We Checked Out The Hotpot Restaurant Previously Linked To Ex-PropertyLimBrothers’ Grayce Tan

In recent days however, the restaurant has found itself under the spotlight for reasons that extend beyond its food. It’s unclear whether Grayce is currently still the owner of Baby Hotpot — her personal Instagram and TikTok accounts have been deactivated (although her Facebook account hasn’t been taken down yet).

Baby Hotpot temporarily trolled by one-star Google reviews unrelated to its food 

Last week, posts on Reddit’s SingaporeRaw community pointed to a wave of one-star Google reviews that were briefly left on the restaurant’s page, but have since been removed. Many of these reviews were satirical, referencing the controversy involving Grayce, who has been in the news lately along with her former boss and co-founder of PropertyLimBrothers, Melvin Lim. The two recently left their positions at PLB amid speculation of an extra-marital affair.

Brief name change on Google 

Some of the posts on the restaurant’s Google page parodied food commentary, while other comments strayed far from the restaurant’s menu or service. During this period, the restaurant’s name was briefly changed to Yu Dong Lai Hotpot — the eatery’s previous name before Grayce’s takeover — before reverting to Baby Hotpot within days. It’s unclear whether the name change was due to a system glitch or something more.

Deserted dining room during 8days.sg’s Sunday lunch 

When 8days.sg visited Baby Hotpot for a late lunch at 2pm last Sunday, we found ourselves the only diners at the empty restaurant during our meal, which lasted over an hour. Perhaps the eatery sees more customers for dinner and supper. 

While there was a signboard bearing the Baby Hotpot brand at the restaurant’s entrance, a glass panel beside the door had the name Yu Dong Lai Hotpot printed on it (see below). Confused? Read on.

Inside, the cosy dining space felt calm and unfussy. Think modern Chinese eatery meets industrial café with light wooden furniture and red lanterns set against an exposed concrete ceiling.

“Boss never comes here”

We were greeted by two staff members. One man, who appeared to be cleaning utensils throughout our visit, did not speak English and seemed visibly annoyed — perhaps recognising our voice from the calls we made earlier in the week to fact-check details for this story. The other staff member, a woman who spoke simple English, was friendlier and attended to our order.

After we identified ourselves and asked about the restaurant’s ownership, the waitress said she was unsure who owned the business. “Boss never comes here [sic],” she said, adding: “I don’t know who is boss.”

When we showed her a photo of Grayce and asked if she recognised her, the waitress replied: “Sorry, I don’t know,” before adding that she had only recently joined the restaurant.

There also appeared to be uncertainty over the restaurant’s name. When we asked whether the eatery was called Yu Dong Lai Hotpot or Baby Hotpot, she said it was “Yu Dong Lai”, explaining that both names referred to the same place. “The same, these two the same place [sic],” she added.

She suggested we speak with the manager later as she wasn’t at the restaurant. We left her with our number.

Manager declined to comment on restaurant’s ownership

8days.sg later received a call from the restaurant’s manager. When we informed her that we were working on a story for Baby Hotpot, her response was a curt: “For what?”

After we asked her about the restaurant’s current ownership and whether she knew Grayce Tan, she replied in halting English: “I don’t know. I don’t know what you want”.

She added: “If you want to eat, you can call here. If you want anything else, don’t call this place okay?” before abruptly ending the call.

What we ate at Baby Hotpot

Now, on to the food. 8days.sg found the offerings at Baby Hotpot decent. Here’s what we ordered.

Spicy Hotpot (Butter), $10

There are four soup options available, including tomato and clear mushroom broth. However, we decided to order the decadent mala butter soup at a medium spice level. While there was no obvious hit of butter in this, the soup had a faint lemak quality and depth of flavour that we found quite addictive. That being said, this isn’t for the faint-hearted — even at medium spiciness, the heat builds up quickly.

Premium Beef Roll, $9.80 (8 DAYS Pick!)

Fatty, tender and flavourful beef — this was easily one of the highlights of our meal. The thin slices cooked quickly in our mala butter soup and paired well with the dipping sauces.

Handmade Shrimp Paste, $10.80 (8 DAYS Pick!)

Bouncy, packed with umami and yummy.

Beef With Hot Pepper, $8.80

Sauteed slices of beef generously coated in chilli powder. The waitress advised us to rinse the beef in soup before eating, but the eye-watering heat still overwhelmed the meat. Skip.

Handmade Noodles, $3.80

These QQ noodles held up well even after being left in the broth for a while.

Three-Vegetable Platter, $7.80

Broccoli, black fungus, napa cabbage and other leafy greens added a refreshing crunch to our meal.

Beauty Shrimp, $9.80

Boiled prawns that were fresh enough, but not particularly sweet. Nothing to shout about.

We topped up $2 per person so we could help ourselves to this spread of around 12 dipping sauces and other condiments such as chilli oil, minced garlic, and tahini. 

For every $70 spent, diners are offered a complimentary drink, including beer, though we opted for canned green tea instead.

Baby Hotpot is located at  #01-01 ZhongShan Park, 1 Jln Rajah, S329133. Open Mon to Thur 11am to 11pm; Fri to Sun 11am to 12am. More info via Instagram.

Photos: Khalil Samsuri