1 for 1 Buffet @ Atrium Holiday Inn

Went for this 1 for 1 buffet last Saturday at Holiday Inn Atrium which is located at Outram Road. The restaurant was renovated last year.  The place had tall big windows which made the restaurant very bright and cheery.   Though it was under the 1 for 1 promotion, the food was of good standard.   The daylight brightness through the windows made the food look appetizing as well. 

There was quite a few selections at the chilled seafood counter such as cold prawns, crabs, mussels, scallops and some snails.   The items were placed sparingly giving it a clean presentation.  The items were topped up regularly.  There were also a few dips such as thai chilli, vinegar, Tabasco sauce to go with these seafood.

The salad counter was quite small but sufficient as most people would not really eat salads at a buffet. There were also a few dressings to go with them.  A variety of sushi was also available as well as cold soba noodles.  They served fresh tuna and salmon slices as well which the chef will serve you upon request to ensure the freshness of the fish.

There were also a few mixed salads such as Achar, jelly fish, smoked duck salad, fruit salad and some variety of hams and pepperoni.  I tried the smoked duck salad which was quite good.  However, I did find the jelly fish not crunch enough.

They even served roasted pork and roast chicken last Saturday.  The roast pork was good as it was not too salty.  The roast chicken looks good too though I did not manage to try.

There were about 6 hot dishes at the buffet like the above.  I tried the pasta which was quite good with some Parmesan cheese.   There were also mini burger patty and stir fried beef which tasted average, but the rendang beef was quite good.  Besides the hot dishes, there were also chicken porridge, broccoli soup and a small selection of dim sum. They served chicken and mutton satay which was freshly grilled upon request.  The satay meat was cooked till just right, two thumbs up for the satay.

There was a hot sour noodle but I thought would be better if the restaurant served some local noodles like mee siam, laksa or mee rebus.  

There was also a small section at the buffet for children as well as plastic plates for children.  The selection of pizza was placed at a lightly lower level counter so that children could help themselves. 

The fruits and pastries spread was not huge but sufficient.  There was also a small chocolate fondue that you dip strawberries and marshmallows into.  The Yuzu jelly with pomelo was refreshing though I found the Pandan Panna Cotta a bit too hard, a little less gelatin would have made it better.

The manager assisted to arrange something for us to sing a birthday song for my son since this meal was meant to celebrate his birthday.  

More Details on the buffet can be found at the Holiday Inn Atrium website.
Weekends High Tea (Sat and Sun) is served from 12pm to 3.30pm at $50++.
For 1 for 1, the spread is considered acceptable.

High Tea at Shang-ri La - Rose Veranda

These pictures were from my recent visit to Shang-ri La Rose Veranda.  Though it was a Tuesday afternoon, the place was pretty much filled up with guests having Lunch cum High Tea here.  The variety of food seems to be much better than my last visit there last year.   Here are some pictures taken using my newly bought hand phone - Sony Xperia Z.  I wanted to take more pictures but was hesitant after my bad experience at another hotel where I was stopped from taking any picture by some Ang Moh waitress which inevitably ruined my day.  

Anyway, for this round, I decided to just snap some shots from what I took on my plates.  Something different this time was that each guest was entitled to 1 tea and 1 coffee for the buffet.  Tea was refillable.  And for addition selection of tea, there would be an extra charge of $7 ++ each.  I recalled previously they had a buffet price for unlimited selection of tea.  Well, no complains for this change as I don't think one can drink that much tea or coffee anyway.  And to get around this limitation, if you were there with a few friends, each person could actually select a different type of tea for all to try.  (Tea is refillable, remember? :) )

What I like about this place is that from Mondays to Fridays, High Tea is served from 11.30am to 6.00pm.  It is a good place for a girlfriends gathering.  If you book online, you get a 15% discount.  There are some credit cards that gives some discounts periodically.

Chicken pies and Crab claws

Finger sandwiches and Dim Sum

Carrot cake, Crunchy cold prawns, Sauteed Mushroom and Butter Chicken

Mee Siam (Thumbs up for this)

Macaroon, Mango Slice and Scones with Clotted Cream

Cheesecake Topped with Honey Dew

There were plenty of other dishes like fresh salmon and tuna, baked salmon in puff pastry, and a variety of pastries and ice creams.  The quality has definitely improved.  Besides the food, it is also the atmosphere that I like there.  It is not only cosy but also the warm and welcoming feeling I get when I am there.  

I was actually there to celebrate my birthday.  You can inform them ahead of time if you are celebrating your birthday and they would prepare a small cake for you and sing you a birthday song.  This round I didn't inform them earlier as I felt quite embarrassed having people singing for me.  My brother seeing other people having birthday cake asked the waitress if she could get a cake for me.  It was quite touching that though this was last minute, the restaurant actually brought me a last minute birthday cake and sang me a song.    

Last but not least .....  I will be back!! :) 

High Tea @ HoMe

Not satisfied with the last High Tea session at 10 Scotts, I decided to have my own High Tea session @ Home.
The items that were made: 

1. Four types of sandwiches - Spicy Sardine, Egg Mayo, Chicken Cumcumber Mayo and Smoked Salmon with Cream Cheese
2. Cranberry Scones
3. Raspberry Jelly with Cocktail Fruits
4. Mini Mozeralla balls and Cherry Tomatoes in Oregano Garlic Olive Dressing

The items that were bought:

1. Apple Strudel
2. Nonya Kueh from Bengawan Solo
3. Cakes from Four Leaves (Strawberry Cake, Chocolate Classico, Cheesecake, Blackforest Cake)
4. Samosa
5. Popcorn chicken (For the kids)
6. Mini Taiwan Sausag (For the kids)

The 2 boys were especially happy.  The older boy espeically liked the Smoked Salmon Cheese Sandwich and the younger boy kept munching on the Popcorn Chicken.

I bought various types of flavoured tea bags from Lipton - Strawberry, Vanilla, Peppermint, Peach, etc.

I was slightly disappointed with my scones though.  Not as fluffy as I hoped it would be.  I used a recipe from my previous baking class which used bread flour.  It was a bit on the heavy side but was quite all right when eaten warm.  I even went all the way to MarketPlace at Raffles City to buy clotted cream.  (Actually this is the first time tasting what clotted cream was.  The cream has a yellowish surface unlike those that was served in hotels with scones.  I highly suspect that those cream that came with scones at High Tea sessions in Hotels were not real clotted cream but just some whipped up heavy cream).

On the whole it was a fun experience. This should be done again some other time.

Weekday High Tea at 10 Scotts

After surfing the internet for weeks on a good place for English Afternoon Tea on a weekday, I settled for the English Afternoon Tea at 10 Scotts.  The first thing that Hub needed to do when we reached there was to visit the washroom at Hyatt.  The strange thing about this hotel was, there was no direction of where the washroom was.  We went one big round at the ground floor before we found the washroom at the hidden corner.  Not very impressed for the fact that this is at least a 5 star hotel.

I was initially very excited about this high tea session after reading some positive reviews online of this place.   When I first step into the place, it felt rather cold (cold as in the people there) and not a very comfortable place to be in.  It was as if the waitresses were all watching us like hawks.  It could be they want to be attentive to the customers but we felt rather uneasy.

The food was unfortuately not what some blog sites claimed to be.  I was rather disappointed that their most talked about crab cakes were served cold.  There were some desserts at a corner, Hub took some to sample but I was not very impressed and the thought that everyone working there was watching you take food from the counter was quite a put off. 

I did ate a number of scones.  The scones were decent and the jam and clotted cream was great.  I finished up 2 servings of clotted cream and till now am still thinking of scones and clotted cream.  (Fattening it must be, but delicious)

I would place my English High Tea places in this order:
1. Rose Veranda (Shangri La)
2. L'Espresso (Goodwood Park)
3. 10 Scotts (Hyatt)  - I don't think I will appear here again

I am already making plans with some ex-colleagues to have a half weekday chill out session at Rose Veranda soon.  (Its a comfortable place to eat and chill out with girlfriends and the scones there are great too!)