One-Ninety - No Souffle!

My first brush with 4-Seasons Sunday Brunch was about a decade ago when I was still in colleage. We were on our way to Mezza 9 (if my memory serves me right) and I was told that 4-seasons serves the best Sunday brunch with a fabulous souffle station in Singapore. That sentence has been etched in my mind ever since.

So 10 years later, I finally have the oppotunity to validate this statement. Naturally, it was a visit with very high expectations.
The 1st spolier came when I called to make reservations, I was told that the brunch runs from 1115 to 3pm but divided into 2 seatings meaning we have to keep check on time as each seating is limited to about 2 hours. Dang....

So came sunday and we were all ready to feast ourselves silly within the limited 2 hour span.
The brunch spills out of the restaurant into the walkway and the corridor lining the lift from the carpark mainly consisting of the following stations: -

1. Chinese
There is a roast meat station with some dim sum items along side the laksa station. I did not bother with the chinese station at all but Mr HB reported that the laksa is pretty good.

2. Japanese and seafood
The japanese offering is really limited with only sushi and sahimi. The sashimi variety is also lacking with only 3-4 types of cuts. In front of the japanese station is the oyster spread. There are 2 types - canadian and irish. I tried the canadian oysters, there are fresh and delicious. Also in the seafood station is the prawns on ice which was skipped by me. I would expect that the seafood spread be more "extravagent" for the big price tag that it commanded.

3. Salad and Wrap station
Skipped this also.

4. Risotto stationYou have a choice between parmesan cheese and white truffle oil for your risotto rice. We ordered both to share amongst us. The parmesan version is more flavourful and the white truffle version rather lacking in taste, both pretty forgettable.

5. Pasta station
We had a pesto fettucine with garlic from this station. It is not bad but again not something that had us going for seconds.

6. Egg station
How can anyone miss out eggs in a sunday brunch? This was actually the first station that I headed to. You can have your eggs done anyway you wished. I had 2 egg benedicts that day. This was one of the more impressionable dish I had for the entire brunch. The egg is served on top of a piece of ham piled onto a english muffin bread with lots of cheese on top, this is simply delicious.

7. Grill station
This is the only other station that had me gg for seconds other than the egg station. There is a range of meats from ribeye, lamb, chicken breast, salmon, pork loin to choose from and you can have it according to your prefernce of doneness. I had a piece of salmon and ribeye of which the salmon is overcooked and dry and the ribeye is erm...I think I can get better ribeye steaks at a fraction of the price.
BUT, the saving grace is the foi gras. This is very juicy and tender, I helped myself to 2 servings of this before it became too jer lat to down anymore.

8. Cheese, bread and cracker station.
Skipped this as well.

9. Dessert station
Now, I had really really HIGH expectation of the dessert station and was expecting to see different types of souffle available for my selection but alas was missing! I hate to repeat myself but there is NO souffle station.
Looking around somemore, hoping to find something that will help to redeem the letdown due to the mysterious absence of the souffle only to discover that the spread of dessert is sorely limited, out of which I only find the sacher torte and strawberry cheese cake lived up to my classification of "good", the tiramisu and hazelnut praline just did not leave any impression.
After just 2 rounds from the dessert station, I gave up.

10. Martini and Juice Bar
Nope, the ice machine where u pour in your martini and collect it from the other end is gone, instead u have a bartender shaking it up for u. You get to choose from a list of 5 flavours.

There is also a variety of juices to choose from.I was expecting more, a lot more for the price of this sunday brunch, so needless to say, I was very disappointed by the lack of variety and quality find for this sunday brunch.
The only thing I find that justifies the hefty price tag is prbly the fact that there is a child care room that looks after ur kids while u kick back and enjoy a very time-limited sunday brunch (and the martini if u drink).

So I guess, this is a place I won't be coming back for in a long long time.

P.S. Melt stays at the #1 spot, unchallenged on my list of best buffets in Singapore. If anyone feels that there is a better place for buffet do let me know.

Must Tries: Egg benedict, foi gras

Equinox - Snobbish Staff

Mr HB and I made our way to their hi-tea buffet on a weekday.
The way up to equinox was to go thru the bar to a lift that will take u up 70 storeys high.

We were then met by a staff manning a counter telling us rather curtly that hi-tea only starts at 3.30pm. The attitude of the lady was what I would classfiy as snobbish and it did dampen my spirits a little.
Honestly, they need to update their website as it says 3pm and in the end we had to sit around and wait for 30min before we can appease our growling stomachs.

Anyway after what seems like forever, we were allowed to take the lift up to equinox.
The view as mentioned by many previous reviewers is magnificent. The entire skyline of singapore is within ur view and it is an interesting to eat at such high altitude.

The spread of the hi-tea is not too bad. There is a row of cooked food displayed among which the best would have to be their lamb rack. It is pink in the middle and very tender. I had 4 servings of this alone!
Others include mussles, roasted chicken, duck, ee-fu noodles and fried rice which are all not too bad but just not mind-blowing. There is also a station serving teriyaki chicken, peking duck style. Think peking duck in a crepe but with chicken and teriyaki sauce instead. This comes across tasteless so after the first bite there was no sequel....
There is a section with ingredients for you to make ur own prawn soup noodle but this again failed to ignite any sparks as Mr HB dismissed it as bland, so I did not bother myself with this.
At one corner, there is also a live station featuring pasta where they serve ur choice of pasta with either cream or tomato based sauce. It was again relatively tasteless.

There is also a variety of salad in the salad section for you to start with which was entirely skipped by me, so not much information to offer.

The bread basket was plentiful with quite a no. of different variety. I only managed to squeeze in 1/2 a foccacia bun which was soft on the inside and crusty on the outside, would be fantastic to go with some creamy pumpkin soup which was unfortunately missing.

Being hi-tea, there are lots of snacks like sandwiches, scones, doughnuts, mini-quiche, baos, mini pies and also not forgetting the cakes and puddings. There are hits and misses here but I would say more misses than hits.
Worthy of mention is the mini smoked salmon bagel where the bagel is soft and chewy complemented by the slight "mushiness" of the smoked salmon. The rest of the sandwiches (that I tried) came across a tad dry and tough.
The cake offering is sorely limited with only mini chocolate fudge and mini cheese cake which is a huge disappointment to me which luckily proved to be decent enough.
There is also an ice-cream section with 4 different favours for u to choose from, and a variety of toppings to garnish including melted chocolate and vanilla to create ur own version of choco-cones.

Overall, the variety is commendable but all the station need to work on the taste factor of the food.
With the Feed@Raffles Card, we only paid $45 for 2 pax.

MELT - melted me again

Any reason is a good reason to pig out and certainly MELT by any of MY standards is a good place to do so.
The reason happens to be Mother's Day and my MIL wanted to have buffet dinner.
Ever since my previous fabulous buffet lunch experience, I've been looking for an excuse to come back again.
I immediately put forth my recommendation - MELT, the World Cafe.
Took some of my professional persuasion skills to convince Mr HB that this will be worth the money and calories as this is definaltey by no means a cheap eat.
Upon his official acceptance, I promptly call to make reservations as it was just 3 days before the actual date, fearing that the restaurant will be fully booked.
With a stroke of luck, my reservation was confirmed.

We made our presence upon the commencement of the buffet dinner which was 630pm - so that we will have enough time to eat and time to digest afterwards.
The familiar looking dessert station greeted me once we emerged from the lift, other than the ever courteous and obliging staff.

The whole family had light meals today to save our "storage space" for dinner.
As the dinner party was large, we arrived in several cars. Once everyone has arrived (we were the last to reach Melt, which was good coz I don't think I can seat and wait in the presence of such alluring food), we scrurried off to look for the food we want.

The spread for dinner is bigger compared to lunch, the most distinguished addition have to be the BBQ station located just outside the main food area. There is a variety of meats available to choose from - beef, chicken, mutton as well as big tiger prawns, crayfish, mushroom, corn etc...
There is also an additional seafood station serving cold prawns, crabs and shell food like oysters and clams.
Other than that, the rest of the stations are pretty much identical to lunch. You have your usual suspects like the starters station where you can find sashimi, sushi, different types of salad, quaint looking appetizers in shot glass as well as a cheese fondue, the cooked food stations featuring, Thai, Chinese (limited), Indian (extensive), Western and local.

Since I have already done a write up on the food previously, I am not going to do a detailed review on individual items that I taste.
But generally, most of the food are of a good quality and competently executed.

Again, the dessert section is the highlight of my meal with the waffles and ice-cream being my favourite.
The cakes were a mixture of hits and missess. The cheese cake was moist and cheesy but the others like the black forrest and come other crumble cakes are a disappointment.

Service was very detailed, glasses of water was topped up almost instantly with napkins folded and plates cleared once you leave your seat.

After several rounds of desserts (I think I had 5 or 6), I rounded my dinner with a cup of cuppucino, feeling extremely satisfied.

But the damage was a whopping $70 per pax. Definately somewhere we reserve for an occassion.

Melt, The World Cafe
5 Raffles Avenue
4F The Oriental Singapore

Checkers Brasserie - Hi Tea Buffet

After some pestering, I finally convinced Mr HB to go for a hi-tea buffet (making my second buffet in 1 week!
OK, I am beginning to scare myself about my insatiable appetite.)

So today, after my class in the afternoon I immediately dashed home (literally) to changed and head to hilton for my hi-tea (read lunch cum dinner) which begins at 12pm till 4pm on weekends.

We reached a rather empty Checkers at 130pm and was greeted by the staff at the door who immediately "guessed" that we are here for the hi-tea buffet (perhap hunger was inscribed on my forehead or we looked like we haven't eaten in years?)

Not wanting to lose any more time, me and Mr HB head off in different directions in double quick time to survey our meal for the day.

There are 4 stations in all - 2 munchies and cooked food, 1 dessert and 1 fruit and juice bar.

The cooked food stations showcase a variety of finger food and munchies like bufflo wings, apple turnovers, pastries, different types of california rolls, smoked salmon and some rather exquisite appetizers like baby beetroots, some kind of mushrooms, neatly decorated tomatoes among others.
One can find some jap tempura (which sadly tasted average only) and yummy mini turkey burgers with cheese and pinapple on this section.

Over at the "action station", there is satay (chicken and lamb) which is rather chewy and the satay sauce is somewhat lacking in taste, pick-your-own-ingredients noodle bar featuring prawn stock, laksa and shanghai mince pork sauce, murtabuk (mushroom and lamb, both are ok) with veggy or chicken curries (of which the chicken curry is a little too salty) and 3 types of dim sum (which I did not try).

One good thing I like about the Hilton Hi-tea is the "Design-your-own sandwiches" where you get to choose from a selection of bread like ciabatta and foccacia together with 3 types of FRESH ingredients from a lot of meat, cheese and veggies like Alantic salmon, tuna, rare beef, chicken breast, curried egg and peanut (tasty!), root vegetables and avacado to name a few.

The sandwiches are fresh, nicely crafted and presented to you on a little plate with some crackers and olive oil which is not in large portion thus allowing you to try the other dishes.You also get to choose from a few types of tea to down your food. Coffee is also available if u are not a tea lover.

Coming to the dessert station, you can find the signature American cheesecake (which tasted really good), snicker cake (which is chocolate in nature and tasted like...u guessed it, snickers), a variety of puddings and creams in shot glases. Scones (with jams and whipped creams) are also available alongside mini chocolate and blueberry muffins.

I am however a little disappointed at the types of cakes available, I was expecting more. Of course, the chocolate fondue to wrap up the tea. One big disappointment was the lack of ICE-CREAM. I still cannot believe until now that it is not available, a major minus.

Another plus thing I like about the Hilton tea is the availabilty of the fresh fruit juice where you pick the fruit you want and the juice it for you on the spot, the best part is you get to mix them...heh heh.

A little on the service. The service crew is polite and ever willing to oblige. Glasses are topped up quickly. However, more attention needs to be paid to empty food items. I had to point out to the chef that the satays have run out before it was replenished. And the uniform of the servers could use some re-designing (they look erm....like cleaners...)

Must Tries: Cheese cake, turkey burger, Design your own sandwiches

Checkers Brasserie
581 Orchard Road, Hilton Singapore Hotel, Singapore

Tea Lounge - Mini Buffet

I have been hatching an evil plan for the past week.
One that will allow me to eat what I want without having to pay.....
So I decided it is time for me to do some entertaining by inviting some customers out for lunch.

After some discussion(or rather persuasion), we decided to go for the Mini buffet at the Regent esp after having read that it will be a hit with the ladies.

Located on the first floor of the Regent Hotel, the tea lounge is decorated like a luxurious study with an old English feel. The setting just makes u feel like sitting down with your favourite book while sipping hot tea.
Ah...the pleasures of life.
The china, utensils down to the tea set that are used further enhance the vintage feel to the place.

Upon arrival, one will understand why this is called a "Mini Buffet".
The spread of the buffet is not extensive and all the food items are serverd in mini portions.

The first item I had was the baked salmon in fuff pastry. The pastry is crispy and the salmon is juicy - very tasty combination.
Lamb antipasta with tomato salsa is succulent while the mini sandwich and cheese bread roll are soft and delicious. Mini Shepherd pie has a golden crust, digging beneath you will find mashed potato and minced beef in tomato, only gripe is that the pie is not hot enough.
I also had the vegetable roll in spicy sauce (which is kinda of tasteless except the spicy sauce) and chicken consomme soup which surprising is very flavouful.

For dessert, I tried the tiramisu and opera cake. Tiramisu is so-so, nothing exceptional but the opera is very delicious - rich in chocolate and very creamy (read sinful, luckily it is just a small piece). I took a spoonful off my customer's vanilla ice-cream - it was creamy with vanilla exploding in your mouth with every bite only that it was a little too sweet for me.

All my other companions love it though.
The food in the Mini Buffet are a visual treat - elegantly displayed and I would say majority of the food did not disappoint though you will have to walk many times to the table to get food as the portions are really small if you are a big eater.

Must Tries: Baked salmon in puff pastry, opera cake

Tea Lounge
1 Cuscaden Road, GF The Regent, Singapore

The Line - A disappointed Dessertian

Finally!
After a month's wait, I finally have an excuse (it's Mr HB's birthday) to visit the much talked about buffet restaurant - The Line for lunch.

I had made lots of preparation for this visit, of which including waking up at 5am this morning so that I can run that extra distance in anticipation for the zillions of calories I'll be taking in later; eating lesser for breakfast (some people would skip this altogether but it is essential to prime your metabolism for large food in take); making arrangements for the kids so that we can reach the restaurant early to avoid "running out of sauages" (read Michelle_Ling's review)

After running around like a mad woman this morning with all the prep work and settling the kids into my parents house, we finally arrived at the restaurant at 12.30pm.
Without saying another word, Mr HB and I went off to survey the spread once we were shown to our seat.

The restuarant appeared chic and trendy with bold colour combination of orange and white and marble flooring. And while it is Monday, the restaurant is packed with what appears to be corporate people having some function/event at the hotel.Back to the food.
The spread is extensive so the next question is "Is the quality as good as the quantity". I mentally made that my deliverable for the day as I set out to taste the food.

First stop to the sashimi counter.
They have salmon, tuna, squid and salmon belly. Not a squid fan, so I only requested for salmon and tuna. The sashimi is thick and fresh dipped in soy sauce with an abundance of wasabi....umm...tear provoking and fulfilling....
On my way back I took a little abalone salad for appetizer which tasted pretty fragrant and sweet. So far so good.

Next onto the "main course" - cooked food.
Round 1 - filled my plate with
1. Snow Fish cooked in some herbs
2. Salmon steak
3. Ham

The snow fish was very tasty though it sort of reminded me of chicken. Salmon steak was very soft and I think I took too big a piece. Ham was ok.

Round 2 - I took
1. Teochew style steam fish - relatively tasteless, maybe bcoz it's teochew styled?
2. Char Siew Pau - all I can say is give this a miss, not worth wasting your calories on this
3. "Pi Fang Tang" chicken - crispy skin and juicy meat, not too bad
4. Murtabak with fish curry - murtabak is filled with generous ingredients, nice! but curry is a little too salty.
5. Naan - a little too dry and tasteless.

Round 3 - I took
1. Snow fish - ....again, I like this dish.
2. On the chef's warm introduction and "hard selling", I was embarressed to turn down the lamb and chicken tandoori. But sad to report that both are not worth wasting calories on. The lamb had a distinct lamb taste and the chicken is too salty.
3. Murtabak - Carbo deficient! I need to answer to the carbo lover in me.
4. Hawaiian pizza - normal

Walking pass the italian counter, I just felt that I had to try some pasta. So I asked the chef to whip up some cream based penne with sausage, mushroom and ham. This tasted pretty good with thick cream and cheese.

After all these, I am starting to feel full and decided to proceed to dessert. The desserts are not labelled, so it may be a little confusing for some people like myself who would like to know what we are putting into our mouth.

With great anticipation, I scoot off to the dessert section to pick up
1. Cheese cake - way below my expectation. Not cheesy enuf and the cheese tasted a bit weird (not sure how to explain)
2. Chocolate mousse cake - nothing exceptional. Chocolate not rich enuf.
3. Fruit tart - again nothing exceptional though it is covered with lots of fat strawberries and fruits.
4. Yogurt mousse - not too bad if you like yogurt.
5. Some raspberry cake or something - so-so only.
6. Mini chocolate fudge cake - decent, at least it has more chocolate content compared to the chocolate mousse.
7. Crepe with chocolate spread and mango - ok, I made a mistake. Chocolate and mango does not go very well together. But warm crepe and chocolate cannot go too wrong.
Last but not least, i had a scoop of green tea ice cream while Mr HB had strawberry and mango. Green tea ice cream was nice, one can taste the green tea with milk to make it creamy. But I can't say the same for mango and strawberry, these 2 flavours lack the real fruity oomph.

After all these, I believe I have eaten breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper all at 1 go. Mr HB and I each had a cup of tea to round things up before footing the bill.

In all, I am quite disappointed that the quality of the food is not as good as I would like it to be especially the dessert section.

The Line
22 Orange Grove Road,
Basement Shangri-la Hotel,
Singapore

Tiffany Cafe and Restaurant - Don't Expect too much.

This is my 2nd business lunch with customer this week.

I am beginning to miss hawker food and my lunch khakis.

The challenge this time round is to find buffet spread that is halal and that which is in line with our qtr end numbers (read: economical).

The 1st criteria already narrow our choices down to 3 and the 2nd simply points to Tiffany.

OK, so again, we went to pick up our dear customers and make our way down to Tiffany after a draggy hour long meeting with my stomach growling in the background.

By the time we arrived at the restaurant, it was about 1pm and I am seriously famished.

After being shown to our seats, all of us dashed (literally) to the food spread to answer to the call of our stomachs.

Walked round the restaurant to survey the spread in an attempt to no waste calories.

The spread does not look very impressive with few cooked food dishes - mutton curry, beef slices sitr fried with bitter gourd, fish fillet in cream sauce, potato gratin, some stir fried veggies rice and pasta.

There is a satay and mee siam station which according to my colleagues are not bad.

Dessert spread is a total disappointment.
No whole cakes at all!
Only a display of chocolate cake cubes and fruit cake cubes with some pudding.
The only prominent dessert feature in sight is the chocolate fountain which is not a favourite of mine.
As far as I am concern, dessert is almost non-exsistent in this buffet.

My heart immediately sank to the bottom of the sea.....But well, the stomch still needs to be filled so I put in my best efforts to put together my lunch for the day.

My buffet strategy is always to the sashimi counter as the 1st stop.
The salmon sashimi tasted ok but the skill of the chef slicing up the pieces definately needs some intensive training.
The only things that I find palatable was the fish fillet and the salmon sashimi so that's basically all I had for lunch.
Tried a little of the beef with bitter gourd and sweet & sour pork - beef ok, S&S pork cannot make it la, only tasted flour.

Ok, move onto "dessert". Took a chocolate cake cube and a little of some pudding (i believe it is bread and butter pudding).
Choc cake is pretty tough and not moist enuf but surprise surprise the pudding is pretty good - the only saving grace of the entire buffet.

Lastly after a non-satisfying buffet, I ended my meal with a coffee.

Ok, to summarise, do not expect fantastic food here and for the same price, I would certainly prefer Ellenborough over Tiffany if not for the Halal restriction.

Oh, and the most amazing part is after so much trouble, we were told that yesterday was the start of the fasting month and the muslim counterparts are not able to join us for lunch. SO much for all the trouble to look for a halal buffet restuarant and an ultimate waste of my precious calories.....

Tiffany Cafe and Restaurant
60 Eu Tong Sen Street, 2/F Furama City Centre, Singapore

Brazil Churrasaria - Meat Overdose....

I've eaten here twice and each time I ended up with meat overdose. But the meats here are always well executed. I particularly like the pork sausage, beef topside and fish. Very juicy and tender.I also tried the followingHam - not a favourite with me. Tried it for the sake of trying. Juicy and tender.

Lamb - good control over the fire but it does have a "lamb" taste to it which I find over-powering.I passed on the chicken liver as innards does not go very well with me.

The salad bar can help to break the meat trance a little to offer some variety.Service is attentive and staff are very helpful. I was approached by a few staff to see if I have any special request on seeing my empty plate.

Overall, the food is good and a must try for meat-lovers.

Brazil Churrasaria
14/16 Sixth Avenue,
Singapore

Oriental (Melt - The World Cafe): Nice Quality Food

After reading so many raves abt Melt's buffet, I simply had to try it myself even if it means eating alone.

So today, I made my way to Oriental ALONE after failing to find a lunch khaki that can afford a 2 hour lunch and me being ultra impatient, cannot wait anymore.Upon entering Melt, I was greeted by the staff and I promptly informed her that I wanted to eat here alone (sheepishly) and was expecting a weird stare which did not materialise.

I was then showed around the buffet area and given an introduction of the food spread that was lined.Dessert StationThe first station that greeted me was (gasp!) the dessert station which also happened to be the determining factor of buffets for me (I am a "desserterian"). The spread looks good and held my attention for a long time while the server went on to show me the fruit station. Desserts include a big variety of puddings, cakes, fruit tarts among others.
Naturally the ever popular chocolate fondue with fruits, waffles and mashmellows, all "on sticks" and ready to dip in the chocolate pool.
There is also a station that makes delicous waffles with ice-cream, honey, peanut butter...take your pick, whatever u want, they most likely can offer. I had THREE waffles with ice-cream. The freshly baked waffles are delicious and coupled with ice-cream is enough to make anyone go ga-ga in the knees.
The blueberry cheesecake and chocolate moouse cake are average (a lil disappointed). Sadly I did not have a lot of room for all the puddings and nice little things in cups after my rampage....

Fruit Station
They have an extensive range of fruits from mangosteen, kiwi to strawberries (only fruit missing is durian...LOL).

Cooked Food
In most buffets, this is usually the weakest link. However, in Melt, they cooked food is as good as the desserts. They have several stations - Thai, Western, Indian and local. I tried a little of each and found most of them to be good with the exception of the char siew duck which happened to be too dry and somewhat lacking in taste. The "3 taste chicken" from the Thai section was flavouful and the naan (under "assorted bread") from the indian food was good and I stuffed in 1 garlic naan and another pc of something which tasted real good but I am not sure what it was together with the fish curry. I also tried the chicken kebab which was pretty nice.

I had the most cooked food from the western section. They had lamb stew, beef, 2 kinds of fish, lamb (carving of the day), sauteed mushroom (nice!), Brocoli grautin, Char siew duck (can't rmb the others) and a variety of sauces to go with the meat.

There is also a noodle station which I did not try (obviously not a big hit with moi). Overall the cooked food is commendable. I also happen to overhear one chef telling a staff to make sure all the food is hot.

Starters Station
Featuring Japanese mainly. Sashimi (salmon, maguro, swordfish..) are fresh and generous. There are also some salad - seafood, fruits...etc. Smoked salmon and cod are nicely done. There is also soba and sushi. Salad bar for the health conscious albet the selection is not vast.

Overall, it was a very pleasant dining experience with prompt and attentive service staff. Just 1 note though, the price for lunch buffet has increased from 37+++ to 42+++. With the HSBC card, I got a 15% discount though.

Melt - The World Cafe
5 Raffles Avenue
4F The Oriental Singapore

Raffles the Plaza (Plaza Market Cafe): 1 for 1 Buffet Dinner

Being a new Buffet Fanatic, how can I miss the chance to take advantage of this offer? So I promptly made a reservation for 2 in the first week of July to feast myself silly.

Upon entering the cafe, I was greeted by throngs of crowd. Apparently many people already knew of this offer. The food station appears to be somewhat messy perhaps due to the large crowd dishing food from the trays and dropping food on the tables. A bad first impression!

Ok, onto the food. Walk round and surveyed the food selection.
The first station is the Japanese. They have sashimi (which ran out very fast), the server replacing the sashimi did not do a good job and simply transferred the sliced salmon from a big tray onto the buffet table which makes it look like a cheap supermarket counter.
Also seen are soba and some sushi.Walking further down, there is a Kuey Pie Tee area which appears to be very popular with the diner for reasons I could not understand. They tasted extremely normal to me and this is the messiest station of all with egg and crumbs all over.
Up next is the popiah station, they have a chef to roll the poppiahs for you. Again nothing fantastic abt the popiahs, they were too sweet to being with.

They variety of cooked food is also limited. However, they do have all kinds of meat - chicken, beef, fish, lamb and the carving of the day is pork leg which helped to salvaged the buffet somewhat.

Also avaliable is a salad bar and a nonya station where you can find some sambal kangkong (very spicy, not for those with weak stomach) and assam fish among others. Another save is the sweet and sour pork which was pretty tasteful.

After the disappointing main dishes, I proceeded to the dessert station and the first thing I went to was the durian puree which again left me disappointed. The puree was somewhat not as tasteful as the one in Merchant court and I could taste some "not so ripe" durian flesh among them so after 1 bowl, I moved on to savour the cakes. I tried the cheesecake and chocolate moouse cake which was pretty ok (better than the durian puree). The dessert offering again is not fantastic and coupled with so-so quality makes it a miss with me.

Service staff however are pretty prompt to clear table.In summary, for a 1 for 1 offer, I would say it is a good offer. If there is no promotion, I do not think that 42+++ per pax is justified for this spread.

Raffles the Plaza (Plaza Market Cafe)
80 Bras Basah Road
2F Fairmont Singapore

Merchant Court (Ellenborough Cafe): Star of the Show - Durian Puree!

The title says it all.

The best thing from the buffet is the Durian Puree. I had FOUR bowls of the durian puree until I was almost ready faint from "stuffation".
Since I am on this topic, let's start with the dessert. The dessert selection is actually plentiful, however, mostly local and peranakan desserts. They have red bean soup, sesame paste, bo bo cha cha among others.
The peranakan kueys are also delightful though some are a little sweet (but then again, I have a sweet tooth). The chocolate bread and butter pudding was yummy and I had 3 servings....*guilty look*.
As a cake lover, I was somewhat disappointed that the cake variety is almost non exsistent. There is only chocolcate mousse cake and coffee cheesecake which did not appeal to me (not a coffee lover). There is also ice-cream available, 2 or 3 flavours - raspberry and I cannot rmb what but all tasted pretty decent.

The cold station is found at a distance away from the cooked food. You can find prawns, oysters, sashimi and soba here. Not a cold food fanatic, I only had some sashimi which are pretty fresh.

Onto the cooked food, the selection is not vast and all the food here is somewhat biased towards peranakan. The seabass with bean paste is fresh and meat tender. You can also find braised sea cucumber, roasted duck, chicken, veggies, mutton rendang among others.
Being a Tuesday lunch, the action station that day is satay. Meat is thick and succulent and noodle station is Ipoh Hor Fun which I did not try.

The place is croweded and the service is ok. But due to it's popularity, the attention of the staff is somewhat divided. Glasses have to be asked to be topped up.

This is one of the most value for money buffet in Singapore with lunch being $26.90+++. Will definately go back again even if it's just for the durian puree!
There was a promotion for 1 free diner for every 3 paying adults when I was there.

Merchant Court (Ellenborough Cafe)
20 Merchant Road
GF Swissotel Merchant Court

Mezza9 - Hi Tea Buffet

After a little head scratching, we decided to go to mezza9 for a make-up Mother's day makan session.

Upon entering the restaurant, we were immediately greeted by their staff. Informed them of our reservation and we were shown our seats.
The ambience of the place is good with soft music and comfortable lighting.

I quickly scurried off to survey the spread. Being a high tea buffet, there isn't much cooked food to begin with. However, there is a japanese station offering handroll and sushi.
Worthy of mention is the salmon yakitori made up of salmon (of course) and some veggies. The salmon is fresh and generous. Top it up with yakitori sauce or eat it plain, either way you have a delicious munchie.

Over at the cold cut station, you can find sashimi, oysters and cold prawn. 1 disappointing thing is that the cold station has only a few pieces of each food and will only be replenished when they are emptied. This makes the cold station look bare and does not give the impression of plentiful which is something I dislike in a buffet.

Now for the main highlight of the show - DESSERT! The spread of dessert is actually not very big but the quality of all the cakes and pastries are excellent. You can find cheesecake (was strawberry on the day of my visit) which was fantastic, very chessy and the best cheesecake among all the buffets I have tried to date. The chocolate mousse cake is very "chocolaty" (is there such a word?) and rich (Totally brings out chocolate lover in me!).
The bread and butter pudding however is only average. Tarts, chocolate eclairs, cream puffs and the chocolate fondue are all of good quality.
Also present are large strawberries and fragrant and sweet mangos to satify the health conscious sweet tooth (who goes to hi-tea to be health conscious anyway?!)

One thing I really liked about this hi-tea is they offer a variety of REAL juices - guava, orange, water melon and chocolate milk. All taste great!
But this comes with a price tag of 35+++ per pax.

Mezza9
10 Scotts Road
2F Grand Hyatt