Hai Di Lao, Restaurant Service at Its Best

Hai Di Lao is in Singapore! :) I've always wanted to head down but havent really had the time nor energy to...not until Lil Wan suggested. I had Hai Di Lao a couple of times back at Shanghai, during my internship stint, and boy were those times the best! Known for their top notch service, Hai Di Lao Singapore definitely strives to maintain the standards of their sister outlets in China.

Located on the 2nd floor, above all the bars and restaurants at Clarke Quay, Hai Di Lao can be pretty easily ignored. I reckoned that's why they stationed their staffs downstairs to usher their customers to the restaurant above. We were warmly welcomed by each and every one of their staffs and were ushered to our seats (highly recommend reservations to be made as that's what we did :))

Hai Di Lao 

I didn't remember ordering our food via the iPad, back at Shaghai, but I guess much have changed over the last 2 years. As Cassy couldn't take much spice, we settled for the Seafood soup base and ordered  a Mushroom Platter, Rice Cakes, Handmade Beef Balls, Dan Dan Noodles and lastly a bowl of Fried Rice. 

Seafood Soup Base @ $16

Just after topping up our pot with the Seafood Soup, the waitress served as each a bowl as she claims it warms our stomach and increases our appetite. Honestly, the soup was grossly bland to start with but I reckon most steamboat stock starts off bland. At $16, the Seafood Soup base was pretty value for money. Packed with tons of ingredients including Prawns, Mussels, Bamboo Shoots, Red Dates, Clams the soup could have pretty much be a dish on its own!

The Mushroom Platter was pretty good as well albeit priced a little steep. Rice Cakes were those normal rice cakes which you can easily buy from any Korean grocery. Both the Fried Rice and Dan Dan Noodles were 1 pax portion. I thought the fried rice was mediocre but the Dan Dan Noodles, on the other hand, were amazing! The noodles had a nice springy texture and was flavourful with some spicy kick to it.

Top Left Clockwise: Dan Dan Noodles, Rice Cakes, Dan Dan Noodles, Fried Rice

Yes, call me stupid as I ordered Beef Balls which cost $14 for about 6 balls. Who knew 牛肉饺 were beef balls right?! Misrepresentation TTM. I thought the beef balls tasted super ordinary, wouldn't recommend ordering. 

Top Left Clockwise: Beef Balls, Mushroom PLatter, Beancurd dessert & Fruits.

Drinks were $3 per cup: free flow of either Soya Bean, Plum Juice and Liang Teh while access to their mini buffet table is $4 per pax. Their mini buffet table essentially consist of an array of sauces, garnished, fruits, nuts and 2 types of dessert, both hot & cold. I personally had a great experience saucy experience at Shanghai and was really eager to try their sauces here. 

Mini Buffet Table

Unfortunately, I kinda suck at mixing my own sauce thus I got the help of the waitress. She was aw-so eager to introduce her concoction which tasted awesome! Her Hai Di Lao Signature sauce was über tasty albeit would rather not have chilli oil in mine. The other sauce consisted of sesame sauce and tasted really creamy and delectable; imagine slurp-able peanut butter =D

Front: Sesame Sauce
Back: HDL signature sauce

Their mini buffet table also included the cold Beancurd Pudding dessert and hot White Fungus Tang Shui. The Beancurd Dessert tasted just like those Lao Ban Beancurd jelly. Although they weren't as creamy as Lao Ban's, they were nonetheless refreshingly delicious.

White Fungus & Beancurd

If you ask me, Hai Di Lao's food didn't quite warrant $72 (for 3 pax) but their service is truly impeccable! The waitress was über attentive and paid attention to our every need. She gave us aprons, handed us hot towels, plastic wraps for handphones (which explains my blury pics) and even offered to peel our prawns for us! I bet she would feed us if we asked her too lol.

Best part of the dinner would have to be my 1st manicure session. HDL basically provides free manicure, games and tibits while you wait for your table or while you're dining. Yup, you can basically eat, have your manicure done and continue eating after that they even have KTV rooms at HDL in China. Hai Di Lao, by far, has the best service I ever had and I seriously wouldn't mind paying 20+ for that kinda service. Will be back again for sure!