The weird noodle bundles are made from Konjac.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konjac
No clue about the beef, my parents have a machine to slice them super thin. Go with the squidballs, fishballs, beef balls, the tofu cubes, fresh medium tofu, chinese you choi, egg noodles, fish noodles, vermicelli, shrimp, fish, dumplings, fresh aake mushrooms. Can't remember anything else but some of those things are a good start. Squid balls and beef balls are my personal favorites.
In T&T you can get a bunch of that in the fish section, the balls are all in a section in the corner. I think the spongey tofu stuff is in that section too. The Konjac noodle things come in a plastic container and you should be able to see them inside.
For sauces, we usually have soy sauce with garlic powder, wasabi and hot pepper on the side to mix in.
Man haven't had hotpot in a long time. Can't remember what else there is but that's what i can think of.
In the T&T by Marlborough mall, it should be all nearby the fish section, except for the greens.