Hot Spot Cafe Restaurant - Delicious Tom Yum Beside Sim Lim Square

Hot Spot Cafe Restaurant is a popular spot during lunch time as seen from its snaking long queue, almost impossible to miss on a weekday afternoon. It is conveniently located right beside Sim Lim Square too. Named the “Best Tom Yam Fish Soup”, we knew we had to give it a shot.

The queue was slightly shorter compared to a typical weekday but we still had to queue for about 20 minutes. Be prepared to sweat as there is no air conditioner in the queuing area! Fortunately, they are now newly renovated so there is more space and slightly more room.

What to Eat at Hot Spot Cafe Restaurant

Of course, I dare say nobody is here for the ambiance. The food is the star that steals the show! We ordered a Tom Yam Sliced Fish Maggie Mee ($6.50) and a Tom Yam Fried Fish Ban Mian ($6.50) with a side of fried egg bomb ($1.50). For the non-spicy eaters, there is also an option of a normal fish or seafood soup, but we highly recommend you to brave the heat and go for the Tom Yam soup (but perhaps have it with an iced milo)!

There are many combinations you can choose from depending on your preferences. You can choose the soup base – Tom Yam or clear, the ingredients – sliced fish, fried fish or seafood, and your staple – rice, or a variety of 9 other noodles. We had opted for a hot favourite, the maggie mee and a slightly bolder choice, Tom Yam with Ban Mian?

Every bowl is made on the spot upon order, so rest assured that your maggie mee will come al dente, still crispy and chewy. We were first taken aback by the non-conventional ingredients in the bowl – fresh lime and tofu like an authentic bowl of Tom Yam! And indeed, the Tom Yam soup was not diluted but instead packed so much flavour in just a single sip. They are not playing around as they have taken BOTH the spiciness and sourness up a notch, so be warned to take it slow or it might go down the strong way.

As the instant noodles have not been soaked for too long in order to maintain their springiness, you will find that the noodles have not fully absorbed the soup. On the other hand, the ban mian noodles, given its texture and superb absorbent capabilities, easily absorbed the tom yam soup, so every bite into the noodles exploded with bits of Tom Yam soup. However because of the same reasons, the Ban Mian is much softer and stickier, with a starchier Tom Yam soup as well that is very apparent from its colour.

We’ve tried 2 ends of the spectrum and there is something for everyone. Whether you are the “soft” or “springy” type, there is one thing that we will all love – the fried egg bomb! It was quite a pricey top up for a bowl of airy fried eggs but we knew it would complement the Tom Yam. You can either have it crispy by eating it on its own, or you can dump the whole bowl into your soup and let it soak for a few minutes like us. The fried egg bomb doesn’t taste like much on its own but with enough time in the soup, it becomes soggy and packed with the sourness of the Tom Yam.

While the soup was truly tasty, it had just 4 small slices of fish which we found was pretty pricey for a bowl of noodles that cost almost 40% more than a typical hawker centre. We made sure to finish every single drop to make the time and money worth it, and also because the soup was so good!

If you are planning to pop by soon, be sure to go before dinner time as they can sell out pretty fast. Be sure to share with us if you discover a winning combination that works well best with the Tom Yam soup!