hburn10's Reviews
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The décor is your typically Chinese lux décor with plenty of booth seats, which they even give to groups of 2pax but I suspect that is during non-peak hours. My 2 friends and I arrived at 6pm on a Saturday to be offered a table which needed to be vacated by 7pm due to a prior booking which was fine with us.
Roasted pork 脆皮靓烧肉 ($8.50) – This was the top dish I remembered from my 1st visit and it was still good! A lot of places’ similar dishes contain such an overwhelming pork smell / taste that is simply not edible (hint: a very popular chinese restaurant in Ion), but this was not. The skin was super crispy and comes with a mustard-y sort of spicy sauce. Served with a sprinkling of peanuts.
Roasted Chicken (half chicken) 脆皮炸子鸡 ($14) – This was sort of average for me as I don’t take the skin; the chicken was tender though. But for me, roast chicken is really hard to be excellent or different.
Seasonal vegetables poached with 3 eggs 金银蛋菠菜 ($16) – My friend wanted to order this vegetable dish which had century egg and we decided this was it – salted egg and chicken egg made up the remaining quota. The vegetables were not overcooked and the sauce was made very nicely savory by the salted egg which went very well with plain rice.
Seafood Hor Fun 滑蛋海鲜炒河粉 ($18) – This is the most expensive hor fun I have ever had. No doubt it has wok hei and very fresh prawns, fish and scallops but $18 is overpriced I think.
Service was less than average, as I have this feel that they serve families or big groups better. And they have this annoying habit of perpetually checking if we are done starting from the 6:30pm mark. I mean, I know we’ve promised to vacate and will understand that they need to make sure we do but is there really a need to check every 5mins??!! And we were seated in a booth seat so it was very obvious as they had to literally walk over to the side of our booth to sight our ‘process’. I was irritated and amused at the same time – there has to be a better way of doing it!
I feel some items are overpriced although they are nice; not sure if I will come back.
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The last time I came to Greenhouse was for their champagne brunch which was absolutely fabulous, and I was expecting the same standard although of course not the same fare. In fact I half expected them to stinge on the quality and quantity as almost all of us there were paying half price with the promotion but they didn’t. Nice!
Seafood – an extravagant spread of freshly oysters, flower crabs, prawns, clams, and mussels. All were very fresh and the prawns of a very good size I must say. The only gripe is that the flower crab were not cracked so I gave up on some pieces halfway.
Sashimi – salmon, tuna, mackerel. I only had the salmon and it was very fresh too! Plus they were all sliced very well, not like some sad thin pieces at some buffets.
Sushi, soba, appetizers – a superb selection of sushi, cold soba and some typical Japanese appetizers like marinated scallops, jellyfish etc. The scallops were indeed very good, with silvers of cucumbers and cabbage thrown in for a crunch. There was also squid salad which was quite nice.
Soup – they had 2 choices that night: white bean soup and herbal chicken soup. The white bean was a creamy broth which honestly tasted only okay. Didn’t try the herbal soup but heard that it was a tad salty. I think they were trying to be special but I would rather much prefer the comforting mushroom or pumpkin.
Bread – A good selection of bread, even one that looked blood-red which I suspect is beetroot. But bread is not something I will eat at buffets so no comments.
Cheese selection – about 6 types of cheeses including the very pungent blue cheese, with crackers and different accompaniments on the side. I tried some nice light milky ones but have no idea what they were as I didn’t look closely at the signage.
Salad – Different types of leaves with choices of toppings and dressings, which I didn’t try as was too distracted with the other stuff.
Hot dishes – chilli crab, butter prawns, roasted potatoes, fried hokkien mee, kalian with mushrooms, mushroom tortellini, teriyaki chicken, braised beef, lamb. The chilli crab was gone almost as soon as each fresh batch arrived but I didn’t try as I heard that it was not too nice. The butter prawns were fragrant and very big sized; roasted potatoes good; hokkien mee decent; kalian crunchy; mushroom tortellini very nicely done. Chicken teriyaki was not good though, and didn’t try the red meats.
Indian food - naan, plain rice, spcied rice, curries, all of which I didn’t try but looked very appetizing. They deep fry their own Indian crackers too.
Vegetable station – think this station is supposed to give vegetarians more choices. Corn on the cobs, root vegetables, mushrooms, and something like looked like a hybrid between yam and radish.
Ramen station – they actually have something like tonkatsu soup with ramen, and you pick your choice of seafood to go into the broth.
Desserts – at least 10 different kind of cakes (but absolutely no signage to indicate what they are), with plated mousse creations and macaroons on top of it. Chocolate fondue with strawberries, prunes etc. The chocolate mousse thingy I tried was okay but the macaroon not up to par.
Ice Cream and crepe station – 6 ice cream flavours (chocolate, cookies & cream, vanilla, raspberry shorbet, lime & lemon shorbet etc) with your choice of too many toppings. The chef makes crepes on the spot too which was buttery and very nice but I made the mistake of adding an ice cream scoop on it but it only made the crepe soggy.
Ice lemon tea station – free flow of ice lemon tea is included as part of the buffet and they have choices of syrup for you: mango, peach, passionfruit, raspberry, strawberry. Nice but not exciting.
Coffee / tea – also included in the buffet but the staff does not seem to offer unless you ask.
Service was okay except sitting at a corner made the clearing of our plates seem slower. The corner table beside us was also having trouble getting the bill despite different people putting up their hands trying to get some attention. Kudos to them though for the thoughtful initiative of providing my heavily pregnant sis with a pillow for her back.
This is seriously value for money with the 1-for-1 promotion; ladies should not miss it!
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This place was recommended by a vegetarian friend and so was a natural choice for a farewell dinner for a close friend who was vegetarian.
The place can be quite hard to find but if its useful, its located opposite Woodlands and in an white-ish sort of low shophouse with an outdoor alfresco area. It was surprisingly empty on a Sunday evening:
Bhatura Set ($5) - this, to quote my friend, looks like an UFO. Its basically deep fried carbs and the huge thing is quite a memorable. Comes with 3 dips.
Chicken Murtabak ($6) - Quite good I must say, although its not real chicken. Firmly packed pockets of dough and its stuffing and not oily too!
Plain Naan ($2) - Nice fluffy warm naan. Nice.
Mysore Masala Dosai ($5.50) - This was supposed to be a spicy thosai and it was when we last came but this time it seemed to be tamed down. The masala was not bad though.
Crispy Cereal Prawn ($7.50) - In my opinion the best of the lot! Super crispy cereal coating what tasted like fishcake to me. Very ncie!
Chicken Sizzler ($11) - Came on a banana leaf on a hotplate. Nice bite sized 'chicken' in some sweet-ish red sauce and with bell peppers.
Vegetable kurma ($7) - I have no idea what this is made of but suspect its some cream / yohurt / coconut sauce which became quite jia lat after a while. It comes as mixed vegetables but we requested for cauliflower only as we quite liked it last time.
Sambal Goreng ($6.50) - Basically bits of tofu, tempeh, and long beans mixed together in a sambal sauce. Too dry for me.
Teh Tarik ($2) - Not good at all.
Masala Tea ($3) - Didnt try but hopefully its better than the above!
Service was not too bad but it can be sporadic once the places starts to be busy. Prices are reasonable too. I would come back again of course but not in the near future.
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It was extremely quiet on a Saturday evening at 7pm, with only 1 other table of 3, but then again the whole Wilkie Edge is quiet. The place is small-ish and probably seats only 25pax but the whole decor is quite nice I thought.
We tried different soups and mains for the 2 set meals:
Mixed vegetables soup - we had thought this would be like minestrone but it was more like a cross between creamy and clear soup, almost similar to a thick dip. It tasted like a canned tomato soup but with bits of fresh vegetables thrown in. It was served not hot at all and we asked for them to heat it up, after which it came steaming hot. It should have been so in the first place - serving lukewarm soup is just not right.
Pumpkin soup - strangely enough, this came in a pastel green hue and tasted like a bland version of broccoli soup instead. Hmmm. Nothing wrong but nothing excellent, and had the same issue of being not hot when served.
Fish and chips ($10.90) - served with tartar sauce, lemon, and chunky chips - surprisingly good! The fish was crumbed and served hot with almost no trace of oil at all. The only let down was the chips which was soft. Freshly shredded carrot and 1 puny cherry tomato added some veg to it.
Smoked Salmon pizza ($16.90) - smoked salmon with onions, capers and mozzarella cheese - this has to be the hardest crust I have ever tasted - like hard biscuit. Salmon was too fishy, too little onions and an absolute overload on cheese. If all their pizza are like that, you're better off skipping the entire section.
Ice Tea - Way too much syrup which we only saw too late.
The staff was nice enough to forewarn us that the mains will take about 20mins at the point of order and we had no problem with it. They also asked how was the food when we were leaving and I was honestly quite pleasantly surprised at how they were concerned about our feedback as small establishments are usually not. We gave them our honest feedback and they acknowledged it.
I guess some may say for the voucher value we couldn't have expected much. But if those were reflective of their usual standard then it is not value for money. Not worth a return visit for me.
Prices reflected for the 2 mains above are how much they usually cost on the menu.
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Cold dishes - spicy chicken salad, salad station, smoked salmon, tuna salad - didnt try alot but the smoked salmon was a tad salty for me.
Seafood - Mussels, clams, and also cold tiger prawns which appeared sporadically. When I reached, the platter was already empty and it was never refilled until maybe 1 hour later, and even so it was carelessly strewn about. No other refills for the rest of the lunch buffet. Some were alright, some were not fresh. At least the clams tasted fresh.
Bread - Didnt try as I try not to take bread at buffets. My colleagues commented that the garlic butter spread was good, even though there were some instances of fellow diners 'stealing' pieces which were buttered as they somehow thought the ready pieces were done by the hotel.
Soups - Mushroom and barley soup (clear soup) and szechuan sour & spicy - both of which were alright except I couldn't quite understand why the mushroom and barley was so oily, altbough it was comfortingly steaming hot. The sour & spicy soup was a little bland for me.
Japanese - Saw sushi and cold soba but didnt try.
Indian - Various curries and prata and naans which were just alright.
Chinese - self assembled chicken rice, sambal sotong, sweet and sour pork, spinach, stir fried beef, kambing (lamb), fried hokkien mee, and various other chinese food. Too many chinese choices for me. Most of what I tried were mediocre at most, with the sambal sotong the only memorable one.
Western - potato wedges and no pasta or pizza that I can remember.
Live station - Laksa, minced pork noodles, grilled (normal) sausages. The laksa was a little disappointing.
Desserts - Ice cream, cakes, waffles, sweets, puddings, and the ever popular chocolate fondue. Again nothing memorable. A let down as the dessert station is usually my favourite.
I had expected a better quality spread to be honest, given that this is under the Shangri-la family no doubt cheaper. The variety was also a let down. Service seems to be quite erratic, plus on one point the floor manager was arguing with one of the chefs right behind me while I was taking my food. Not professional at all.
The buffet comes with a choice of coffee, tea, coke, or sprite. At least the coffee's not too bad.
For the original price this would be a no-no. But I will probably not return even with the 1-4-1 promotion too. (My rating for 'value; is based on original price; total amount spent is nett spent after considering the promotion).
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