A little over a week ago I had the chance to eat at Nikko hotel for the second time. The first one was a Guinness St. Patrick’s day event about 2 months ago with the awesome lamb shank, this time it was hi-tea at their Cafe Serena Brasserie, arranged by foodstreet. I was again greeted by the friendly host Azira for this occasion.

choices of pastries

To be honest, this was the first time I had hi-tea anywhere. I initially thought that hi-tea would actually involve some sort of really high class tea, but apparently it is just a buffet style late afternoon meal that can be quite substantial. Oh well, learn something new everyday - never to simply assume.

may I have a bowl of that please?

The hi-tea at Cafe Serena Brasserie serves quite a lot of dishes, from a huge selection of pastries, raw oysters, mussels, clams, wantan soup, mee goreng, cheese cakes, ice kacang, to mini potato, mee hun soup, satey, and even chocolate fondue. Definitely more than enough for anyone’s stomach. I was spoiled for choices.

raw oysters, mini wantan soup, baked mussels and more

I started off my meal with a serving from the raw bar, a few fresh raw oysters, mussels, prawns, and clams. As with any buffet, you should always start with things that aren’t very strong tasting and work your way from there. If you started off with satey and plenty of peanut sauce with extra chili, the taste buds will be desensitized to dishes with subtler tastes.

Between chatting with Azira and taking some photos, I had a mini wantan soup, salad, some pastries, pancake, and moved on to satey, fried chicken, and the very very good meehun soup (my favorite). Then of course it was chocolate fondue and some fruits for dessert. But I did sneaked in another serving of oysters as I simply cannot resist.

a bit of noodle, chocolate, raw stuff, fruits, healthy meal ya.

In all, it was a very satisfying and hearty meal. While the food was very good, the hospitality from Azira was even better. We throughly enjoyed the session. Thanks!

More pictures can be found at my flickr set.

Sammy enjoying her meehun soup, and the friendly Azira

Other than Hi-tea on weekends and public holidays, Cafe Serena Brasserie also serves buffet breakfast daily, as well as lunch and dinner on Mondays to Fridays. Buffet dinner has an even wider selection of food, including sashimi from their Japanese kitchen as well.

Address:
165, Jalan Ampang,
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603-2782 6228

Tags:  Buffet,  dining,  food,  hi-tea,  hotel,  klcc,  nikko,  serena brasserie

Posted by KY | 27 Comments »

Just before heading to Bangkok, I had the chance to do a review at Pearl International Hotel’s Sunday Japanese Buffet. Being a fan of Japanese food, I naturally accepted the offer without any hesitation.

glorious oysters, mussels, and crabs

The Sunday buffet is actually something new for Pearl International Hotel. I was a little skeptical on the quality and choices of food as the hotel does not have an in-house Japanese restaurant. However, I was proven wrong on both assumptions when I reached the hotel at around 12pm. A writer from NST was joining us for the review session as well.

wide variety of food, including desserts and fruits

The buffet is set up at Deli Corner, the restaurant right by the main lobby with seating capacity of around 200. The setting is rather large, with almost every type of Japanese food on the various buffet lines. From raw oysters, sushi and sashimi, to tempura and sukiyaki, the selection was impressive.

the raw stuff: sushi, sashimi, oysters, and chuka idako (baby octopus)

The proper way to start off with a Japanese buffet is, of course, by attacking the raw bar. I got myself a few pieces of raw oysters, some mussels, and a couple steamed prawns to go with a serving of sashimi. This is to ensure that the taste buds aren’t contaminated by the stronger flavored cooked item.

soba, sukiyaki, tofu, and green tea ice cream

The oysters, mussels, and prawns were very good. As for the sashimi, the standard is rather normal. Then again I’ve never had really outstanding sashimi from a buffet. The finer cuts are usually only catered to ala carte menu where a plate of sashimi moriawase costs more than a ticket to this buffet, so I guess it is only fair.

noodle, tempura, chawanmushi

I then moved on to sample some chuka idako (baby octopus), tempura, tofu, vegetables, and terikyaki sticks. I particularly like the way they serve chuka idako in a soup spoon. Very exquisite and yet easy to take, easy to eat, and without the chance to make a mess. These cooked food didn’t disappoint me, they are at least on par with the midrange Japanese restaurants.

ahh, some sake to go with everything, perfect

I had the chef made me a very delicious bowl of sukiyaki with beef too, and another serving of raw food before calling it a meal. At the end, I couldn’t resist the green tea ice cream for dessert, 2 scoops of sweetness, bliss!

Pearl International is situated right next to Plaza OUG at Old Klang Road

The meal is priced at RM 48++ per person, seniors can get in for RM 40++ and kids at RM 30++. Pretty decent price for the amount of offerings you get to have. Currently it is only on for Sunday buffet lunch, but do give them a call as the F&B Manager Lawrance Khoh told me they are planning to expand this operation looking at the strong demand. Give it a try!

Invitation arranged by FoodStreet.

Address:
Batu 5, Jalan Klang Lama
58000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-7983 1111

Tags:  Buffet,  dining,  food,  idako,  Japanese,  sake,  sashimi,  sukiyaki,  sushi,  tempura

Posted by KY | 33 Comments »

It’s been a while since I last went for a buffet steamboat, in fact, it was Talipon in May. I guess it was because buffets always left me unable to walk. Then came the noobs suggesting that we head for the rather famous Yuen buffet steamboat at Sunway Mentari. I have passed the shop a few times and there was always a huge crowd, I guess it must be pretty good. So, why not?

huge crowd all the time

Except that I was rather hungry, and when we got there at about 8pm, there were about a dozen tables’ waiting list ahead of us. It was about 45 minutes later when we were called for our table. Note to self: donot go there without reservation on a weekend when too hungry.

Once seated, we were asked for the choice of soup. Unlike, say, Shabu Shabu King, we were able to have both the tomyam and clear soup in the same hotpot. We headed to the buffet line right away. The selection of items in this restaurant is bigger than the previous two restaurants mentioned, and they are not stingy on the more expensive items either. Plenty of big shrimps (both salt and fresh water), crab, squid, and shell fish for the taking. They were all pretty fresh too.

they didn’t skimp on the offering

The tomyam soup was particulary good, with the right amount of spiciness and sourness, it gets even better as you boil the various raw ingredients in the soup. I suggest always starting off with some crab or shell fish to give the soup base a stronger flavor.

Other than a few dozen types of seafood seafood, you can find poultry, beef, various types of fishball and fishcake taste-alike, more than half a dozen vege, kuih, fruits, ice cream, noodles, fried meehun and fried rice. I believe no pork is served.

chicken wing was really good too

The claim of fame for this restaurant though, is not merely its steamboat offering, you can get that in many other places. It was their honey chicken wing. We stalked the cooked buffet line for quiet sometime before the chicken wing came out of the kitchen steaming, and it was some 30 seconds before the tray is empty again. We only managed to get a couple pieces per person. The tiny chicken wings were indeed very delicious, with strong taste of honey properly marinated in the wings, it was something you’ll have to try for yourself.

so now you can go there too!

The dinner costs RM 18.80 per person, add RM 1.00 for the free flowing Chinese tea and it’s still less than RM 20.00, a very reasonable for the type of food served. Yuen buffet steamboat only serves dinner.

Address:
32A-1, Jalan PJS 8/6
Mentari Plaza, Bandar Sunway
46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Tel:016-2086678, 56375825

Tags:  Buffet,  eats,  hot-pot,  mentari,  Steamboat,  sunway,  yuen

Posted by KY | 27 Comments »