The steamship may belong to the past but steamboat is here to stay. One of China 's greatest gastronomical contributions to the world continues reigning the Singapore food scene. To add to the multitude of steamboat restaurants in Singapore is Chuan Jiang Hao Zi Steamboat, which has come straight from China and has rooted itself in Chinatown. Alongside its steamboat specialty, the restaurant serves an ala carte menu of traditional Cantonese dishes.

• The Vibe
  The restaurant is located in a shophouse and comprises of two floors – the first looks like any ordinary Hongkong Café in Singapore, and the second floor, like an ordinary Chinese home in the 1930s. There is a VIP room on the second floor, which has a television, a refrigerator and a supposedly uniquely table whose copyrighted design cost the restaurant $10, 000.
• The Food
  While Chuan Jiang Hao Zi décor might be lackluster, its food certainly isn't. Dishes we sampled from its ala carte menu were simply fantastic. The Fried Prawn with Potato, for example, is exquisitely presented. The deep friend prawns are arranged in a circle and covered with deep fried potato shreds. In the centre of the plate, are fresh cubes of watermelons. The dish looks absolutely appetizing, and tastes as good too. The prawns are juicy and sweet, probably because they are coated with honey. The potatoes are finely shredded and crispy, a perfect complement to the prawns.

  The Deep Fried Fish with Chrysanthemum Shape is just as spectacular. The whole fish is carved in the shape of a chrysanthemum and covered with sweet and sour sauce. The fish is accompanied by Chinese cabbage, which is also carved in the same shape. Unfortunately, the fish tastes like ordinary sweet and sour fish, and is more sour than it is sweet. Another dish to try is the Cooked Mutton and Fish with Pickled Vegetable, which is essentially a large bowl of tender, thinly-sliced mutton and fish soup. The soup is thin yet rich, tasting a little like the popular XO Fishhead Beehoon. The fish is very thinly sliced and glides down your throat easily.

  For more meat, try the Double Cooked Pork, a dish of thinly-sliced pork fried with green peppers, chilli and onions. The pork is spicy and extremely oily, and is delicious if you are not health-conscious. If you enjoy spicy food, sample the House Spicy Tofu, or mapo tofu. The tofu is neither too silky nor too firm, and the gravy is rich with vinegar. The spiciness of the tofu is not evident in the first bite, but gradually increases culminating to have a burning aftertaste.

  All the ala carte dishes exceed expectations. Unfortunately, Chuan Jiang Hao Zi's ma la (numbingly spicy) steamboat, its specialty, does not quite match such standards. The steamboat offers you more variety than the typical selection, with a choice of about six soup bases that have three levels of spiciness. However, the quality of the soup is questionable. The fish head soup is very sour, perhaps due to an excess of sour plum in the soup. A word of caution – the spicy soup is very, very spicy even though it is categorized as having a “medium” level of spiciness. It is also far too oily. The herbal chicken soup is by far the best, although it is nothing out of the ordinary, as are the ingredients for the steamboat.

• The Service
  Chuan Jiang Hao Zi's service is very good. The service staff is mostly from China, and everyone is extremely friendly, warm and relaxed. Dishes arrive promptly and Chinese tea is topped up regularly.

The SD Food Advisor's Take on Chuan Jiang Hao Zi
I would go there neither for the ambience nor the steamboat, but the ala carte dishes are worth another trip. They are well-presented and extremely tasty, and some of them are extremely rare. Sweet, sour, spicy, salty – Chuan Jiang Hao Zi offers a variety of taste to cater to any palate.