Tom Manchurian Lamb Hotpot (满族全羊铺) actually popped out on our search as we went about finding a venue that specialised in lamb cuisine. Somehow, there was a craving for great tasting lamb but we knew that there would be a catch – the gamey taste that comes with lamb. The challenge was to find a venue that would be able to serve up delicious, tender lamb, without the gamey taste. Hence, our search narrowed down to restaurants that specialises in lamb dishes. As the name Manchurian Lamb Hotpot suggests, they do specialise in lamb cuisine. In addition, we saw that they’ve been serving Old Beijing-styled lamb dishes in Singapore for more than 8 years. 8 years is a rather long time in the competitive dining scene in Singapore. This means that they must be serving some great lamb dishes and therefore the probability of having delicious lamb sans gamey taste, would be rather high. We think. 🙄
About Manchurian Lamb HotPot (满族全羊铺)
Manchurian Lamb Hotpot is located at 18 Smith Streeet (S058932), a short walk from Chinatown MRT. If you know about the now defunct Chinatown Food Street, it is located along this stretch of restaurants in the heart of Chinatown…
It is actually not too difficult to locate Manchurian Lamb Hotpot in Chinatown. Red is the colour you’d be looking out for. Red tables and red lanterns with a huge signboard, that writes in “满族全羊铺” gold.
Manchurian Lamb Hotpot consists of 3 levels. When we visited, the 2nd and 3rd levels were not yet open. To access the toilet, you’d have to exit the restaurant and take the stairs up to the 3rd floor. Within the restaurant, you’d find decorations that relate to the Manchurians…
While writing this post, we did a quick research about Manchuria from Wiki (“the most trusted source of information and history”) and found that Manchuria was formerly under Japanese rule until the end of WW2. It is the homeland of Qing Dynasty emperors, including Pu Yi, the last emperor of China. In modern China, Manchuria is where the three northeastern provinces east of the Greater Khingan Range, namely Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang lies – which is today, synonymous with the yummy Dongbei cuisine we see in Singapore today.
What we had at Manchurian Lamb HotPot (满族全羊铺)
Even before we entered Manchurian Lamb Hotpot, we had scoured through the Machurian Lamb Hotpot Menu online and had decided on 2 dishes – Braised Lamb Hotpot (红焖羊肉锅) as well as the BBQ Lamb Ribs (宫廷锡纸烤羊排). These 2 dishes would be sufficient for us to figure out whether the lamb itself had any gamey taste, whether cooked with a hotpot broth or with the BBQ method. No gamey taste would escape our senses during this visit. The other thing we realised was that the dishes named as “hotpot” was really a lamb-based hotpot with different soup variations so that you can cook other raw dishes such as vegetables, tofu, wide noodles (yes please!), meats and dumplings, just like you would at a hotpot restaurant…
To accompany the meaty feast, we decided to try out the Qingdao Laote Beer…
Turns out that the Qingdao Laote Beer tasted more malty than hoppy. The latter being a more familiar taste for Singaporeans. The “malty-ness” comes from Australian malted barley, which is an acquired taste. Refreshing, though we’d probably pick the usual Qindao or Snow beers for future visits.
First, let’s talk about the BBQ Lamb Ribs (宫廷锡纸烤羊排)
Without being too cliche, this was probably one of the best lamb ribs we’ve tasted in a long while. Firstly, no gamey taste! To remove the gamey taste from lamb requires some preparations and with the amazing meaty taste that remained, Manchurian Lamb must have spent some effort on the pre-cooking phase. Secondly, the proportion of fatty parts to meaty parts on the lamb rib was excellent. Sufficient fatty bits that accompanied the tasty lamb. Lastly, the lamb was sooo tender! The meat literally just falls off the bones, leaving you licking the juices and fatty bits off your fingers with each bite. The seasoning was also not overpowering. While we were able to taste the seasoning such as the peppers and cumin, never did it steal the show from the excellent lamb meat itself. Shiok! 🤤
Next, the Braised Lamb Hotpot (宫廷锡纸烤羊排)
As with the BBQ Lamb Ribs, the lamb meats within the Braised Lamb Hotpot did not exhibit any gamey taste nor was it trying to hide within the braised broth. This meant that while the broth was light (instead of the conventional braised beef soup which would be rather heavy sometimes), the lamb remained tender and tasty. Also, there were so much meat within! We almost had a little problem of finishing the hotpot. Plus, there were other ingredients such as potato and the wide noodles thrown in. So thankful that we didn’t order a separate portion of wide noodles. Otherwise, it would have resulted in a massive waste of food. One thing to note though, there is a layer of oil above the hotpot. Presumably from the fatty lamb itself. Hence, remember to gently blow and cool your soup, else a nasty scald may ensue! 😅
If you enjoyed our content, “Like” us on Facebook Today!
We hope you have enjoyed our review of Manchurian Lamb Hotpot (满族全羊铺) at Chinatown Singapore. Although the prices were a little steep, the lamb meats itself were certainly satisfying. This time, we reduced our damage with the 50% discount from Eatigo and paid a total of $65.60 for the Braised Lamb Hotpot, BBQ Lamb Ribs, Qingdao Laote Beer and bowl of rice. For your next lamb craving, we’d definitely recommend a visit to Manchurian Lamb Hotpot (满族全羊铺), preferably with a discount in hand!
