hburn10's Reviews
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The place was rather quiet for a Sunday evening except for a handful of groups and the occasional hotel guests seeking a quiet and quick dining fix.
The buffet spread was how I remembered it to be: small. A quick walk around the spread but nothing really exciting.
Cold seafood - only 3 kinds: prawns, mussels, and oysters. Prawns were fresh and mussels alright. I didnt taste the oysters though.
Sashimi - only salmon which was nice, especially when tossed in the DIY Yu Sheng.
Appetizers - Squid salad, crab meat salad, mushroom salad, roasted vegetables, cold cuts, sushi etc. The squid salad looked promising but was overly salty, the crab meat salad salty too, the mushroom salad and roasted vegetables were oily and overcooked, and the sushi dry.
Mains -mostly Chinese to my disappointment, almost like a high-end zichar selection. Fried rice, fried noodles, vegetables with mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, beef fillets, lamb something. All very forgettable. The only western items were the roasted potatoes which were undercooked and ribeye which I didnt try. They also had a chicken rice station too.
Pasta station - you could have your choice of penne or spaghetti with either alio olio, cream, or tomato. My penne alio olio was bland and overcooked.
Hot soup - Soup Kambing and cream of cauliflower both of which I didnt try.
Hot noodles station - it was prawn mee that night and you can take your pick of condiments and blanch it with noodles. The stock was quite nice and the most memorable food item of the evening.
Indian food - the chicken tikka has been left out for so long it had turned absolutely dry.
Desserts - A decent selection of cakes and the one that made an impression was the small square of opera. The hot local dessert was Tao Suan and they had ice cream too but 2 boring flavours of chocolate and vanilla.
Dim Sum - Lobster and scallop dumplings both of which were dry after being left out for so long.
The stations I didnt try was salads and breads but I reckon no loss.
I had expected more given Pan Pac's reputation as a 5-star hotel. The variety and quality of the food leaves much to be desired - it almost feels like not much thought had been put into it. For $88 per person, some may argue that I was paying for the free flow of beer, but the buffet without beer is still $48 which is not worth it if you consider the high ratio of local dishes and boring selection.
A disappointment visit.
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The non-existent crowd here at 7pm should have been a sign, whereas Tangos and Wala Wala on the other side of the road was packed to the brim. They serve Archiepalego beers but strangely enough, no happy hour for them at all. They have a 1-4-1 on wines using Amex cards but that's about it.
Beers $10 for sampler & $14 for 1 pint) - Nice Archiepalego beers especially the Summer Ale. The Belgium Wit was too light for me; the Bohemian Lager was good. They also have a sampler of their 4x tiny portions of their main brews for $10 which is a good start if you are unsure of what you like.
Country Steak Sandwich ($26) - Huge portion of steak with ciabatta-style bread complete with a mountain of soggy wedges. The steak itself was really just steak and bread - didnt see any other greens in it.
Pizza (Seafood Mushroom) ($24) - thin-crust base but it was burnt and had a little biscuit-like bite at the edges. You can pick 2 halves of different flavours for this price - the mushroom came with aged brie cheese and rocket leaves which was a nice blend of flavours. The seafood one was disappointingly sparse with small bits of squid, prawns, and mussels.
The crowd only started coming in about 8pm. Ambience is quite nice actually, with a live band which starts around 9:30pm-10pm. But I think the quality is not there yet and the menu generally is a little overpriced. Plus no cheap beer either, which is quite a shame - they should really buck up more on being competitive.
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Occupying the previous 7atenine, Sauce has the advantage of having a 'waterfront' spot amongst the many other chillout places at Esplanade. The whitish decor has been replaced with a rather whimsical look complete with fake grass and mismatched but somehow quirky furniture which was actually quite nice for me. On a good day, the alfresco can be quite cool - also nice for people watching!
Sauteed mushrooms ($5) - nicely sauteed big button mushrooms although a tad heavy on the oil. Kudos to the chef for offering to re-do the dish for us as the first bowl has too much water / oil in it.
Chicken wings ($5) - Very nice! They use some sort of very fine flour from Japan to coat the wings and the result is absolutely delicious. They also very thoughtfully cut each mid-wing in half so its easier to eat. The spices dip accompanying it is also very good, with hints of ginger and garlic.
Spinach quesadilla ($5) - Alright with nothing to complain but gets tough when its no longer warm.
Asahi Premium ($9nett) - Their alcohol promotion is very good, with some offers at $5 for half pints but the Asahi premium is a good deal at $9 per print. And they are one of the rare places to have Asahi on tap.
The above lite bites are $5 each as each order of alcohol entitles you to order selected items at $5 as a promo price, good deal!
Service was nothing to complain about generally. But for the nice food and competitive prices, it was a pity that the place was less than half full on a Sat night. This place needs more publicity! I'll be back to try their mains.
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The place was rather empty but granted it was only about 1130am when we stepped in. A strange smell hit us when we walked in but we ignored it as it wasnt smelly or anything but just a strong smell lingering in the air. Poor ventilation perhaps?
The interior looked authentic, complete with matronly waitresses who hovers around to chit chat at leisure when the crowd is not here yet.
Claypot rice ($9) - their signature dish which was my colleague's choice. Looked and smelt nice but a tad too heavy on the dark soy sauce and too little vegetables.
Claypot Yee Mee ($7) - I had this as wanted something soupy. Obviously salt overload in the soup, and it didnt help that yee mee itself is a little salty. The egg and small-ish but fresh prawns didnt do much to distract me from all that salt. (you can choose to have chicken or seafood with the yee mee).
Chye Sim ($4) - The vegetables were steamed but it came in a pool of what must have been a ton of salt and light soy sauce added to water as the gravy. Absolutely mad. I had to ask to please take it back and re-do one less salty. The waitress was a little reluctant and told us we should have told her to do the dish less salty when we ordered it. Well, I wouldnt know that it is so salty unless I tasted it right? Portions were generous for the price though, and the veg came with over-fried minced garlic on top.
Barley ($1.50) - Not too and, wasnt expecting much for the price.
Old school place and old school service but the sodium overload can kill an elephant. Not going back for the sake of my kidneys.
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At 6:30pm, the place was barely filled, but then again the seating is only about maybe 30-40pax? The crowd started to stream in only about 7:30pm.
We decided against the Xmas set dinner and settled on ala carte:
Chicken combo ($12.50) - chicken thigh meat and a 130gsm German sausage lightly grilled over a hot plate - quite nice, although the chicken thigh was a little too fatty. The sausage is actually a cheese sausage and I wish it was more grilled actually. But taste wise, it was not too bad.
Mexico chicken ($10.50) - delicious chicken thigh lightly grilled over a hot plate. Sprinkled with onions and our special cheesy mexico sauce - not too bad too, but the cheese made it look a little je lart for me.
Mashed potato / fries / coleslaw - each order of a main course comes with your choice of 2 side dishes. The coleslaw was surprisingly tasty without being too mushy; nor was there an overload of dressing. The mashed potao was average, but the fries were nice - they added this sprinkling of what tasted like BBQ powder and it was quite addictive (the other sides we didnt have were steamed vegetables, onion rings, nuggets).
Ice soursop ($4.50) - disappointingly chemical-ish. Skip this.
Service was basic and serving of food was efficient. Really more of a family place from the nearby residences and a place for a quick nice affordable western meal. Small seating so I recommend making reservations even though it may be a quick affair.
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