http://sparklette.net/food/buffet-town/ http://sparklette.net/food/buffet-town/#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:00:56 +0000 Jasper Aston Lim http://sparklette.net/?p=1228

Buffet Town is the new kid on the block of buffet restaurants. Located at Raffles City where Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar used to sit, the restaurant aims to be the ultimate international buffet venue with an offering of over 300 food items.

Buffet
Lunch (Mon-Fri): Adult $23.80++; Child $16.80++
Lunch (Sat-Sun, Eve of and PH): Adult $28.80++; Child $16.80++
Dinner (Mon-Thu): Adult $33.80++; Child $19.80++
Dinner (Fri-Sun, Eve of and PH): Adult $38.80++; Child $19.80++
Buffet rating:

Priced very reasonably for a buffet conveniently located at the heart of Singapore, it’s no wonder that the 450-seat restaurant is bustling with activity even on a weekday evening!

Mussels

As with all buffets these days, the seafood counter is a big hit and always crowded. Many diners can be seen piling up their plates with seafood. Look out for the big and juicy freshly shucked oysters.

Chilled crayfish and prawns

Maki

At the Japanese counter, the food is replenished quickly, ensuring that the freshest quality is always made available to diners. Check out the large assortment of maki rolls, ranging from the usual California rolls to asparagus. Hand-rolls are also prepared à la minute by the chefs on duty.

Assorted maki and sashimi

Grilled chicken

The hot food section is one of the largest I’ve seen, stretching around almost the whole of the restaurant interior. You will not be disappointed with the variety of items, ranging from grilled to deep-fried, and even curries!

Western stews and curries

Forrest pizza

Boasting a thin crust and a generous serving of ingredients and mozzarella cheese, it’s no surprise that the pizzas are snatched up almost as quickly as they are replenished!

Fish and chips

One of the most important components to a good fish and chips is the breading. The fish and chips served here have just the right crispiness — a pleasant surprise for this commonly overlooked dish.

Pasta station

A highlight of Buffet Town is the pasta station where you get to create your very own pasta. Simply choose the ingredients you fancy from choices like seafood, mushrooms and even bacon, then select your preferred pasta and sauce.

Penne aglio olio

While my penne aglio olio is packed with yummy ingredients, too much black pepper has been used, hence overpowering the dish. I also try a bowl of creamy spaghetti, in which the cream sauce is lacking and prawns are undercooked.

Roast beef

The restaurant has a few main dishes that are refreshed on a regular basis, namely the carving of the day and Chinese herbal soup. I enjoy the roast beef, which is tender and nicely cooked to pink.

Old cucumber soup

Tempura

Go for the tempura, which is executed to a crisp delight. The sweet potato and ladyfingers are unanimous favourites.

Teppanyaki

Fill your plates with the meats and greens from the teppanyaki station. The chefs are friendly and ever ready to cook up a storm with your selected items. A pity that there is no alert system to inform you when your order is done, which sometimes results in collecting a plate of food that has already gone cold.

You would also find chefs hard at work grilling Japanese and local items.

Grilled pineapple

These skewers of grilled pineapple provide an interesting combination of textures and flavours, and complement the sweet satay meats.

Grilled skewers

The scallops and mussel mentai are highlights from the Japanese grilled section, cooked to perfection and still retaining the fresh seafood goodness. Best enjoyed when they are fresh off the grill!

Mussel mentai

And we’re still not done with this review yet! Buffet Town also has quite a few booths — like the adorable mini rojak stall — dedicated to serving Singapore local favourites.

Rojak station

Carrot cake

The carrot cake is just the way I like it — chunky, slightly sweet and savoury.

Laksa

While my dining companion enjoys the laksa, I feel it could have used more spices and chilli.

Hainanese chicken rice

The chicken rice may be a bit dry, while the meat is just the right oiliness and very flavourful.

Chilli crab

Sinful, but oh-so good, the scrumptious chilli crab gravy is finger-licking good and couples well with the deep-fried mantou.

Coffee and tea station

Having a ‘kopitiam’ right within the restaurant is a stroke of genius! After a heavy meal, there’s nothing better than to kick back and unwind with your favourite kopi-O or teh-si!

For those who prefer something else, there are also drinks machines, and even soy milk.

Soy milk

Mini cakes and éclairs

Not to be left out is the desserts selection. Aside from the usual cakes and tarts, you can also opt for green bean soup, cheng tng or even make your own ice kachang!

Ice cream

While the goreng pisang and waffles are nothing out of the ordinary, I find the ice cream flavours surprisingly tasty and appealing. Do try the rich chocolate as well as macadamia, which has a smooth, subtle sweetness.

Buffet Town has its share of hits and misses. While it is not on par with the high-end buffet establishments, it offers diners a very good range of items at an affordable price. As it is still relatively new, I expect improvements and better things to come.

Have Your Say!

Where can you enjoy the best value buffet in Singapore? Share with us in the comments!

Buffet Town
Raffles City Shopping Centre
252 North Bridge Road #B1-44E
Singapore 179103
Tel: +65 6837 3793 | Website

Opening hours:
Lunch: 11:30am to 3pm daily
Dinner: 6pm to 10:30pm daily

---

View the original article and join the discussion at:
http://sparklette.net/food/buffet-town/ | 7 comments

Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Download free iPhone app

© 2011 Sparklette.net

]]> 7

The 15,000 square foot eatery opened just weeks ago at the new basement extension of Raffles City Shopping Centre. Attracted by the fact that I can choose from over 230 dishes, I hurried down to check out the place. Many other people had the same idea, and it was only during my second visit that I managed to get in after a relatively short queue.

The design is colourful, modern and tasteful, with various areas of themed dining. The walls are dominated by murals of Tokyo city scenes overlaid with graphics of Japanese girls.

(Update: Asprah left a comment informing me that those aren’t really Japanese girls, but long-haired Japanese male rockers!)

(As I was rather enthralled by the art on those walls, I did some snooping around and found the artist’s website where you can see all the commissioned arts he did for Shokudo. here’s the link.)

There are even a few colourful neoprint machines at the centre of the restaurant! They sure are a hit with the younger crowd.

You would find the rosti here too, which is a signature potato dish at Marché. But other than that, the food is vastly different. In addition to traditional fare such as sushi, sashimi, teppanyaki and tempura, there are many more unusual creations.

Even for Western dishes such as burgers and pasta, they would be done Japanese style. The burgers come with eggs served sunny side up and — check this out — miso-flavoured beef patties!

So there I was, walking through the melange of various cooking stations, not knowing what to eat. There were so many choices and everything looked tempting to me!

Then, I spotted a queue at the omelette station. Normally, bland-tasting omelettes wouldn’t attract me much. But this time round, my Singaporean mentality kicked in. “if there’s a queue, it must be good la!” moreover, it was fun watching the chef cook the omelette in his cute square-shaped pan.

The dish is served popiah-style, with the omelette wrapped around the ingredients and cut into different segments. Delicious mayonnaise is then drizzled generously over it.

Japanese-style Unagi (Eel) Omelette
S$5.80++
Rating:

What you see here is the unagi (eel) omelette. I swear I am not exaggerating here, but boy, it was lip-smackingly good! I certainly had not expected it to be that good. I mean, there is only so much you can do with an omelette right? It was a little sweet, a little salty, and bursting with flavour all at the same time. I strongly urge everyone to go for this — we even got ourselves a second helping!

Besides unagi, you also get to choose from other ingredients such as crab meat, cheese, bacon, ham, sliced pork and mushroom too. Wow, I’m so going back to shokudo just to get a taste of the omelette again!

Japanese BBQ Eel Hot Plate
S$6.80++
Rating:

If you are in the mood for something more conventional, go for the Japanese hot plate. Besides the unagi seen above, there’s also beef, seafood or chicken (for the chicken lovers like me) to choose from. It’s nothing particularly out of the norm, but tastes good nonetheless.

Bean Sprouts
S$4++
Rating:

Okay, this is just too funny to leave out. For something that goes back to the basics, and by that I really do mean the basics, there’s the fried tau gay (bean sprouts). I couldn’t believe it when my friend came walking back to our table with a whole platter of fried tau gay! And it actually cost 4 bucks!

This is followed by dessert! Dessert choices include cr�pes, waffles and even tofu cheesecakes. Always a fan of waffles, we went for the waffle with a scoop of gelato. Why gelato? Because the Japanese are a health-conscious bunch and gelato has much less fat than regular ice cream!

Waffle with choice of gelato
S$5.80++
Rating:

It’s a long wait, though, as the waffle is made from scratch on the spot. But it’s well worth the wait. At my next visit, I’m having the tofu cheesecake. I’ve never had one before!

As I was going around checking out the food stations, one particular station piqued my interest. It’s a pizza station! These Japanese pizzas are wafer-thin and certainly do not resemble the common pizzas!

This is a plastic replica of the pizza. Look just how thin it is! I was rather pleased to see these plastic food replicas at every food station here, the way many restaurants in Japan have them!

I really enjoy the wide array of Japanese food here. There are so many different dishes to sample such that even the fussiest eater (and by that I really mean me) would find something he or she loves. I’m already looking forward to my next visit!

Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar
Raffles City Shopping Centre
252 North Bridge Road #B1-44E
Singapore 179103
Tel: +65 6837 3793
Service:

View the original article and join the discussion at:
http://sparklette.net/food/shokudo-japanese-food-bazaar/ | 28 comments

Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Download free iPhone app

© 2011 Sparklette.net

Marché has often been compared to The Vila’ge, a local restaurant that pretty much rips off the entire Marché concept. The two share astounding similarities. Although both managements have denied any links, we don’t really know for sure.

But for now, this post would simply be about Marché. Just for the record, I love the new place! The overall feel is refreshingly different from before. I’m very happy to say that it trumps the Vila’ge in all aspects.

First of all, the restaurant has scored an awesome spot on the rooftop of VivoCity. One side of the restaurant is made almost entirely of glass windows, allowing ample skylight to pour in. It gives the feel of alfresco dining even though you’re really dining indoor. Best of both worlds!

Of course, its signature bull (or cow) mascot is back!

Like its previous flagship restaurant at the Heeren, this one also has segregated eating areas with each area sporting a different look. One area has double-seaters with red and white checkered tablecloth. Another has chairs with fur-printed seats. Then, there’s also a room that resembles a cottage.

The lines drawn between these separate themed areas are pretty blurry. To the people that don’t pay much attention, the place would simply appear as one large eating area. For one, large amounts of 500 year old wood taken from an actual Swiss log cabin is used throughout the entire restaurant. How’s that for authenticity?

The “cashless” system has also been retained, where every diner is given a card that records the purchase for each item ordered. In the past (as well as at the Vila’ge), a large flimsy card made from paper was used for this purpose. People who lost the card would incur a $100 fine. If I lost this card now, at least I would be paying $100 for a proper card made from plastic rather than a piece of paper.

Okay, let’s get on with what really matters — the food! What you will find here is predominantly European. Besides miso soup, I didn’t spot anything particularly Asian.

Salad (small)
S$4.80+ and 1% CESS
Rating:

At the salad station, you can select your salad size and choose from various ingredients. We had a small salad with lettuce, baby potato and cheese. Yum!

Marché’s signature dish is rösti, a food made from potatoes. Don’t the potato shreds resemble pasta?

Rösti with Premium Smoked Salmon
S$11.80+ and 1% CESS
Rating:

I have the rösti with smoked salmon. Cooked al dente, it is light and sort of fluffy on the inside. I like it!

But most of all I love the two large slices of nicely flavoured salmon. Very delicious! This is one dish I would recommend to all Marché visitors.

For the meat lovers, you can get your fix at the grill station. The food is barbecued only after an order has been placed.

Grilled Chicken Breast
S$6.80+ and 1% CESS
Rating:

I have — what else — grilled chicken breast. It is, rather disappointingly, a tad on the dull side. The sauce has such little flavour, I have to dump a lot of chilli sauce onto the chicken! For a relatively simple dish, they really should have gotten it right.

However, there is an unexpected find at the grill station — the yellow cream sauce. It has the distinct taste of wasabi and adds an interesting dimension to what is otherwise a boring dish.

An assorted range of buns and breads is available. These catch my interest…

Swiss cross buns! Each one is marked with a cross like the Swiss flag! Cute!

Swiss Cross Bun
S$1+ and 1% CESS
Rating:

Of course I must have one! I am already stuffed, but that cute little bun is irresistible! I love the way the butter glistens under the light! It tastes a little sweet, and goes pretty well with this…

Chocolate Mousse (small)
S$4.50+ and 1% CESS
Rating:

Chocolate mousse! I know it doesn’t look great here, but chocolate mousse is one of my favourite desserts! We don’t really get it much around here, do we? At Marché, we can simply grab a bowl and scoop as much of it as we want! Smooth, creamy, and sinful. Ooh la la, what a sexy little dessert. It needs not necessarily be eaten from a bowl, if you know what I mean.

Lastly, the drinks section. There are the usual tea, alcoholic beverages, and soft drinks such as snapple. I neglect to check out the beer. Would someone please let me know what’s the main brand of beer sold in Marché? At the Vila’ge it’s the German brand, Erdinger.

Cappuccino & Mocha
S$3.80 & $4.80+ and 1% CESS
Rating:

And since I am currently in a cappuccino craze, that is what I have. In fact, I must have at least one cuppa joe everyday! Over the past few weeks I have had the ones from Coffee Bean, Starbucks, tcc, McDonald’s and now Marché.

While we’re still on the subject, what’s your favourite place to get cappuccino? I need good recommendations! For now it’s tcc. But because there isn’t a tcc outlet at my workplace, I tend to buy it at McDonald’s. Cheap, cheap cappuccino from McDonald’s! Yeah, yeah, shame on me.

So anyway, if you don’t find yourself scampering off to Marché yet, this ought to do it:

Not only does Marché boast delicious European food that is prepared on the spot, they also guarantee their vegetables to be fresh and healthily cooked! They have even come up with a “7 point freshness program” to show for it.

Speaking of Switzerland, its influence does go far doesn’t it? Here there are Swiss army knives, Swiss rolls, Swiss chocolate, and now Marché! What other Swiss products can you think of?

I wasn’t actually a fan of Marché before when it had two franchisee outlets in Singapore for years. But after its reentry with this refreshing new restaurant falling directly under its Swiss management, I find it highly promising and definitely much trendier than before.

Yes, I’m a fan now!

VivoCity outlet

313@Somerset outlet

View the original article and join the discussion at:
http://sparklette.net/food/marche/ | 37 comments

Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Download free iPhone app

© 2011 Sparklette.net

]]> 37 http://sparklette.net/food/station-kitchen/ http://sparklette.net/food/station-kitchen/#comments Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:38:34 +0000 Veron Ang http://sparklette.net/archives/the-station-kitchen-3-in-1-restaurant/ St James Power Station is the clubbing hotspots in town. It has been refurbished from an old power station. And that’s not all. This power station is also Singapore’s first coal-powered power plant and was built in 1927! That’s quite a bit of history isn’t it?

Located at the Sentosa gateway and across from VivoCity, the largest shopping mall in Singapore, this formerly functioning power station is now home to nine different clubs and bars.

I wonder if party-goers know that there is also a restaurant over here, called “the station kitchen”. It is managed by the BreadTalk folks and houses three kinds of cuisines and concepts. There is the Din Tai Fung noodle bar (Chinese food), What You Do Prata stall (Indian food) and charcoal (Taiwanese grill).

At What You Do Prata, the Indian chef whips up a range of curries and gravies that look really tantalising. I love Indian food, so naturally I was very tempted!

Chicken Masala
S$4.50+++
Rating:

Instead of having some good ol’ roti prata, I went for the chicken masala. I had really high expectations because the Indian chef looked as though he was really good at what he did! But the chicken turned out looking much better than it tasted. Masala means a mixture of many spices, but the masala sauce certainly didn’t excite.

Briyani Rice
S$2+++
Rating:

Of course, if you had all that gravy, you would want something else to go along. Ideally I would have naan but they didn’t have any so I had briyani rice instead. Once again, it was blah and tasted monotonous. A good briyani rice ought to be some nicely spiced basmati rice, well-cooked and firm to the bite. Disappointingly, the one here just didn’t make the cut.

Teh Halia (Ginger Tea)
S$2.90+++
Rating:

Still, I loved the teh halia. teh halia is teh tarik (“pulled” tea) with ginger juice added. The first time I ever had teh halia, I found the taste a little odd. But after subsequent times I was hooked! This, and masala tea (spicy tea) too.

At the din tai fung noodle bar, Chinese chefs made noodles on the spot. This is done by repeatedly pulling and stretching the dough by hand. Each time someone places an order, the guy would start doing his thing, hence guaranteeing that every bowl of noodles is made fresh!

Noodle with Minced Pork in Bean Sauce
S$8+++
Rating:

I don’t eat pork but I did get a taste of the hand-made noodle — firm and smooth, springy and cooked to perfection. Very nice! The bean sauce was delightful.

So that’s two out of three. The last part of The Station Kitchen — charcoal — didn’t really appeal to me much. A major part of the charcoal concept means that you get/have to cook your own food, which doesn’t exactly appeal to me.

Even though the food at The Station Kitchen may not be that fantastic, party-goers are sure to throng this place after dark as it’s probably the only eating place in the same area that opens until 5am. Under its management, which has a successful and proven track record in BreadTalk, Din Tai Fung and Food Republic, The Station Kitchen would certainly be around for a long time.

The Station Kitchen
St James Power Station
3 Sentosa Gateway #01-11/15
Singapore 098544
Tel: +65 6376 8085
Service:

---

View the original article and join the discussion at:
http://sparklette.net/food/station-kitchen/ | 10 comments

Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Download free iPhone app

© 2011 Sparklette.net

The Vila’ge is pronounced “vee-lah-jey”. Until very recently, I had thought it was simply pronounced and spelled “the village”!

But firstly, here’s a bit of history behind these two restaurants. Marché opened its first restaurant at the Heeren in 1997, boasting a European village dining concept, and a second one at Suntec City Mall some time after.

7 years later, The Vila’ge opened its first restaurant at China square with an identical concept. It became Marché’s direct competitor.

In 2006, Marché closed its flagship restaurant at the Heeren, and The Vila’ge took over the same floorspace.

So, how different from Marché would The Vila’ge be?

As it turns out, not too different! Both restaurants employ a similar “cashless” system where every diner is given a bar coded card. When we order our food and drinks from any of the twenty-ish stations, our purchase is recorded onto the card. Payment is made only upon leaving.

The similarities do not end there. I had dined at Marché (the Heeren branch) a number of times when it was still in business. The Vila’ge sports almost the exact same layout! The drinks section is laid out in the exact same fashion, with bottles and cans sticking out of barrels. The dining area does not look any different from before. Heck, even the make-your-own-pizza station is still located at the exact same spot!

So basically, everything looks the same as Marché. My only clue that this place is actually a different restaurant is that it now has a new name! Very different, indeed.

This is why I’m a little perturbed that photography is banned here. Why do restaurants ban photography anyway? The only reason I can think of is that they do not want competitors mimicking their design, food, whatever. But hello, this isn’t even a unique concept that The Vila’ge came up with on its own. Even its bull (or cow) mascot is the same as Marché’s! And so, “click”, “click”, “click”, my camera went.

Even though The Vila’ge gets zero points for creativity and originality, the food may fare better. Marché, as I recall, did not have any food that was particularly memorable. I had the pizza each time I went. This time round, we went for the catch of the day, which was stingray.

Sambal Stingray with Rice
S$6.80+ + 1% CESS
Rating:

Served with rice, the stingray was surprisingly good! I thought that the best sambal stingray would usually be found in hawker centres. I was wrong. The sambal chilli, in particular, was awesome. It made the dish what it is. And at just $6.80, this dish was no doubt very satisfying.

Black & White Chocolate Cake
S$4.80+ + 1% CESS
Rating:

The desserts selection was scarcely limited. I had the black and white chocolate cake, which was filled with both dark and white chocolate mousse. I love mousse, and this certainly looked very pretty. But in the end it didn’t really do much for me.

For such a huge restaurant I would have liked to see more dessert choices other than just the few cakes and breads. But they do get some brownie points for having a $14 chocolate fondue set available. Whether it’s any good remains to be seen.

Erdinger Beer
S$10.20+ (a pint) + 1% CESS
Rating:

Free beer tomorrow? Boy, wouldn’t that be sweet? The beer of choice here is the German Erdinger. Very smooth and rich!

At the end of the day, I did like what I had, but there could have been more choices available. I also liked the overall look and dining concept of this place, although I am well aware of the fact that Marché takes most, if not all, of the credit for that.

View the original article and join the discussion at:
http://sparklette.net/food/the-vilage/ | 22 comments

Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Download free iPhone app

© 2011 Sparklette.net