We Ate At This New Yunnan Hotpot Restaurant In The CBD That Opens Till 2:30AM Daily

Broth & Beyond opens in City Hall with personalised Yunnan hotpot

Hotpot has long been a staple in Singapore, bringing people together over bubbling broths and fresh ingredients. Whether it’s a festive Chinese New Year feast or a late-night supper with friends, this comforting meal is perfect for any occasion. Among the many hotpot spots around the city, a value-for-money spot that we recently visited is Broth & Beyond. 

Inspired by Yunnan’s mountainous landscapes and coveted culinary traditions, Broth & Beyond boasts its locally-sourced ingredients. Curious to see if it deserved a spot on our top list of best hotpot restaurants in Singapore, we decided to pay the new restaurant a visit.

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Food at Broth & Beyond

The restaurant is not all glitz and glamour as one might think when they hear about a restaurant in the heart of City Hall. In fact, their offerings stay relatively affordable without compromising on the food quality.

Their Flavour Discovery Set, in particular, offers diners an attractive $29.90++ deal that’s available daily from 11:30am to 5pm. The set entitles diners to one broth flavour, a portion of meat, a huge veggie basket, a portion of rice or la mian, and access to the Market Table, which is essentially a massive condiment and dessert station.

My colleague and I wanted to go all out, so we didn’t get the Flavour Discovery Set. Instead, we went for their Signature Black Truffle & Eight-Mushroom Broth and the Signature Golden Fungus Chicken Broth, both priced at $15.90++ each. 

The Signature Black Truffle & Eight-Mushroom Broth is a comforting soup that’s simmered for eight hours using chicken fat and Yunnan mushrooms. It features a clear broth, and you can add black truffle offered on the side if you enjoy a stronger truffle taste. That said, even after adding the black truffle in, we found that the earthy mushroom notes remained dominant, making the broth taste more like a traditional mushroom soup rather than an aromatic truffle broth.

The Signature Golden Fungus Chicken Broth is made using locally sourced chicken, and Yunnan golden fungus and mushrooms for an extra umami punch. Dried scallops also go into the broth for a hint of sweet, briny flavours. Unlike the former, this broth leaned creamier, though we wished that pork could have been used instead of chicken for a more robust flavour.

For the uninitiated, a hallmark of Yunnan cuisine is mushrooms. We recommend elevating your broth with the Yunnan Delicacy Mushroom Platter ($28.99++), starring gold fungus, wine cap mushroom, and chanterelle mushroom. 

The gold fungus, in particular, soaks up your broth quickly when cooked. Texture-wise, it’s soft with a bit of chew.

For proteins, we had the Pork and Beef Platter ($36.99++), which featured pork belly, pork collar, and beef tongue. Each piece was thinly sliced and neatly arranged for easy handling during cooking.

The tender pork belly had a good meat-to-fat ratio, offering a rich flavour to the broth that earned our nods of approval. The beef tongue, on the other hand, had a chewy texture that we appreciated. For a cheaper alternative, get the lesser-seen Pork Tribe ($6.99++) instead. 

If you prefer seafood to meat, the Signature Jasmine Flower Shrimp Pate ($18.99++) is worth considering: you get handcrafted shrimp paste infused with Yunnan flowers that carry a jasmine aroma. When cooked, the shrimp had a bouncy texture and boasted a bright pink colour, indicating the freshness of the seafood.

We also got the Tri-Coloured Hand Crafted La Mian ($8.99++), which can feed up to three. Pro tip: Let your noodles simmer in the broth for a good one to two minutes. This way, you can get the perfect springy and QQ textures. 

Hotpot aside, we tried the Yunnan Spice Wagyu Jerky ($18.99++), which sees premium beef marinated in house-made spices unique to Yunnan. The meat is then grilled and then fried with Yunnan garlic for added fragrance. Texture-wise, it resembled grilled bacon with less fat and grease. 

Don’t leave without trying the Fragrant Fermented Beancurd Chicken Wings ($13.99++ for four). Crispy, juicy chicken wings are first marinated in Yunnan spices and fermented beancurd, before being coated with a thin batter and deep-fried upon order. You can dip it in the creamy tartare sauce that comes on the side, but it tastes just as good without any condiment. 

A key feature of Broth & Beyond is its massive Market Table. Pay just $4.99++ to experience a lavish spread featuring over 50 selections of house-made condiments, appetisers, desserts and more.

For appetisers, house-made kimchi, cherry tomatoes, and mala king oyster mushrooms are some examples. Our favourite was the latter, though we wished each piece could be better coated with the spicy, numbing mala sauce. 

For condiments, you’ll find soy sauce, chopped garlic, red chilli and more.

When you’re done with your hotpot experience, you can DIY a sweet treat at the dessert station. The options are endless, with toppings such as taro balls, osmanthus white jelly, strawberry jelly, condensed milk, water chestnut pearls, and adorable animal-shaped marshmallows, among others!

We loved that the taro balls were well-cooked and chewy, and the strawberry jelly was equally delicious, as the subtle sweet, tangy flavours made for a great dessert base.

If you prefer something healthier, sliced orange, pineapple, and watermelon are available as well.

Ambience at Broth & Beyond

My colleague and I were amazed upon entering Broth & Beyond as the interiors were grand and vibrant, to say the least. The warm lighting, combined with the clean and classy aesthetic, created an inviting atmosphere perfect for dining with your loved ones. Plus, it’s a 200-seater restaurant with ample space between diners, so you don’t have to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with your neighbour while conversing with your dining companion(s).

To top it all off, the restaurant is just a five-minute walk from City Hall MRT Station, making it convenient to satisfy your hotpot cravings!

Broth & Beyond – Eatbook review

While Broth & Beyond’s prices aren’t as steep as other hotpot chains, it isn’t the cheapest we’ve seen either. We couldn’t quite say there’s a wow factor to the food either, but we appreciated the novelty of its menu offerings, whether it’s the unique mushroom varieties or the DIY dessert station.

Overall, we felt like there were hits and misses, but for nights when the hunger pangs hit, we think this spot makes a pretty good option, since it closes past midnight anyway!

For more food at CHIJMES, check out Daily Beer for famous Korean fried chicken and craft beer. Alternatively, if you’re in the area, read out City Hall food guide for $2++ oysters, handmade pasta and more.

Address: 30 Victoria Street, #B1-01/02, CHIJMES, Singapore 187996
Opening hours: Daily 11:30am to 2:30am
Website
Broth & Beyond is not a halal-certified eatery.

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Photos taken by Tan Tao Zhi.
This was a media tasting at Broth & Beyond.