Hai Di Lao @ 313 Somerset

 Finally get to try Hai Di Lao at Somerset 313! The last time I had it was when I was Sec 3 in Beijing for a immersion program and I missed the taste and impeccable service so much! Cousin wanted to give me a birthday treat and he suggested HDL, so here we are! 

Since I was unable to make a reservation as the restaurant was fully booked, I can only go down earlier to Somerset 313 and take a queue number.    

I got the queue number at 4plus and had to wait till 6 plus before we had a table. Hence, I decided to go wait at Starbucks while I use my laptop. At around 6 when my cousin and sister are reaching, I decided to go back upstairs to wait and see if we had a table. 

I was asked to wait for a while more while they seated me at a waiting table and served me fruits and some snacks. There are also drinks available and even origami to kill time. HDL really did a good job in entertaining their customers. 

We would receive a $6 dish for free if we managed to fold 30 origami cranes or solve a Rubik's cube. I did not have time for that, so I tapped on to their free wifi. I did not have to wait long before we got a table and they reached not long after.

Selfie! As soon as we sat down, we received aprons, spectacles cleaner, hair ties and also a ziplock bag for our phones. HDL once did a great job in taking care of their customers by paying attention to these little details. 

Thoughtful thinking of the restaurant to provide specs cleaner as it is damn irritating when grime gets on the lenses and it's really difficult to clean.

Had a hard time deciding what to order since the price is on quite a high side. But cousin keep asking me to just order, but I ended up asking him to do so, with a taps on the iPad, our bill totaled to $130+ 

The soup bases were good though! We ordered two flavours, tomato soup base and the chicken soup base. Both are recommended by the waitress and popular choices of the customers. Rich soup bases with generous ingredients. The tomato soup base tastes really special and addictive once we tried it. The chicken soup is boiled with real black chicken unlike the common hotpot restaurants where we can only taste MSG in the soups. 

$18 fish

 Not that nice compared to other fish but the way they plate is really classy, show that is more worth the price due to the nice plating of the entire fish

Black Pork, sliced really thinly and cooked easily with a few swashes in the hot soup before dipping into the sauces. My favorite meat among all the other meats we ordered, taste heavenly with no odour at all, and reminds me of the black pork I had back in Korea.

Another photo before we officially started pigging out, taken by the professional waitress.

Birdie's attempt at posing with the poor fish

Let me give you a kiss before I eat you, person behind judging cousin 

Blurred picture of the waitress that served us throughout the dinner. I really love Hai Di Lao's service where every area is designated a waitress who will help you with the cooking of ingredients. She is very friendly and even chats with us. Unlike normal hotpot chains, the waitresses at HDL takes the initiative in replenishing the soup base, drinks without being told to do. She even helped us in removing the foam. GST well paid!

There are also free manicure service but I was not able to do it since they called me when I was in the middle of my meal. However, they gave me a card which I can redeem a manicure session next time.

Thank you cousin for the meal, I have wanted to try HDL since my last birthday but did not get to since the price is quite expensive and the queues are always damn long. Thanks for fattening me up!