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.

Buffet @ The Square Furama

Had lunch at The Square @ Furama last weekend. The food was decent and desserts were good considering that it was under 1 for 1 promotion. 

Here are some pictures of the items from the buffet.  There were also roasted beef rump and a huge fish which I did not take as I was too busy indulging in the food.

Chilled seafood consisting of prawns, octopus, salmon sashimi, some snails which I did not dare to try.  The prawns were good.  However, there were only sliced lemons and chilli mayonnaise to go with these chilled seafood.  It would be good it there were more condiments like thai chilli sauce, mayonnaise, Tabasco sauce.  

Smoked hams and salmon in the above photo.

A variety of salads. I tried the Thai squid which in my opinion was a bit lacking in taste.

I personally liked this fried fish coated with a fruity sauce.

Pandan chicken which I did not try as I took too much desserts.  Hainanese Pork Chop was good.

There was also a DIY ban mien counter.  The soup base was quite good.  Besides the above dishes, there were also melon pork soup that was very tasty and tomato soup which was quite appetizing, with a tinge of sourness.  A cheese counter with 3-4 types of cheese that you can eat with crackers or walnut and dried fruits.  There was an eggplant dish and stir fried black pepper beef which went very well with plain rice.

The desserts at the buffet were quite decent.  The best dessert for the day was Salted Gula Melaka Pandan Cake.  Apple cobber and Chocolate Lava Pudding were also a few of my personal favorite.

The assorted cakes and shooters were very good.  However, I found the cream puffs filling too light with some diluted cream perhaps.  Red bean agar agar was interesting and also good.

The Chocolate Mud Slab was the chef recommendation but I was not too impressed by it.  There were assorted fruits, white fungus soup and 6 flavours of ice cream - jackfruit, yummy raisin, strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, and yam.

The hotel was very nice to have prepared a slice of cake.  This is the Salted Gula Melaka Pandan Cake that I like.  Those who like pandan cakes and gula melaka, don't missed this item which was also in the dessert area. 

With the 1 for 1 promotion ongoing, it is quite worth while to give it a go, It is about $34.20 nett per pax under this promotion.

Monday to Sunday
Buffet Lunch:S$58.00++ (A)  S$16.00++ (C)
Buffet Dinner:S$68.00++ (A)  S$20.00++ (C)

Some after thoughts of this restaurant:

• The lighting in the restaurant was quite dim and I found that it does not bring out the food appearance and at times I wonder what I was eating especially as we were seated quite far away from the windows. 
• It might be good if they could serve mee siam or laksa at the noodle counter.

Will I come back again? Yes, I would not mind if it was under 1 for 1 promotion.  :)

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!! :) 

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!)