The buffet breakfast is a definite treat for in-house guests due to its sheer variety and quality. I'm not sure about having to pay ala carte for it though as am not sure how much it costs. So for hotel guests - make sure you have breakfast included with your room.
To be honest I didnt expect the variety to be as per their lunch and dinners and I was pleasantly surprised! It was a blur of dim sum, noodle station, fruit juices station, cheese platter, bread, pastries, indian, chinese, western, the ever popular egg station, and some very local things including chweh kwey and chee chong fun.
I didnt try the bread and pastries but everything else was quite good, especially the dim sim and the noodle soup. It helped that the auntie who cooks the noodle was super friendly and kept asking me to try her noodles, then reminded me again when I walked past a 2nd time, and finally hurried me one last time saying the noodles are almost finished). Very tough to find a hotel staff who takes so much pride in her work.
The potato wedges were very nice, grilled in their skin with rosemary instead of deep fried. Juice station is amazing with your pick of watermelon, orange, apple, banana, honeydew, pineapple, grapes (not sure how you make grape juice though), carrots etc. Skip the chweh kwey and chee chong fun as they tasted it came right out of a frozen packing.
Clearing of plates were a little slow at times but the breakfast crowd does get quite busy. Their brewed coffee was medicore as all other breakfast coffees are. But still one of the best hotel buffet breakfast I have ever tried.
Their GSS buy 1 main course & get a pasta free is an excellent excuse to try their food. At 3pm on a Sunday the place was packed and the outdoors only the high seats available but luckily a 4-seater opened up just when we were leaving.
3 of us decided on ordering just 2 main courses with a salad for a late lunch:
Pumpkin Lagsana ($16.50) - this was good! The sweetness of the pumpkin was evident and it also contained small pumpkin cubes to add a bite to the usually mushy dish. The cheese was not overwhelming and in fact just nice and it helps that the dish was served hotly from the oven. The presentation was nice too.
Tofu Pattie ($18.50) - this had mashed potato and sauteed mushrooms along with the pattie. The pattie itself was of a good portion with cubes of tofu in it, and although deep fried but not oily. It was also smothered in a pink-ish sauce which unfortunately made it soggy if you leave it for a while. The mushrooms were okay but the mash potato was very dry and uninspiring.
Spinach and mushroom salad ($13) - we were attracted by the combi of this with pine nuts and balsamic vinaigrette. The dressing was suitably tart and the spinach leaves very fresh. The mushrooms were done same as per the tofu pattie dish.
Service was average, except requests to top up our iced / warm water were sporadically forgotten.
They also have quite some choices of bottled beer which is worth trying out although I think they do not have a Happy Hour promo.
With the promo, it added up to only $37 for 3pax which was such a deal. Come before it ends (ends on 24 July)!
Hopped onto a cab to find this as really, who ever know where Penhas Road is? Its quite quite easy to spot once you hit the stretch - just look out for something that is out of place in that almost dilapidated industrial area. The pristine white will grab you if you still can't see it.
The place was only about 4tables full but I guessed its due to it's because it was only opened on 14 June. Many different types of seatings to choose from and a terribly nice spot to impress a girl I must say. Its all sweets, chocolates, a little victorian style decor with cushy seats. What's not to like?
The sight of a huge assortment of meringue, cookies, pastries, caneles, macaroons can be quite distracting but we were there for the cakes after all!
Antoinette ($9) - milk chocolate mousse infused with earl grey tea, chocolate biscuit, raspberry coulis, and earl grey tea crumble - their signature cake. Very strong earl grey smell and taste, with the chocolate biscuit pairing extremely well with the raspberry coulis. Very good!
Saint Honore L'amour ($8) - almond biscuit, choux pastry ring, red fruit compote, choux puff filled with rose cream and rose vanilla creme chantilly - to be honest, this looked better than it tasted. I am not a big fan of rose cream although the chou puff was nice, plus what you see on the rose petal is NOT water droplets - its sugar syrup. Nice.
Chocolicieux ($9.50) - Magnum ice cream bar-like chocolate cake on a stick covered with dark chocolate studded with nuts - this is the ultimate 'magnum'. The inside was very densely filled with either mousse or cake and some caramel bits and the dark chocolate coating completing the experience with the nuts providing a nice crunch.
Latte ($4.50) - A typical good coffee.
Service was okay although some staff seemed a bit new, evident in their too-careful serving of drinks and cakes, but nothing too bad about it.
We were also entertained by the fact that the bill came in a metal bling box. Cute ending to the whole experience.
Made a deliberate trip down on a Sunday late afternoon after hearing about its good coffee and part of me wanted to test out if their baristas are really all professionally trained - 'months of intensive training' - as claimed on their website.
The place can be quite hard to find for first time. The directions on their website does not help too much either.
For such a small place, it is terribly packed. A few outdoor tables lining the entrance / exit door and inside, its elbow-tight space and almost communal dining environment. Thanks to the narrowish design of the inside, the walkway is basically blocked once there is someone standing at the counter to order or look at the display shelves. You wedge your way through while trying not to knock over someone's coffee hoping to find some sort of a space inside. There are some more tables at the back of the cafe but any space is basically taken up.
Scookie ($2.50) - This is basically a hybrid between a cookie and a scone, and I quite like this mutant thing! The typically scone is too dry for me and the cookie too hard for me, so this balances out everything. With a flavour like chocolate hazelnut, its quite hard to mess it up. Warming it up makes it even better.
Carrot cake ($5.50) - Not as moist as I would have liked but generous ingredients coupled with a excellent cream cheese frosting made it good, and almost worth its calories.
Latte ($4.50) - Excellent coffee with the foam expertly done. I am stumped by their way of serving it though: a glass cup without any handles which makes having it steaming hot very difficult. Oh well.
The staff were all wearing smiley faces despite the never ending crowd and tables were cleared rather quickly. Expect the nearby condo crowd and people looking for a leisurely afternoon with good coffee, peacefulness not included though. They also have a good selection of sandwiches and brunch items (on weekends) which looked pretty good on paper.
Would return but getting there is a bit of a deterrent.
This was in impromptu choice on a busy weekday 12:30pm. The place was packed and it is really useful to find a seat before you queue to order. It a queue system to order and pay, get a receipt with a number, then wait at the adjacent counter for your number to be called. When called, choose your sides.
Us 3 ladies went for the following:
Half chicken ($14) - good! Nicely tender and very lean (in fact you can eat the skin if you want to) and comes with a dollop of some sauce. The half chicken portion was good enough for sharing but we did see some others eating this by themselves.
You'll get a chioice of either salad or chips or vegetables with this order, plus choice of 2sides. Any additional order of sides is considered 'salad' under the menu and costs $7.50, but you can mix and match for that one portion. Which we did.
Chips - Thick cut fries with a almost cajun-like sprinkle. Pity it was cold when served but I guess its due to trying to catch up with crowd so probably pre-prepared. A surprisingly huge portion for a side too.
Choice of 2 sides:
Rocket salad - No dressing but fresh clean leaves.
Coleslaw - not drowning in a soggy mess and actually quite good!
Additional order of 'salad':
Potato salad - too generous on the mayo for me, although the sprinkle of crushed black pepper was a nice touch.
Quinoa & some other stuff salad - it was my 1st time having quinoa and I quite liked it, but I forgot what was the other stuff in it.
Chicken salad - no dressing too but fresh baby spinach, green peas, and asparagus topped with a few pieces of roast chicken. Good!
Its self service concept but you have a counter to go to for iced water and plenty of dips: mustard, ketchup, tomato, salt vinegar, bbq etc. Tables are cleared quite quickly to maximize the lunch crowd turnover and the inside seating can get quite noisy I imagine so grab a outside seat which is out of the sun.
Pricing is good too, cheaper than the classic Kenny Rogers. I'll be back!
To be honest I didnt expect the variety to be as per their lunch and dinners and I was pleasantly surprised! It was a blur of dim sum, noodle station, fruit juices station, cheese platter, bread, pastries, indian, chinese, western, the ever popular egg station, and some very local things including chweh kwey and chee chong fun.
I didnt try the bread and pastries but everything else was quite good, especially the dim sim and the noodle soup. It helped that the auntie who cooks the noodle was super friendly and kept asking me to try her noodles, then reminded me again when I walked past a 2nd time, and finally hurried me one last time saying the noodles are almost finished). Very tough to find a hotel staff who takes so much pride in her work.
The potato wedges were very nice, grilled in their skin with rosemary instead of deep fried. Juice station is amazing with your pick of watermelon, orange, apple, banana, honeydew, pineapple, grapes (not sure how you make grape juice though), carrots etc. Skip the chweh kwey and chee chong fun as they tasted it came right out of a frozen packing.
Clearing of plates were a little slow at times but the breakfast crowd does get quite busy. Their brewed coffee was medicore as all other breakfast coffees are. But still one of the best hotel buffet breakfast I have ever tried.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
3 of us decided on ordering just 2 main courses with a salad for a late lunch:
Pumpkin Lagsana ($16.50) - this was good! The sweetness of the pumpkin was evident and it also contained small pumpkin cubes to add a bite to the usually mushy dish. The cheese was not overwhelming and in fact just nice and it helps that the dish was served hotly from the oven. The presentation was nice too.
Tofu Pattie ($18.50) - this had mashed potato and sauteed mushrooms along with the pattie. The pattie itself was of a good portion with cubes of tofu in it, and although deep fried but not oily. It was also smothered in a pink-ish sauce which unfortunately made it soggy if you leave it for a while. The mushrooms were okay but the mash potato was very dry and uninspiring.
Spinach and mushroom salad ($13) - we were attracted by the combi of this with pine nuts and balsamic vinaigrette. The dressing was suitably tart and the spinach leaves very fresh. The mushrooms were done same as per the tofu pattie dish.
Service was average, except requests to top up our iced / warm water were sporadically forgotten.
They also have quite some choices of bottled beer which is worth trying out although I think they do not have a Happy Hour promo.
With the promo, it added up to only $37 for 3pax which was such a deal. Come before it ends (ends on 24 July)!
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
The place was only about 4tables full but I guessed its due to it's because it was only opened on 14 June. Many different types of seatings to choose from and a terribly nice spot to impress a girl I must say. Its all sweets, chocolates, a little victorian style decor with cushy seats. What's not to like?
The sight of a huge assortment of meringue, cookies, pastries, caneles, macaroons can be quite distracting but we were there for the cakes after all!
Antoinette ($9) - milk chocolate mousse infused with earl grey tea, chocolate biscuit, raspberry coulis, and earl grey tea crumble - their signature cake. Very strong earl grey smell and taste, with the chocolate biscuit pairing extremely well with the raspberry coulis. Very good!
Saint Honore L'amour ($8) - almond biscuit, choux pastry ring, red fruit compote, choux puff filled with rose cream and rose vanilla creme chantilly - to be honest, this looked better than it tasted. I am not a big fan of rose cream although the chou puff was nice, plus what you see on the rose petal is NOT water droplets - its sugar syrup. Nice.
Chocolicieux ($9.50) - Magnum ice cream bar-like chocolate cake on a stick covered with dark chocolate studded with nuts - this is the ultimate 'magnum'. The inside was very densely filled with either mousse or cake and some caramel bits and the dark chocolate coating completing the experience with the nuts providing a nice crunch.
Latte ($4.50) - A typical good coffee.
Service was okay although some staff seemed a bit new, evident in their too-careful serving of drinks and cakes, but nothing too bad about it.
We were also entertained by the fact that the bill came in a metal bling box. Cute ending to the whole experience.
![cheesecakefan cheesecakefan](http://www.yebber.com/wp-content/userpics/nophoto_t.jpg)
cheesecakefan said: ![hburn10 hburn10](http://www.yebber.com/wp-content/userpics/nophoto_t.jpg)
hburn10 said:
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!nice review =) and i almost thought that yebber was dead. haha
14 Nov 2011 at 11:25 pm
Thank you :)))
09 Dec 2011 at 1:18 pm
The place can be quite hard to find for first time. The directions on their website does not help too much either.
For such a small place, it is terribly packed. A few outdoor tables lining the entrance / exit door and inside, its elbow-tight space and almost communal dining environment. Thanks to the narrowish design of the inside, the walkway is basically blocked once there is someone standing at the counter to order or look at the display shelves. You wedge your way through while trying not to knock over someone's coffee hoping to find some sort of a space inside. There are some more tables at the back of the cafe but any space is basically taken up.
Scookie ($2.50) - This is basically a hybrid between a cookie and a scone, and I quite like this mutant thing! The typically scone is too dry for me and the cookie too hard for me, so this balances out everything. With a flavour like chocolate hazelnut, its quite hard to mess it up. Warming it up makes it even better.
Carrot cake ($5.50) - Not as moist as I would have liked but generous ingredients coupled with a excellent cream cheese frosting made it good, and almost worth its calories.
Latte ($4.50) - Excellent coffee with the foam expertly done. I am stumped by their way of serving it though: a glass cup without any handles which makes having it steaming hot very difficult. Oh well.
The staff were all wearing smiley faces despite the never ending crowd and tables were cleared rather quickly. Expect the nearby condo crowd and people looking for a leisurely afternoon with good coffee, peacefulness not included though. They also have a good selection of sandwiches and brunch items (on weekends) which looked pretty good on paper.
Would return but getting there is a bit of a deterrent.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
Us 3 ladies went for the following:
Half chicken ($14) - good! Nicely tender and very lean (in fact you can eat the skin if you want to) and comes with a dollop of some sauce. The half chicken portion was good enough for sharing but we did see some others eating this by themselves.
You'll get a chioice of either salad or chips or vegetables with this order, plus choice of 2sides. Any additional order of sides is considered 'salad' under the menu and costs $7.50, but you can mix and match for that one portion. Which we did.
Chips - Thick cut fries with a almost cajun-like sprinkle. Pity it was cold when served but I guess its due to trying to catch up with crowd so probably pre-prepared. A surprisingly huge portion for a side too.
Choice of 2 sides:
Rocket salad - No dressing but fresh clean leaves.
Coleslaw - not drowning in a soggy mess and actually quite good!
Additional order of 'salad':
Potato salad - too generous on the mayo for me, although the sprinkle of crushed black pepper was a nice touch.
Quinoa & some other stuff salad - it was my 1st time having quinoa and I quite liked it, but I forgot what was the other stuff in it.
Chicken salad - no dressing too but fresh baby spinach, green peas, and asparagus topped with a few pieces of roast chicken. Good!
Its self service concept but you have a counter to go to for iced water and plenty of dips: mustard, ketchup, tomato, salt vinegar, bbq etc. Tables are cleared quite quickly to maximize the lunch crowd turnover and the inside seating can get quite noisy I imagine so grab a outside seat which is out of the sun.
Pricing is good too, cheaper than the classic Kenny Rogers. I'll be back!
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!