Rajah Inn (Tiong Bahru Plaza)

Porridge Buffet: Followers will know that I am a devoted regular at Rajah Inn's steamboat buffet dinner. However, this time we thought we would give the 'other' famous buffet a try. Served between 11.30am and 2.30pm, the porridge buffet is very popular with office workers in the vicinity. Happily, I was able to make a telephone reservation.

Price: At a very affordable $6.90 the buffet features more than 20 Indonesian-inspired Chinese dishes, with fresh fruits to end with. Drinks (home-made lemon tea or barley) are separately charged, and are free-flow.

Buffet spread: Unlike the dinner ala carte buffet, the porridge dishes in this self-service buffet are displayed in a heated bain-marie. Dishes range from curry chicken, braised meat, sauteed vegetables to popular accompaniments like salted duck eggs, preserved salted vegetables, beancurd ..etc. Everything is prepared fresh (and replenished regularly) so it all tastes just like it would at home.

Aside from free-flow of sweet potato porridge, other starches provided include fried beehoon and fried rice, in case porridge just doesn't fill you up enough .. :)

Customer service: Being a self-service buffet, you wouldn't expect much table service but the girls still bustle around, clearing dishes, replenishing drinks and keeping the buffet counter clean and tidy. While rushing around, they still find time to stop and exchange snippets of conversations with their regular customers, which probably explains why almost all their clientele are repeat patrons and everyone feels at home here.

Our verdict: Compared to the other food outlets in TBP, this has to be the best value-for-money. And because it is a buffet, we have no qualms about spending the full three hours savouring the food and enjoying tableside conversation. Another regular dining spot!

I went Rajah Inn for lunch today at Tiong Bahru Plaza. I had been there previously and like the porridge and dish selection so Im back again today!

As usual, I had the sweet potato porridge (had to search for the little pieces of sweet potatoes in the porridge) instead of the normal rice. There are fried beehoon as well which goes down well with the plain porridge.

The dishes was almost the same as when I visited previously. Chicken curry, salted vegetables with pork slices, spicy sichuan vegetable, gong bao chicken pieces, bitterground with bean sauces, fried fish pieces (yummy and my favourite!), salted egg quarter, ikan bilis, fried peanut, stewed pork slices (recommended as you hardly find them as soft and thick outside), steamed egg with tofu and etc.. and many vegetables choices. There are pork, mutton, chicken and beef choices to sample.

I went for 2nd round as usual as the porridge was plain but soothing to the taste bud. I paid $8.10 /w gst and it would cost $10 if you order drinks with the meal.

If you like something simple for lunch and sample different choices of dishes for a cheap price at unlimited servicings, you can consider coming here for lunch.