A Comprehensive Culinary Analysis
Yunnan Hotpot · CHIJMES, City Hall, Singapore
Review Date: May 2025
I. Restaurant Overview
Broth & Beyond occupies basement level one of CHIJMES, one of Singapore’s most storied colonial-era landmarks. The restaurant draws its conceptual and culinary lineage from Yunnan Province in southwestern China — a region celebrated for its extraordinary biodiversity, high-altitude forests, and a culinary tradition centered on wild mushrooms, mountain herbs, and slow-cooked broths. The restaurant positions itself as an accessible yet curated gateway into this underexplored corner of Chinese gastronomy.
Operating until 2:30AM on Fridays and Saturdays, Broth & Beyond fills a genuine gap in the Singapore dining landscape: a late-night, sit-down hotpot experience with considered ingredient sourcing, a 200-seat dining room, and a Market Table offering over 50 supplementary selections — all at a price point that refuses to compromise on quality.
The restaurant’s tagline of ‘locally sourced ingredients’ signals a conscious effort to balance Yunnan authenticity with Singapore’s stricter food import ecosystem — a challenge that shapes both the identity and the limitations of its menu.
II. Ambience & Spatial Analysis
First Impression
Entry into Broth & Beyond is a studied exercise in managed surprise. CHIJMES’ neo-Gothic stone corridors, with their arched ceilings and cool granite floors, offer a cool, heritage-inflected anteroom before the restaurant’s own aesthetic registers. The moment guests cross the threshold, the shift is immediate and intentional.
Lighting
The lighting scheme is built on warm amber tones — a deliberate choice that flatters both the food and the diner. The overall luminosity falls just below the threshold where text becomes difficult to read, landing in a zone that restaurant designers refer to as ‘intimate ambient.’ Individual table lighting creates islands of warmth within the broader room, encouraging the sense that each table occupies its own private world. The effect is notably unlike many competing hotpot establishments, which tend toward the harsh fluorescent lighting of a wet market — functional but uninviting.
Spatial Configuration
At 200 seats, Broth & Beyond is a large-format restaurant by any measure. Yet the design team has successfully avoided the cavernous, institutional quality that plagues many high-capacity dining rooms. The spacing between tables is generous — unusual for a Singapore restaurant where floor efficiency is typically paramount — and this translates into a dining experience free from the ambient noise and physical crowding that frequently accompanies busy hotpot meals. Conversations remain private without effort.
Aesthetic Language
The interior vocabulary draws loosely on Yunnan’s mountainous landscape imagery: earthy tones, clean lines, and textures that suggest stone and moss without the kitsch literalism of themed restaurants. There is a cleanliness to the aesthetic — a modernist restraint — that elevates the space beyond the rustic folk-art motifs common to many regional Chinese restaurants. The overall effect is what might be described as ‘contemporary mountain lodge’: sophisticated without pretension.
Practicality
The restaurant’s proximity to City Hall MRT Station — approximately five minutes on foot — makes it unusually accessible for a late-night dining destination. For the post-theatre or post-work crowd, this convenience is material. Ventilation is critical in any hotpot establishment, and Broth & Beyond manages the inherent steam and aroma challenge competently; diners leave without the pervasive cooking odour that is the occupational hazard of the genre.
III. Broth Analysis
In Yunnan hotpot, the broth is not a mere cooking medium — it is the conceptual and flavour foundation of the entire meal. It is prepared before service begins and continues to evolve throughout the meal as ingredients are cooked within it. The quality of a hotpot establishment can be read almost entirely in the complexity and depth of its base broths.
Signature Black Truffle & Eight-Mushroom Broth · $15.90++
Preparation & Methodology
This broth is simmered for a minimum of eight hours using chicken fat as the foundational lipid medium, with Yunnan mushrooms forming the principal flavour substrate. The use of chicken fat rather than neutral oil suggests an intent to build body and a subtle savouriness into the base without the heaviness of pork-derived fats. An optional tableside addition of black truffle allows the diner to modulate intensity.
Visual Profile
The broth presents as a clear, pale amber liquid with a luminosity that signals careful skimming during the reduction process. The absence of cloudiness indicates controlled heat application — a broth that has been simmered rather than boiled, preserving the clarity that Yunnan-style soups prioritise over the deliberately opaque tonkotsu aesthetic. Thin rivulets of fat catch the light at the surface, visible only under direct illumination.
Flavour Architecture
The dominant register is earthy — an immediate, grounding impression of dried and fresh fungi that evokes the forest floor after autumn rain. The mushroom notes are layered: there is a sweetness from the chicken base underneath, a slight brininess that suggests dried porcini or shiitake in the blend, and a lingering umami finish that coats the palate. The truffle addition, when deployed, introduces a fleeting aromatic volatility that dissipates within ninety seconds of contact with the hot liquid — its contribution is top-note florality rather than sustained depth. The net effect after truffle addition remains fundamentally mushroom-forward, which may disappoint diners expecting a truffle-dominant experience but will satisfy those seeking complexity within the umami spectrum.
Textural Observation
The broth’s viscosity is slightly elevated relative to a plain chicken stock — the collagen extracted over eight hours of slow reduction contributes a coating quality on the tongue. This is the correct texture for a Yunnan-style clear broth: it should feel nourishing, with a weight that announces its slow preparation.
Assessment
A technically sound broth that rewards patience and ingredient addition. It improves markedly as mushrooms, proteins, and starches are cooked within it, absorbing their flavours into an increasingly complex baseline. Score: 7.5/10.
Signature Golden Fungus Chicken Broth · $15.90++
Preparation & Methodology
Built on a locally sourced chicken base with Yunnan golden fungus, dried shiitake mushrooms, and dried scallops, this broth takes a different architectural approach: it layers sweetness and brininess over the umami foundation.
Visual Profile
Where the truffle-mushroom broth reads as cool amber, the golden fungus chicken broth presents as a warmer, deeper gold — the colour of late afternoon light filtered through heavy curtains. The golden fungus itself, before being consumed, bobs at the surface in translucent fronds that catch the light like watercolour washes. There is a slight opalescence in the liquid, attributable to the dissolved proteins from the chicken.
Flavour Architecture
The dried scallop introduction is the most distinctive element here: it adds a briny sweetness that elevates the profile above a standard chicken broth. The golden fungus contributes mild earthiness without the assertiveness of porcini or shiitake, allowing the scallop and chicken to remain in the foreground. The cumulative effect is rounder, sweeter, and more harmonically resolved than the truffle-mushroom broth — better suited to more delicate proteins like seafood and lighter vegetables. However, the base’s reliance on chicken creates a ceiling on the broth’s richness that pork would transcend. The deeper umami resonance that comes from pork bone collagen and fat is absent, leaving a slight thinness in the mid-palate.
Assessment
A more immediately accessible broth, well-suited to those who prefer sweeter, lighter flavour profiles. Technically accomplished but constrained by ingredient sourcing choices. Score: 7/10.
IV. In-Depth Dish Analysis
- Yunnan Delicacy Mushroom Platter · $28.99++
Containing gold fungus, wine cap mushroom, and chanterelle mushroom, this platter is the most authentically Yunnan item on the menu and the one that most directly communicates the restaurant’s conceptual identity.
Gold Fungus (Flammulina velutipes var. aurea)
Raw hue: deep ochre with amber-gold fronds that fan outward in clusters, suggesting the arrangement of a chrysanthemum head. Post-cooking hue: the golden tone deepens into a warm amber-brown as the Maillard-adjacent heat reactions in the broth develop the sugars within the fungus walls. The gold fungus absorbs broth at a high rate — its porous, sponge-like architecture draws liquid inward within thirty to forty-five seconds of submersion in a rolling simmer. This property transforms the fungus into a delivery mechanism for the broth’s flavour. Texture post-cooking: yielding at the exterior fronds, with a slight resistive core that provides a satisfying push-back. The chew is gentle, clean, and non-fibrous.
Wine Cap Mushroom (Stropharia rugosoannulata)
Raw hue: a deep burgundy-crimson cap fading to pale cream at the gills — visually striking against the white ceramic platter. Post-cooking hue: the crimson bleeds into the broth slightly, tinting the immediate surrounding liquid a faint rose before dispersing. The cap softens from its initially firm raw state to a supple, mildly chewy texture. Flavour: mild, slightly nutty, with a grassy freshness.
Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius)
The most flavourful mushroom on the platter. Raw hue: egg-yolk yellow, wavy and irregularly folded rather than gilled — the chanterelle’s signature forked ridges catch light differently from every angle. Post-cooking hue: the yellow mutes into a paler cream-gold as heat breaks down the pigments. Texture: initially firm and meaty; post-cooking retains more structural integrity than the gold fungus, providing a denser bite with a faint peppery finish that lingers on the sides of the tongue. - Pork and Beef Platter · $36.99++
A mixed protein offering across pork belly, pork collar, and beef tongue — three cuts that represent meaningfully different anatomical and textural territories.
Pork Belly
Sliced thin against the grain to approximately 2–3mm, the pork belly reveals clear fat-to-lean striations when held to light — alternating white and rose-pink bands that signal a well-marbled sourcing. Raw hue: pale ivory fat capping a salmon-rose muscle layer. Post-cooking hue: the fat renders to near-translucency, while the meat takes on a pale, cooked-protein beige with edges curling to a soft caramel where they contact the hottest zones of the broth. Flavour: the fat renders rapidly in hot broth, releasing richness into the surrounding liquid while the lean meat firms to a tender, slightly springy bite. The fat-to-lean ratio is described as ‘good’ — subjectively, this suggests a belly slice that avoids both the excessive greasiness of thick-cut uncured bacon and the dryness of over-lean cuts.
Pork Collar (Neck)
The collar cut is anatomically from the neck-shoulder junction — a muscle group with moderate fat marbling and a finer intramuscular fat distribution than belly. The resulting texture after brief hotpot cooking (30–45 seconds) is notably tender, with a slight resistance that resolves cleanly. This is arguably the more versatile of the two pork cuts for hotpot application.
Beef Tongue
Raw hue: deep rose-red, denser in colour than the pork cuts. The tongue is a smooth muscle that, when sliced thin and cooked briefly, offers a uniquely clean, slightly firm chew — it does not shred or flake but presses back against the teeth in a satisfying, springy resistance. Post-cooking hue: a browned exterior with a retained rose interior indicating medium doneness. The flavour profile is subtly richer than conventional beef cuts, with a mineral edge and a clean finish. - Signature Jasmine Flower Shrimp Paste · $18.99++
This is the most distinctive product on the menu — handcrafted shrimp paste infused with Yunnan florals, a culinary gesture that places Yunnan’s tradition of edible flowers in dialogue with the Cantonese technique of shrimp paste moulding.
Visual Profile
Raw: pale pink paste formed into decorative jasmine flower shapes — the petals clearly delineated by skilled hand-moulding. The colour is natural, derived from the shrimp’s astaxanthin content without artificial enhancement. Post-cooking hue: the paste blooms into a deeper, vivid coral-pink that announces freshness. This colour intensification is a reliable indicator of shrimp quality — heat causes astaxanthin (bound to protein in raw shrimp) to denature and shift to its free, highly chromatic form.
Textural Analysis
The bounce described as ‘springy’ derives from the myosin proteins in the shrimp paste cross-linking during thermal processing — a process the industry refers to as ‘surimi elasticity,’ though here achieved through handcrafting rather than industrial processing. A good shrimp paste presses against the teeth with spring rather than resistance, and releases cleanly without rubbery trailing.
Flavour
The jasmine infusion operates in the olfactory register more than on the palate — the floral aromatics are volatile and disperse rapidly in the broth’s heat. What remains is a pure, clean crustacean sweetness without the ammonia notes that betray poor shrimp quality. The interaction with the mushroom broths is harmonious, as the shrimp’s natural sweetness amplifies the round umami notes. - Tri-Coloured Handcrafted La Mian · $8.99++
The three-colour noodle is a technical showcase: natural pigments — likely squid ink (black/deep blue), butterfly pea flower or spinach (green), and plain wheat (ivory) — are incorporated into the dough during kneading. Hand-pulling la mian is a physically demanding and skill-dependent process: the dough must achieve a specific gluten development that allows it to be stretched repeatedly to fine strands without tearing.
Textural Analysis
Raw: the noodles are dense and supple, with a slight tackiness indicating adequate hydration. At the 60–90 second simmer mark recommended by the restaurant, the exterior hydrates further and softens, while the interior retains a slight al dente resistance — the ‘QQ’ texture that is the Singaporean-Chinese descriptor for this elastic, chewy quality. This dual-texture architecture — yielding exterior, resistant core — is the mark of a well-pulled noodle and distinguishes it from the uniform softness of machine-extruded alternatives.
Visual Observation
The three colours lay side by side in the bowl in a deliberate arrangement: ivory, jade green, deep indigo-black. As the noodles cook, the colours remain distinct if the broth is clear but bleed if the cooking time is extended beyond two minutes. The visual complexity adds significantly to the presentation value. - Fragrant Fermented Beancurd Chicken Wings · $13.99++ (4 pcs)
This is a side dish rather than a hotpot item, but its preparation and flavour complexity merit detailed attention.
Preparation
The wings are first marinated in a combination of Yunnan spices and fermented beancurd (南乳, nánrǔ), a red-fermented tofu produced through salt and red yeast rice fermentation that imparts umami depth, gentle sweetness, and a distinctive reddish hue. The marinade penetrates during an unstated resting period before each wing is coated in a thin batter and deep-fried to order.
Visual Profile
Post-frying hue: a deep, lacquered mahogany with patches of amber where the batter is thinnest. The fermented beancurd’s red pigments caramelise during frying to produce a colour that suggests — but does not mimic — the look of Cantonese roast meats. Surface texture is visibly granular from the batter, indicating a coarse-grind coating that maximises surface area and therefore crunch.
Textural Analysis
The thin batter strategy is a deliberate choice: it privileges the integrity of the wing skin beneath over the creation of a thick, independent crust. The result is a shatteringly crisp surface that transitions immediately into juicy, yielding chicken — a textural contrast that is sharper and more pleasurable than the thicker coatings common to Korean fried chicken variations. The tartare sauce on the side offers a fatty, acidic counterpoint, though the wings are fully resolved without it.
Flavour
The fermented beancurd imparts a layered, savoury-sweet depth that is qualitatively different from plain salted or spiced marinades. There is a mild funkiness in the background — not offensive, but present, like a very gentle blue cheese undertone — that elevates the complexity. The Yunnan spice blend (composition unstated, but likely including dried chilli, Sichuan pepper, and aromatic bark spices) contributes heat and warmth in the finish. - Yunnan Spice Wagyu Jerky · $18.99++
The wagyu jerky is the most unusual item sampled: premium beef marinated in proprietary Yunnan spices, grilled, then finished fried with Yunnan garlic.
Textural & Visual Profile
The dual cooking process — grilling followed by frying — produces a distinctive layered structure: a slightly charred, firm exterior from the grill gives way to a compact, slightly yielding interior. The texture profile draws accurate comparison to grilled bacon: the surface char and the absence of thick intramuscular fat (jerky preparation removes surface moisture) means the bite is firm and focused. Hue: deep mahogany with char edges approaching black; the garlic finish adds pale golden-brown bits that provide visual and textural contrast.
V. The Market Table — A Structural Analysis
At $4.99++ per person, the Market Table is the most compelling value proposition in Broth & Beyond’s offering. The concept — a curated spread of over 50 supplementary selections priced at a fixed supplement — transforms the hotpot meal from a closed, itemised experience into an open, exploratory one.
Condiment Architecture
The condiment section offers the foundational building blocks of the Chinese hotpot dipping sauce: soy sauce as the umami base, chopped raw garlic for pungency and texture, red chilli for variable heat, and additional options for personalisation. The breadth of choice here is meaningful: a skilled diner can construct a highly personalised dipping profile by combining components. This is culinarily significant because the dipping sauce functions as a flavour correction layer — balancing the broth’s baseline flavours with acidity, fat, and heat as needed.
Appetiser Selection
The house-made kimchi demonstrates cross-cultural culinary fluency: a Korean fermentation technique applied within a Chinese dining context. The cherry tomatoes serve a palate-cleansing function between bites of richer proteins. The mala king oyster mushrooms — mushrooms tossed in the numbing-spicy Sichuan mala sauce — are the standout here, their chew amplified by the sauce’s tingly anaesthetic quality from Sichuan peppercorn, though more generous sauce coating is warranted for full flavour delivery.
Dessert Station
The DIY dessert station is the Market Table’s most theatrical element. Taro balls (芋圓, yùyuán) — a Taiwanese street food staple — are the textural centrepiece: dense, chewy spheres with the QQ quality that defines the genre. The osmanthus white jelly contributes a pale, translucent cube with a delicate floral sweetness derived from osmanthus flowers. The strawberry jelly provides acidity and vivid chromatic contrast in its deep red. Condensed milk functions as the binding sweet medium, while water chestnut pearls add a clean, crunchy counterpoint to the dominant softness of the other components.
The cumulative effect of the dessert bowl is a study in textural contrasts: chew (taro balls), bounce (jelly), crunch (water chestnut), and liquid sweetness (condensed milk) operating simultaneously. This architecture — multiple textures within a single bowl — is the hallmark of the Southeast Asian dessert tradition and is executed thoughtfully here.
VI. Reconstructed Recipe — Yunnan Eight-Mushroom Broth
Based on observation of the broth’s flavour profile, clarity, and texture, the following reconstruction approximates the preparation methodology:
Ingredients (serves 4–6)
Chicken fat or good chicken carcasses: 500g, ideally with skin for fat content
Yunnan dried porcini or shiitake: 30g, rehydrated in cold water 4 hours
Fresh shiitake mushrooms: 150g, stems separated
King oyster mushrooms: 100g, roughly torn
Dried scallops (optional, for the golden fungus variant): 20g
Water: 3 litres, cold
Fresh ginger: 4 slices, unpeeled
White pepper: ½ teaspoon, whole
Salt: To taste at service only
Black truffle (finishing): 10–15g, shaved
Method
Stage 1 — Blanching (15 minutes)
Place chicken carcasses in cold water and bring to a rapid boil. Boil for five minutes — the water will become grey and foamy as blood and impurities release. Drain entirely and rinse the bones under cold running water. This step is non-negotiable for broth clarity: skipping it produces a cloudy, bitter result.
Stage 2 — Initial Build (30 minutes)
Place cleaned bones in a fresh pot with three litres of cold water. Add ginger and white pepper. Bring to a simmer — not a boil — over medium heat. The moment convection currents appear (approximately 90°C), reduce heat to the lowest setting that maintains gentle movement. Boil creates cloudiness; simmer creates clarity.
Stage 3 — Mushroom Integration (hours 1–8)
At the one-hour mark, add the drained dried mushrooms and their soaking liquid (strained through muslin to remove grit). Add fresh mushroom stems. Maintain the gentle simmer. Skim the surface every thirty minutes to remove accumulated fat and protein foam. This skimming is the labour-intensive element that distinguishes a restaurant-quality broth from a domestic one.
At the four-hour mark, taste and assess: the broth should be noticeably sweet, deeply savoury, and carry a clear forest-floor earthiness. If the mushroom notes feel flat, add a small piece of dried kombu (a compatible addition, though not traditional) and remove after twenty minutes.
Continue simmering for a further four hours. The total reduction should be approximately 25–30% from the starting volume.
Stage 4 — Final Strain & Service
Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing gently on the solids. Do not force — excessive pressure will cloud the broth. Season with salt only at service. Reheat to service temperature (approximately 85°C) in the hotpot vessel. Present the truffle on the side, allowing the diner to shave it into the broth at will.
Optimal Cooking Sequence at the Table
The sequence in which ingredients enter the hotpot broth is a meaningful culinary decision: delicate items cooked first will have their flavours absorbed into the broth and altered before hardier ingredients arrive. The recommended sequence for Broth & Beyond’s menu, reconstructed from the meal:
1 — Gold fungus and chanterelle mushrooms first (15 seconds), removed and reserved. Their sugars and volatiles enter the broth and begin its flavour evolution.
2 — Pork belly and pork collar (30–45 seconds). The fat renders and enriches the broth.
3 — Shrimp paste formations (60–90 seconds). Proteins denature and the paste firms.
4 — Beef tongue (45 seconds). Brief cooking preserves the tongue’s characteristic springy texture.
5 — La mian noodles (90 seconds). Added last, as their starch clouds the broth if present throughout.
6 — Wine cap and king oyster mushrooms can be added mid-sequence, as their robust structure tolerates variable cooking times.
VII. Final Assessment
Strengths
Broth & Beyond’s most significant achievement is spatial and structural: a 200-seat late-night hotpot restaurant that manages to feel curated rather than industrial. The Market Table at $4.99++ is an exceptional value proposition. The mushroom platter is the most authentic Yunnan representation on the menu. The chicken wings demonstrate kitchen technical range beyond the hotpot format.
Limitations
The truffle broth’s truffle contribution is fleeting — those expecting an aromatic, truffle-dominant experience will find the mushroom character more dominant. The golden fungus chicken broth’s ceiling is set by the use of chicken rather than pork, producing a slightly thinner mid-palate. The mala king oyster mushrooms on the Market Table would benefit from a more generous sauce application.
Overall Rating
Broth & Beyond represents a thoughtful, commercially astute interpretation of Yunnan hotpot for a Singapore audience. It is not a maximalist fine-dining statement, nor does it attempt to be. Within its declared parameters — accessible pricing, authentic ingredient focus, generous spatial design, and late-night operation — it delivers with consistency and occasional distinction.
Overall Score: 7.5 / 10
Broth & Beyond · 30 Victoria Street, #B1-01/02, CHIJMES, Singapore 187996
Thu–Sun 11:30am–11:30pm · Fri–Sat 11:30am–2:30am · Not halal-certified