Upin Hot Pot 優品火鍋 (Clarke Quay Central)

Amazing freshness.
Skip the buffet - go for ala carte .

This was so good omg!!! One of my new favourite hotpot places to go to! Ordered the pork bone soup and tomato soup and holy the tomato soup was so good, I kept drinking it (coming from someone who hardly drinks soup lol)! Ingredients were super fresh and generous too. Definitely a must go!!!

Dinner with friends = HOT pot time! ✌🏻 Inspired by @eatbooksg who ordered everything on the menu at places like Shake Shake, A&W & The Alley (honestly we were just being gluttons 🐷🐷🐷), we ordered almost everything on the menu of @upinhotpot. 😂 After hours of feasting (& we did a decent job in finishing most of the food, it cost us $50 per pax (for 6 ppl), which I felt was very reasonable! 👌🏻 [NOT SPONSORED!]
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We ordered the dual yuan-yang pot with their signature Tomato Soup 🍅 & Butter Soup (essentially Spicy Mala Soup 🌶 with blocks of butter!) for $18++. Honestly speaking, it was extremely intimidating looking at the amount of butter (& dried chillies)  floating atop at the start 😱 - I could already feel my arteries choking up. But as they melted, the fragrance of the butter enhanced the soup base, which became a faint aroma especially after topping up soup. 🥣
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We ploughed through the wide range of food items they offered & was delighted with the variety. 😍😍😍 Meats (prime beef $15 🥩, black pork $12 🐷, pork belly $8, mutton slices $10 🐑) were tender with no gamey taste, mash shrimp paste $12 🦐 was fresh, meatballs (we had cheese beef balls $12, mushroom meatballs $8, handmade pork balls $8, sweet corn pork balls $8) were firm yet bouncy. 💕
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It was Fear Factor (Upin edition) 😱😱😱 with exotic items like Beef tripe ($12) & Swine throat ($12) but these were 2 items that we wouldn’t recommend as they were too tough. 🙅🏻‍♀️ Pig’s Stomach ($10) & pork liver ($6) were alright though! 👌🏻
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Not only was it a gastronomical experience, it was also a cultural one - there was Sze-Chuan 变脸 (face-changing) performance 💯, as well as Dancing Noodles performance, just like at Hai Di Lao. 😊
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Will we return? The answer is Yes! ✔ Mental note: do not over-order next time!

Portion here is huge. They do not have half portion so it will be better to come in a group so that you can try more! Pales in comparison to BIAP and Haidilao but overall still decent. Service was good. Allowed us to cancel the dishes after ordering.

Situated at Clarke Quay Central & Orchard Gateway, Upin Hotpot is a rival of the famous HDL, but in a pocket-friendly way.

They have popular soup bases such as mala and tomato soup, which is cooked daily to ensure its freshness and standards.

You’d be able to find the typical favourites such as shrimp paste ($12), Fried Beancurd Skin ($6) & the usual meaty suspects, Pork Belly ($8) & US Beef Slices ($12).

Portions all come in full sizes as half sizes are not available (yet), but still remains fairly affordable at

Visited Upin for a small pre-CNY gathering with friends after reading some reviews that it’s the more affordable and ‘some say even better’ than HDL option.

I made a reservation online requesting for a table overlooking the river (definitely do that because the view is nice!). Since it was for CNY, I also asked if it was possible to order Yu sheng or bring our own. They do serve Yu sheng but it requires one day advance booking. I received a call from them the day after confirming the reservation and asking about the Yu sheng. I’m a jiak kantang so I get antsy when Chinese restaurants call me especially if they speak mandarin - thank goodness this wasn’t the case here. The lady who called to confirm my reservation was very pleasant.

There was no queue at Upin when I arrived at 6.30pm and was promptly escorted to our table overlooking Clarke Quay. Like HDL, drinks are free flow but with additional charge (except for water). Condiments - similar situation. They pressed us to order the broths we wanted despite 3/5 of our group still absent. A max of 3 broths can be ordered, so we opted for mushroom, tomato and ma la. I do think the broths are pretty yummy, and they can go toe to toe with HDL, although the fragrance of the ma la broth wasn’t as strong or spicy.

Yu sheng was served after the hotpot. When it arrived, the colour on the dish looked quite dull. Not the usual vibrant colours of Yu sheng that excite me. The veg didn’t taste very fresh, and we didn’t enjoy the Yu sheng much. But of course they are a hotpot restaurant, so I can’t hold it against them. Would definitely give this a miss if I ever visited during CNY period again.

Overall, the decor isn’t as fancy, the service isn’t as attentive or friendly, nor are the ingredient and condiment selections as extensive as HDL. But it is definitely a more affordable option - so if budget is what’s on your mind - Upin is a viable alternative. For me though, there are other hotpot places I’d give a try before returning here, and I’d stick with HDL for the times I want to splurge on hot pot.