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3F, 7 Raffles Boulevard, Pan Pacific Hotel
SingaporePostal code: Show postal code
Telephone: (65) 6826-8333
Category:
Restaurants » European
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Overall Rating:
264
I have only tried Global Kitchen for a buffet breakfast many years ago and was excited when I saw that Citibank had a 1-4-1 buffet dinner that comes with free flow of Tiger beer (original price is $88 for 1 adult). So me and a girlfriend had a shot at it on the 7th day of CNY.
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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301
A dreamy Sunday out with you, eating nothing but eggs and pancakes. And a glass of that bubbly champagne is just the icing on the cake. I love brunch! I really do. There’s just something about brunch that makes me excited, just the mention of it will be enough to get me on a high.
And how about a buffet brunch? Excellent, you get to eat a bit of everything (not that I’m a big fan of buffet), and free flow of champagne? Swoon!
I can never say no to desserts, you are my weakness. And we couldn’t resist taking photographs at the desserts section first since it’s right in front of the restaurant. All the petite desserts were waving to me, with the alluring cakes winking and making signals for me to step forward.
Do you want a piece of chocolate?
How about a chocolate tree? I’ll pluck the chocolates off and give them all to you. I know you want the bitter one, and you can feed me the sweet one. The chocolates, they were so good!
Rows, and rows of them: mustard lax salmon, smoked salmon, Thai smoked salmon, and an assortment of smoked fish platter. I bet you will just stand there all day and finish every slice of them.
Breakfast to me, must consist of eggs benedicts, pancakes, sausages; that sort of stuff. They had poached eggs here, but there wasn’t any hollandaise sauce, and sadly because the breakfast section was prepared beforehand (not on the spot), the eggs, sausages, and hash browns were cold.
But there’s an ala-minute section where the chef prepared eggs-done-in-any-style. Omelettes, sunny sideup, overeasy, you name it, they have it.
And while you are at the same area, the chef will prepared Vol Au Vent on the spot too. There’s Prawn with Brandy Sauce, Duck Confit with Foie Gras, Chicken Ragout with Mushrooms and Ham & Cheese Ragout to choose from. I’ve the duck confit with foie gras, which sort of reminded me of the kueh pie tee; crispy shells with savoury fillings
The array of seafood selection at Global Kitchen consisted of the typical mussels, prawns, scallop, and there’s Alaskan king crabs too! But it was the spoilt-for-choice of oysters that impressed me! The usual buffet line-ups will mostly just have, you know, fresh oysters on a bed of ice. But not here, there’s so many options, this is oysters at their best!
Some people proclaim oyster as the perfect food. There’s no preparation involved, no standing of hours in front of the stove to cook it. It’s absolutely fresh – it’s still alive just moments before you pop it inside your mouth. A slice of lemon wedge is all you need, and we are ready.
Among all, the fried oyster with bacon wrap was my favourite; I know this might not be the best way to taste the oysters as there probably wouldn’t be “freshness” left since it’s fried, but you know the thing with fried food, it’s always tasty. The saltiness of the bacon greatly enhanced the whole thing, not that you need to “add more flavour” to the oyster anyway. The purist probably couldn’t accept it since this was akin to killing the oyster, but I like it!
I also enjoyed the baked oyster with cheese tremendously. What’s there not to like when oyster marry with cheese? Fans of oysters will most likely gulp down a dozen of them at one shot, but not me. I had enough after having about five different ways of oysters, and there’s a few other ways which I didn’t try!
In buffets, I will always go for the ala minute food – stuff that are cook by chefs on the spot. And the fish & chips were pretty impressive. For one, they had mashed green peas, yes green peas! It totally exudes the “British feel” of a hearty fish & chips.
And can you imagine my excitement when I saw the chef preparing risotto and pastas too? There’s not much ingredients to choose from, you know the typical mushroom, tomato, but there’s no need for fanciful stuff when a plate of simple and comfort risotto/pasta is all I need.
There’s actually a lot more food, main courses like duck breast, salmon, seabass, beef, lamb, pork loin; in short, something to cater to everybody. I didn’t try all of them, just a bit here and there.
Free flow of champagne, amazing company with Camemberu, and Aromacookery, we pigged out for three hours ( including one hour for taking photos), this is what I call brunch! My appreciation to Cheryl and Merissa of Pan Pacific Hotel for hostingus for the media tasting session. We did not eat a lot, just a bit of everything, and yet at the end of it I was feeling sick – over stuffed with food. And we didn’t even try all the things available at the buffet! The champagne brunch is on Sundays from 12.00pm to 3.00pm.
Price: $98 per adult (with Champagne, wines, cocktails, beers, juices and soft drinks) $88 per adult (with wines, cocktails, beers, juices and soft drinks) $78 per adult (with juices and soft drinks)
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!Wow... Now I'm really hungry, just looking at those pictures...
07 Oct 2009 at 9:32 am
506
Caught up with some good friends over dinner at the newly opened Global Kitchen at Pan Pacific Hotel. Located on the third floor, it boasts global cuisine to go along with its stellar decor.
Global Kitchen's decor is spartan yet exudes futuristic undertones. Lighting with a hue of blue is predominant and adheres to the overall theme. If you are lucky, you might just get a semi private booth like seat which seats 2 pax for a romantic dinner.
It is my belief that all self respecting fine dining restaurants will offer complimentary bread and Global Kitchen is no exception. However, the bread falls flat in both taste and smell. Sure, there were pockets of cheese in it, but when spread over with the smooth butter, it was hardly evident. So much for the free bread.
I'm not a particular fan of Foie Gras, unless you are talking about the one which I had at IL-Lido, so this appetiser didn't really appeal to me. I just thought it would be nice to try it out after it garnered rave reviews in the Straits Times a few weeks back. On hindsight, I should have known better. The Foie Gras Creme Brulee with Sauteed Vanilla was too overpowering, rendering me almost unconscious from the overwhelming liver taste. It was a nice concept though, with the top layer sweet and burnt like your conventional Creme Brulee. The Kumquat Duck Foie Gras sounded interesting, but tasted like normal soft and quivery Foie Gras, with no Kumquat taste whatsoever. Having said that, its one of the better Foie Gras that I have eaten, not that I've eaten alot though.
Confit of Ocean Trout with Spicy Eggplant Compote and Calamansi Lime and Butter Sauce - Nicely done with raw Ocean Trout which was very fresh and smooth. I didn't get to try the eggplants, but I understand that they were quite good. Do look out for the tiny portions though.
River Prawns and Coconut Cappuccino with Prawns, Pineapple and Mango Salad - This was a rather interesting soup which tasted very strongly of prawn (no coffee taste) and had a layer of foam atop which tasted of coconut. In all honesty, with the foam out of the way, the remaining soup tasted almost like prawn noodle soup, with the colour of cappuccino though. Only one prawn was given, contrary to the name of the dish, which mentioned prawns.
Ginger and Sake Roasted Tenderloin of Beef on a bed of Wok Seared Baby Greens - As exciting as the name sounds, this was probably the biggest flop of the day. The tenderloin was undercooked for my request of medium rare. The meat was extremely chewy and rubbery(signs of undercooking) and the only sauce I could make out was a strong pepper sauce. Now where's by ginger and sake? On the whole, the taste was still not too bad, but something needs to be done about the doneness.
Strawberry Sunburst Aniseed Panna Cotta - The first of our desserts. You can't really go wrong with Panna Cotta as most people like sweet endings. The Panna Cotta came with sweet strawberries and a piece of sugar coated Danish cookie which added sweet on sweet. Texture wise, it was smooth and soft, as what I would have expected from a good Panna Cotta.
Bittersweet Chocolate Flourless Cake with Fig and Earl Gray Compote - I only had a go at the chocolate cake and didn't try the other stuff. Try as I might, but I couldn't locate the Earl Gray Compote. The chocolate cake was to have been a nice change from the usual flour ones but I honestly couldn't quite taste the difference except that it didn't have a spongy layer and overall it felt more like eating smooth layers of chocolate rather than cake. Nice, but not something I'll eat often cause it gets really sick after a while.
Red Wine Poached Pear with Rhubarb Crumble and Vanilla Ice Cream - Very nicely done with the taste of red wine entrenched in the pear. The red wine didn't come across as too strong and went well with the vanilla ice cream. Interesting dish and probably one of the better dishes that night. However, as with ALL the other dishes, portions are 2 sizes smaller than normal - very small.
A had to eat MacDonalds after that dinner set us back by about $234. Thats pretty expensive stuff if you ask me. Sad to say, Global Kitchen emphasies more on form rather than factor, which in this case, is the quality of food. The ambience is there, service is there, but the only thing lacking is the finesse of the food. Will I return? With that kind of prices and portion size, you've got to be kidding.
See my pictures here
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