried chicken with dried chillies. Very crunchy and you will get addicted to them easily. Its their signature soup base. For those non-spicy lovers, you can try out their fish soup. Not too bad as well.

There is also a wide variety of dishes such as dumplings, wantons, thin sliced pork/beef, flower crabs, prawns etc. The quality of dishes are relatively good, much better than most of the steamboat places at bugis area. Do try out their special meat balls. They are deep fried and they taste really well with the spicy soup.

However, just like any typical steamboat buffet restaurants, do not expect A-class service from them. It gets worse as you are seated higher up the levels. Remember to make reservations if you intend to go in big groups. Otherwise, you can expect to queue for a good half an hour.

SGD 25(Dinner)