Monday, January 28, 2013

Family dinner at Master Crab

MIL was in a good mood...gave us a treat at one of our usual tse char stall Master Crab Punggol branch. I loved the Salty egg crab here...yum yum! She ordered a $298 set meal that consists of two crabs and 6 other dishes plus a dessert. Food here was good as usual...not the most fantastic but is one of the better ones in the miserable punggol area...if u are not ordering crab dish, i recommend u try their crispy 腐皮卷, 砂锅福建面 and 星洲米粉...nice!





Cereal Prawn 
 
Steam Grouper

Sweet Sour Pork Ribs 

Fried Youtiao 

Abalone with mushroom 

Chili crab

Salty egg crab



Longan with Sea coconut 


The main branch of Master crab is at Ghim Moh and it is one of the popular crab eatery in sg. Other branches can be found at:


Master Crab Seafood Restaurant
Blk 19 Ghim Moh Road #01-229
Tel: +65 6314 1868

Master Crab Compassvale
Blk 277 Compassvale Link #01-13
Tel: +65 6555 6515

Master Crab Choa Chu Kang
Blk 475 Choa Chu Kang Ave 3 #01-31
Tel: +65 6764 9487

Master Crab Punggol Field
Blk 108 Punggol Field #01-01
Tel: +65 6425 8079

Master Crab Punggol Drive
Blk 639 Punggol Drive #01-07
Tel: +65 6425 9435


Thursday, January 24, 2013

Best Hi Tea buffet at local 5 * hotel? - Part 1

Just realised that I have been trying out Hi Tea buffets from different 5* hotels with my girlfriends. For the past 18 months I've visited a total of 7 hotel restaurants specialised in Hi Tea buffets. So how do they fair? I've done a basic ranking of the different restaurants based on their quality of food, service and ambiance. One thing is for sure, high prices does not necessary means top quality food and service!

The list of Hotel/Restaurant I have patronised...in chronological order.

1. Marriott Cafe, Marriott hotel (visited Sep 11)
2. ChiHuly Lounge, Ritz Carlton hotel (visited Oct 11)
3. Rose Veranda, Shangri La hotel (visited May 12)
4. Tea Lounge, Regent hotel (visited Jun 12)
5. L'Espresso, Goodwood Park hotel (visited Jul 12 & Mar/May 11)
6. The Landing Point, Fullerton Bay hotel (visited Dec 12)
7. 10 Scotts, Grand Hyatt hotel (visited Jan 13)


Rank #1
The Landing Point

Coming in at first place is The Landing Point, good food, great great service and very tastefully decorated dining area with tall ceilings, plush sofas and scenic seaview.








There were many good reviews about the food here and we were certainly not disappointed. Although some traditional X'mas items (we had the festive menu) tasted too sweet for our liking, majority of their creations were yummilicious! As there were no buffet stations, waiting staffs walked around the dining area with trays of refills checking with every table if they would like to have additional servings of food.







Service here was excellent and the waitress who took our order was very attentive...she noticed the wrong tea was being poured for me (the wrong tea has a darker color) and immediately changed a new cup for me. We thoroughly enjoyed being a tai tai sipping tea on a lazy afternoon at The Landing Point. A revisit is already in the cards as I write this post.


The Landing Point is open daily:

7.00am to 12.00am (Sunday to Thursday)
7.00am to 1.00am (Friday to Saturday)

Breakfast: 7.00am to 10.30am
Lunch: 11.00am to 2.30pm
Afternoon Tea: 3.00pm to 5.30pm
Cocktail/Dinner: 6.00pm till closing


For enquiries and reservations, please call (65) 6597 5277 or email landingpoint@fullertonbayhotel.com


Rank #2
The Rose Veranda 

At 2nd place is Shangri La's Rose Veranda. Being a very established hotel here, the dining experience here is certainly enjoyable. Located on the 2nd floor, this place has tall ceiling with full length windows overlooking the swimming pool. Decor is of a modern contemporary style with red color chandeliers adorning the ceiling.







Food here was served at the buffet stations. Unlike The Landing Point that serves only finger food, this place serves an international lunch spread with dessert stations. Food quality was very good, I loved their fresh and juicy scallops! Desserts were alright, nothing impressive nor offensive about it.







Service is generally good, the restaurant manager was prompt to change the complimentary birthday cake when we highlighted that there was a small fly on the cake.


Opening Hours: Weekdays
                         High Tea (11.30am to 6pm)

                        Weekends and public holidays
                        High Tea (11.30am to 2.30pm, 3pm to 6 pm)
                                     
Telephone  No.: 6213 4486



Rank #3
Tea Lounge

Making its way to Top 3 is the Tea Lounge at Regent hotel. This is one popular dining place for weekend hi tea buffet...we had to make our booking 3 months in advance to secure enough seats for a big group. The dining area has an English Reading room style decor with cozy couches and coffee tables.








The spread here is huge...cheese station, salad, sushi, sandwiches, local delights and a big spread for dessert station too. There is also a live station producing piping hot souffle and crepes on request. Everybody loved the chili crab seafood gravy with fried mantou dish...we had repeated servings of that! Desserts were nice to look at but doesn't taste as good as it looks...my lavender macaroon tasted like...air freshener!







Service was mostly ok, they were slow at times during busy hours but were very friendly and polite. Nothing much to complain about. Prices was on the high side but worth visiting at least once to try out their signature dishes.


Opening Hours:
Afternoon Tea: 12 noon -5:00pm (Mon - Fri)

High Tea Buffet: (Sat – Sun)
12 noon - 2:30pm (First seating); 3.00pm – 5.30pm (Second seating)

Reservations
T: +65 6725 3245 / +65 6725 3246
Email: tealounge.rsn@fourseasons.com




To be continued...Part 2



Best Hi Tea buffet at local 5 * hotel? - Part 2

Continue from Part 1

Rank #4
L’Espresso

I've visited this place 3 times! I had a pleasant time when I first visited in Mar 2011, went back two months later with another group of friends. We loved the food & services there..

However, when we went back in Jul 2012, the menu has changed and all of us felt that the food standard has dropped. Their service level maintained though...very warm and friendly and professional! I hope they will review their menu soon.

The location, at Goodwood Park hotel lobby level beside the swimming pool. Al fresco dining is also available at the poolside.








The spread on my first visit...delish finger food, premium ingredient like foie gras, parma ham, unagi and caviar was used.






The spread on my last visit...no more foie gras and unagi...sigh..







Out of the 3 visits, 2 were birthday celebration events, the restaurant manager always serves us yummy durian cakes as complimentary birthday cake from the famous Deli shop beside the lobby. Thumbs up for the service!



Operating Hours: 10am – midnight

Lunch: 12 – 2pm
Dinner: 6pm – 10.30pm

English Afternoon Tea:
(Mon – Thurs) 2pm – 5.30pm
(Fri – Sun & PH) 12 – 2.30pm (1st seating), 3pm – 5.30pm (2nd seating)

Dim Sum & Sips: 6pm – 10.30pm

For reservations or enquiries, please call 6730 1743


Rank #5
Marriott Cafe

Several of us bought a deal voucher to dine here at a discounted price. The actual cafe was under refurbishment so they set up a temp cafe at level 2. Not much of an ambiance to talk about...




The spread was an international lunch buffet style, no English tea served by the pot here. Some of the local dishes were pretty tasty, I liked the laksa and the chicken rice. There was a limited range of desserts on offer...all of them looks uninspiring...my friends who ate some said it tasted blah..





Service was a tad slow at peak hour...but acceptable. The new cafe has since reopened in 2012. They have revamped their buffet menu so items posted here may not be available now.


Opening hours:

Breakfast - 6.00am to 11.00am

Lunch - 12.00noon to 2.30pm

High Tea - 3.00pm to 5.30pm

Dinner - 6.30pm to 10.00pm

Reservations: (65) 6831 4605


Rank #6
ChiHuly Lounge 

We were looking forward to this cos Ritz Carlton is a 6* hotel...the Hi Tea price isn't cheap so naturally our expectations were high. So why did it get a ranking of 6/7? Read on...

Ambiance...passed! Modern, chic and luxuriously decorated lounge with high glass ceiling letting in a lot of natural lighting. Crockery used here spells atas too...





But everything good ends here....the food served here was mostly blah tasting...a handful of the tastier dishes were snapped up fast and the replenishment speed is super slow! The huge selections of colorful desserts were only nice to look at...but tasted of pure sugar and coloring and nothing else! Most of the desserts tasted disgusting...no less.







Service was a little slow but warm and friendly, our drinks took quite a while to be served. Nothing much else to talk about here...


Open daily from 9:30 a.m. - 1 a.m.

Traditional Afternoon Tea  
Monday to Friday - from 2:30 - 5 p.m.

Weekend Afternoon Tea buffet from 2:30 - 5 p.m.

Cocktails and bar bites available daily from 11 a.m. - 12 midnight

For information and reservations, please call 6434 5288



Rank #7
10 Scotts

Coming in at last place, a recently revamped cafe at hotel Grand Hyatt. It was a huge let down....despite charging the same price as 6* Ritz Carlton, this place failed us big time! We were initially so looking forward to dine there due to good reviews on food and some of our friends who visited there once on a less busy weekday raved about their service. 

Ambiance of the dining area was a nice and cozy setting, it was designed like a family home with comfy sofa and coffee tables...feels like a lodge retreat actually. But on a busy Sunday afternoon, nobody makes you feel like home there. Everything good also ends here, the nice decor.





Food & drinks were served after long delays (say 45mins wait)...refills takes forever, items were not complete (our tray was missing the cheesy tartlet, scones were not served), they tasted blah...even their signatures dishes didn't wow us a tiny bit. For the extra dollars you pay for the weekend price, assorted maki and chinese duck rolls were served at the buffet station...maki was wipped out and wasn't replenished till an hour later, duck rolls...i would say the duck died in vain...nothing much else wow us from the buffet station either.







The only consolation was the dessert station...although not a big spread, they actually tasted good accept for the overly sweet pineapple crumble..everything else was fine.



My friends who recommended this place were so disappointed on the big gap in level of service compared to their weekday experiences. I hereby attached some of their blogs for whoever is interested to find out more on what happened.


My blog


One word of caution...go at your own risk.

Operation Hours:
High Tea: 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm, Monday to Sunday
A la carte/All-day cocktails: 12:00 pm to 11:00 pm, Monday to Sunday 

Reservations:
Please call +65 6732 1234, email 10Scotts.sg@hyatt.com 
or book online at singapore.grand.hyattrestaurants.com


There you are, that sums up my (not very humble) opinions on the local hi tea buffets from various 5* hotels.