Ah Jie Hotpot

There are lots of restaurants with hotpot in their name but they can’t survive on this dish alone (especially in sweltering August), so they also have a full menu to see them through the hot summer months.

Thus it was the other dishes we came to Ah Jie for – though few left us with much of an impression.

The cold stir fry fish skin (??????????????????????????????, $38) was thick and chewy, albeit with refreshing flavours from the marriage of ginger and onion. The deep-fried pepper salt cuttlefish beak (???????????????????????????????????, $50) was crispy and chewy, while the batter for the deep-fried lancelets ($60) was rather doughy, mainly on account of the measly piece of fish inside.

Next came the first soy sauce chicken (????????????????????, $100 for half). It was not quite what I expected in terms of presentation, but the rich, non-briny flavours made us forget about its sloppy dishing. First soy sauce (????????????) is considered superior for its first pressing of fermentated soybeans.

The outer layer of the BBQ pork and shrimp omelette (??????????????????????????????????????????, $48) was firm enough, yet the inside was quite soft. It also lacked any significant flavour apart from a handful of salt. The braised bean curd puff with fish maw (????????????????????????????????????????????????,