Beppu Menkan Restaurant

Ambience: Beppu has moved from its previous location across the street to this outlet. The environment is still roughly the same: cool, cozy and dim (which offers respite from the fierce sunshine outside). There is a good number of long tables, which is great for office lunches.

Service: The waitstaff are pleasant, helpful and courteous. Our server didn't have to do much as we already knew what we wanted to eat, but he did offer us drinks from the beverage list.

Food: We came specifically for the Paper Pot range of dishes, which offers a personal stone pot of bubbling soup stock crammed full of ingredients. At first glance, the paper pot seems to be quite empty but when you dig down (gently!) you will appreciate the generous amounts of napa cabbage at the bottom of the bowl. Accompanied by slices of carrots, shiitake mushroom and golden mushroom, the cabbage gently boils and softens at the base, while the main ingredients, in our case, seafood (two mussels, one prawn) take centrestage. Also available with sliced beef, chicken, mushroom or salmon.

Served with a bowl of rice and a small portion of pickles, the set is surprisingly filling. A thoughtful touch is a small pot of stock to top-up the bubbling bowl. Affordable at just $15.80

Drinks: There is a small drinks list available, but we opted for the free-flow of hot or cold green tea with a slice of lemon ($2) which was a refreshing balance to the steaming steamboat.