I have always found the idea of a conveyor belt rather hypnotic. There is something about watching plates of food glide past you that is rather intriguing. At first, it is the curiosity about what is coming next, but after a while, it is about when the stuff you actually want is coming!

So if you like conveyor belts and hotpots and you happen to live in the northern part of our little red dot, you would be glad to know that Joylion Buffet Hotpot 喜狮锅 has opened at Lentor Modern. Lisa and I had actually done a food trail for Lentor Modern before it was even built! We were thrilled to go back to see the complex already up and running.

While Joylion is not the first conveyor belt hotpot concept in Singapore, it is the first one in the heartlands. And they offer a wide variety of ingredients. Over 100 dishes both fresh and cooked, are conveyed past your seat for lunch. They tell us that they have around 130 items which they rotate between the different sessions!

The Concept

If you are familiar with individual-style hotpots, you would be very familiar with the setting. Each diner gets their own individual pot, and you get to choose the soup that you like. The big difference is that instead of having to go to the counter to pick your meats, seafood, and vegetables, you just need to pick them off the conveyor belt.

You do still need to make a trip to the counter for your drinks and sauces though. The belt itself loops around the restaurant, carrying everything from thinly sliced meats to dumplings, vegetables, seafood, cooked food and even desserts.

It is a 79-seater restaurant where most of the seats are for individual diners. They also have booth seats that can accommodate parties of up to four. Each person has his or her own individual hotpot, but the two seated at the sides will be responsible for taking the food off the moving belt.

Pricin...