Ming Tang Jiu Gong Ge Hotpot 名堂九宫格火锅 @ Bugis Cube

If we talked about any trendy hotpot restaurants in Singapore’s food landscape these 2 years, Ming Tang Jiu Go Ge hotpot (名堂九宫格火锅) is one of the restaurants that came popping up. Located in Bugis Cube (Directly opposite Bugis Junction), Jiu Gong Ge is one of the Chinese restaurants in Singapore to get your mala craving satisfied.

We arrived at the restaurant at around 6 PM on a Saturday. As one of the first customers, we got our table by the window beside which we can enjoy the night street view while eating. After browsing quickly through the menu, we settled for their signature enormous mala seafood hotpot. This is what we are here for!

When you eat mala food, you need to keep yourself hydrated and your mouth cooling. Realized that separate drink orders cost more, we ordered a jug of sour plum juice.

As Nicole doesn’t enjoy seafood that much, we also order an a la carte dish – spicy grilled bullfrogs. The bullfrog tasted quite average. Unfortunately, we still prefer the bullfrogs from Wah Kungfu more :).

Before you dig in, be sure you get some sauces from their sauce station to go along with the seafood. It is located near the back of the restaurant. You can choose from a variety of seafood sauces, green chilis, red chili paddies, onions, garlic, soya sauce and more.

After a patient wait of around 20 mins, our main dish finally arrived… The hotpot is amazingly huge and we have to even make way for the waiter for the hotpot set up. Our first thought when we first saw the hotpot was like “OMG, how can the 4 of us actually finish this up. I think we may have order too much…” On first look, this isn’t a typical hotpot that you can find elsewhere. There are over 50+ clams, 20+ prawns, lobsters, red little lobsters, crabs, oysters and more. This is definitely a seafood paradise.

The seafood is precooked before placing into the hotpot and to my disappointment, the broth isn’t as spicy as what I expected it to be. (I am a spicy addict). In my opinion, it could be better if the overall hotpot is spicier. My mum, however, finds the spicy level to be normal and just nice.

Take a closer look at the bamboo clams and prawns. Though the prawns are not as big and fresh as the ones my mum bought from her private supplier, it’s reasonable (many restaurants serve this type of prawns)

One thing that really caught my attention is the little red lobsters. I first tried this red little lobsters in Phoenix town and I am quite surprised I can taste it again in Singapore. This type of red little lobsters isn’t that popular in Singapore (You can’t find it in the international buffet as well).

My favorite seafood goes to the big lobsters. Each hotpot comes with 2 big lobsters if I am not wrong.

When you eat seafood, how can you miss out the juicy fresh oysters?

Bit by bit, we dug out the seafood and savor it into our stomach. Oh, there is also instant noodle included the hotpot, so you may want to skip ordering rice to go along.

Getting to Jiu Gong Ge Hotpot

Address: 470 North Bridge Road #01-02, Bugis Cube, Singapore 188735
Tel: Call +65 63383405 for reservation