Greenhouse (GreenHouse @ Ritz Carlton)

The promotion of Wednesday 1-for-1 buffet dinner for ladies using DBS card was too hard to resist so off I went with the ladies in my family. When we arrived at 6:30pm, the places was not packed but the crowd started swelling about 7pm – 90% were ladies of course, with a occasional men milling around.

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!