Cafe Mosaic

Better than expected....

This was my choice for a family high tea, and I wanted some place which I've never tried. Gave it a shot despite not knowing what I'll get. Tried Orchard Hotel a few weeks back and it was so not worth it.

Maybe because I never expected much, I thought the food and spread was not so bad after all. Bread and pastry- Variety is not big but it didnt look very warm fresh-out-of-the-oven either so gave this a miss. Also saw cold sandwiches and scones but I didnt try it either as both looked dry.

Cold stuff - plenty of appetizers like achar, potato salad, jellyfish, pasta salad, corn nibblets, sushi, prawns, mussels: the prawns were of good size and quite fresh. The achar was very good, the pasta salad too. The rice on the sushi was too hard so I ended up eating the ingredient on top.

Hot stuff - otah omelette, curry puffs, stewed veg, ngoh hiang, dim sum, fried rice, stir fried beef. otah omelette was quite bland with neither the otah nor egg taste. Ngoh Hiang was surprisingly tasty, dim sum so so, and fried rice deceptively named as it was only rice with fried egg.

Soup - There were 2 the day I went: cream of brocolli and old cucumber with spare ribs. The cream was strangely orange in colour so I took the other. It is excellent and seemingly boiled for very long, with no porky taste at all. Mushrooms and dates were added for that extra touch.

Laska station - although it looks promising, taste was only so so, with the gracy being overly thick. Serving portion was also too big for ladies I feel.

Coffee / tea - 2 coffee machine and comprehensive choice of tea bags. Coffee was quite good for a cafe coffee.

Desserts - The mini sized desserts looked good but they were not. Cakes were dry and disappointing in taste too. I ended up having a better time with ice cream.

Serivce was nothing to complain about, with the place about 3/4 full, although clearing of plates can be faster.

Some dishes obviously needed improvement, but I will still say its not too bad an attempt especially when the hotel is just trying to reposition itself. Orchard HOtel was about $4 cheaper than this, and the spread and quality was worse. For an okay experience, I have no problems with Cafe Mosaic. Although at $38 they are not the cheapest around either.