We Found A Secret Hotpot Restaurant Hidden On the Rooftop Of People’s Park Complex

Tiantai Hotpot is a hidden restaurant at People’s Park Complex

Rain or shine, one of my favourite foods to have is hotpot. There’s just something so comforting about the piping-hot broth, and it feels somewhat liberating to choose from a wide range of ingredients for dunking into my soup. Recently, when I chanced upon a cool restaurant in Chinatown named Tiantai Hotpot, I thought this was just another addition to the plethora of steamboat restaurants in the area. But my impression quickly changed when I heard that it was hidden—contentious word, I know—on the rooftop of People’s Park Complex. Naturally, this piqued my curiosity, so I brought two colleagues to see what the hype was about. 

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Food at Tiantai Hotpot

Before I dive into the food, every item is at nett price here. This is a plus in my books as it’s not every day we come across steamboat restaurants that don’t incur a service charge.

Moving on to the soup base, there are three different flavours to choose from—Spicy Red Oil, Mushroom, and Tomato—and you can opt for either the Individual Hotpot or Yin Yang Hotpot. I wanted to try two broths to get a fair judgment of the restaurant, so I ordered the Yin Yang Hotpot with mushroom and tomato broths for $12.

Between the two soup flavours, the robust mushroom broth was a collective favourite. There was a rich depth to the soup that almost tasted herbaceous, and my colleagues chimed in that this was one of the best mushroom soup bases they have had.

Sweet and tangy, the tomato soup was delicious in its own way, but it paled in comparison to the mushroom broth.

There’s a small sauce station in the middle of the restaurant, where you’ll find all the must-haves in any steamboat restaurant: minced garlic, peanut sauce, chopped red chilli, sesame oil, vinegar and more. 

While the display wasn’t as fancy as other well-known hotpot restaurants, there was enough for me to customise a condiment to my liking. FYI, each person has to pay $2 for the dipping sauce station, which you can refill as many times as you want.

In terms of ingredients, there are easily more than 50 items on the menu. There’s a section titled “Chongqing Must Try”, which I found interesting; here you can expect lesser-seen items such as Premium Thousand Layer Tripe, House Marinated Pork Intestine, and Lucky Little Sausage, all priced at $9 each. I got the latter as it seemed the least intimidating.

These wind-cured sausages came in 11 long sticks. Texture-wise, they were similar to the traditional Chinese sausages AKA lap cheong I’ve had—something like a soft pork jerky that’s chewy yet dense. I was a tad iffy about the texture, but the well-balanced, savoury flavour of the meat made up for it.

Here comes my favourite part of any hotpot experience: the proteins. I got two plates of their Spain Black Pig Streaky Pork ($20) and a plate of Sole Fish ($3) to fill myself up.

Upon the first bite, I was surprised by how tender yet firm the Sole Fish was. One of my gripes about hotpot is the fish slices breaking apart when they’re cooked in the piping hot broth, but it wasn’t the case at Tiantai Hotpot. These fresh, thick, and tasty fish slices held up their shape well in the boiling soup. 

The pork slices, on the other hand, were slightly tough and chewy for my liking. It was the least value-for-money ingredient out of everything I had ordered; I felt that the meat quality and portion size fell short. I recommend trying something else, such as the US Beef Brisket ($9) or Double Pepper Chicken Slices ($7). 

To me, veggies are an indispensable part of a hearty hotpot experience, so I got plenty of them: Potato ($1), Cilantro ($3), Creamy Pumpkin ($4), Napa Cabbage ($2), and Baby Cabbage ($4).

I had no gripe about these veggies; they were fresh and came in good servings, just enough to feed three people.

It’d be remiss of me to leave a hotpot restaurant without having tried their noodles, so I got two plates of the popular Flat Noodles ($6) to end the experience. 

My colleagues and I thoroughly enjoyed the chewy, springy noodles that tasted similar to ban mian. Don’t cook them too long, though, as they get soggy really quickly.

I have this habit of browsing the menu one last time before leaving any restaurant, and when I did just that, the Brown Sugar Ice Jelly caught my eye mainly because of the $1 price tag. The name perfectly describes the dessert; there’s nothing to shout about, but for a dollar, it’s a great way to cleanse your palate and wash down all the grease and heavy flavours.

Ambience at Tiantai Hotpot

The 50-seater exudes a casual atmosphere that I liked. Its industrial concept, completed with concrete walls, felt like a breath of fresh air compared to big-name hotpot chains. My colleagues and I were the first to arrive at their opening hour, and by lunchtime, more groups had started to occupy the space.

Tiantai Hotpot is located on the sixth floor of People’s Park Complex, a quick two-minute walk from Chinatown MRT Station. Follow these steps to get to the hidden restaurant: climb a flight of stairs that leads to the sixth floor, then exit the building. Walk straight ahead, and you’ll see Tiantai Hotpot tucked away in a corner.

Tiantai Hotpot – Eatbook review

Ask me if Tiantai Hotpot is worthy of its hidden gem title, and I’d say yes for three reasons. First, you get to dine casually amid a unique ambience I’ve not experienced elsewhere in Singapore. Also, prices here are wallet-friendly and the ingredients are mostly fresh. Finally, the restaurant opens till 12am every day, making for a great supper spot that’s conveniently located in Chinatown. FYI, our bill amounted to $78 with two sweet drinks—this works out to just $26 per person, which is relatively affordable.

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If you’re in the area, check out Yuen Yeung, where we tried the TikTok-viral Chinese desserts to see if the long queues are worth your time. Otherwise, read our Chinatown food guide for cheap hotpot buffet and more.

Address: 1 Park Road, #06-01/02, People’s Park Complex, Singapore 059108
Opening hours: Daily 11:30am to 12am
Tel: 8067 2777
Website
Tiantai Hotpot is not a halal-certified eatery.

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Photos taken by Tao Zhi Tan.
This was an independent review by Eatbook.sg.