Had dinner with LYTC and my hubby to celebrate my birthday (belated) at Cafe Brio's.

Spread - Great Variety!
Dishes: Green Curry Chicken (Nice!), Mixed Vegetables, Roasted Potatoes, Dimsum, Kong Bak Bun, Youtiao, Roasted Fish, Braised Duck, Mussel+Rice, Braised Lamb, Beef Noodles, Fish Mousse, Soft Shell Crab
Soups: Beef Goulash, Crabmeat Corn Soup
Grills: Beef Steak, Lamb Chop, Squids, Prawns, Potato, Corn
Japanese: Sashimi, Sushi
Seafood: Oysters, Prawns, Crayfish, Mussels, Crabs
Dessert: Cakes, Icecream, Mousse, Puddings, Chocolate Fondue
Fruits: Guava, Dragonfruit, Pineapple
Others: Cold Appetizers, Salads, Breads, Cheeses, Dried Fruits

Taste - Ok!
Not especially flavourful nor impressionable, some dishes were a tad too cold. I especially fancy the Green Curry Chicken and the Braised Duck.

Service - Prompt!
Plates were cleared fast, iced water topped up fast, and as you leave your seats, napkins would be folded nicely fast! The oysters were topped up really fast too!

Price - FREE!
It was our friend's treat. So... I'd say it's mega worth it! hehe...

Was given a lovely treat by lovely friends at Cafe Brio and was looking forward to a lovely buffet meal... Located on e lobby floor next to the reception u would be blind if u missed e place.. So is Cafe Brio lovely? Let's find out!

A typical hotel buffet setting with typical buffet food.. with the octoberfest in place.. we were hoping that this would fest up e whole affair with a german twist .. Sadly Cafe Brio kinda disappoints!

Kudos to the fresh salmon sashimi n oysters n prawns that keeps coming.. It's a good thing that Cafe Brio do replenish these frequently hence u do not have a "crap no more oysters!" situation... e salmon sashimi is quite fresh n thickly sliced so it's a nice surprise...did not try e tuna sashimi coz mostly buffet ones disappoint so i gave it a miss.. e oysters r quite lovely as well n is still quite nicely chilled...good thing it's not too frozen or warmed coz can u imagine eating ice cold or warm oysters? yucks! (haha dun laugh! this do happen at other buffets!) perhaps it's a weekday crowd (although still quite a crowd no less..) so no crazy "fight for food" thingy which is a plus!... Another good stuff is e laksa.. it's pretty much like e laksa from a good coffeeshop stall round e corner with fresh prawns and spicy enuff flavourful laksa soup.. Desserts wise i do like e bread pudding with custard.. it's quite a yum!

Okie that's it! Everything goes downhill from here... The octoberfest has (i assumed) replaced some of e usual makans with german stuff.. e sausages r nothing to shout abt.. e beer schnitzel is a tad too tough but has an interesting taste.. e other german dishes r forgettable.. peraps e usual fare is better? e sushi r juz so-so.. very mini spread actually.. e other cooked dishes r misses (e sea snails r juz ridiculous!) while others like e dim sum looks totally unappertizing.. e desserts that i've tried like creme brulee and this hazelnut/raspberry tart r not so nice.. it's nice to have a choc fondue but would b best if it's possible to dip e strawberries and marshmallows into! e shallow pot of choc fondue is kinda sad...

If u realised.. other than e sashimi n oysters n laksa.. it's kinda hard to get happy (or to some .. get full) on e other spread.. It's not a bad buffet coz it scored points on e cold section but e hot section left much to b desire..

There's also great room for improvement for e service... plates uncleared at all.. water not refilled.. couldn't get their attention.. u get e pic..

Perhaps e Octoberfest german food is a miss? Perhaps e usual fare is a hit? Or perhaps i juz went on a bad day? Anyway i've no idea how much is e buffet but we did have a 1-for-1 so good deal for all e sashimi n oysters!

Quite surprised to see that the rating is only 5.5 overall - i guess it depends on the day/night one goes down :]

Went there 3 times in the last year for mostly birthday celebrations and one a buffet breakfast but i shall comment only on the breakfast ;

Loved the :

a. smoked salmon & ham
b. yogurt & cereal
c. ham and waffles

and sadly that was about it :/

The cogee was normal ; the SCRAMBLED/OMELETE EGGS cooked by a chef who looked as if he woke up on the wrobg side of the bed, were quite disappointing actually - they were watery & crumbled easily too :/ The breads were rather tough to chew and cold so i just stuck to my American breakfast favourites instead.

Lesson learnt - not worth the $29 +++ unless you're staying there as a guest !

Tuesday (20 Nov 07). Came here for the buffet dinner in a group of 10 of us at the invitation of LL. Of course, LL had some one-for-one deal.

The restaurant is located at the lobby area of the hotel and offers indoor and alfresco seating options. We were seated indoors. While we were tucking into our 1st serving, a fly that would not leave us alone continually interrupted us. While waving our hands to chase it away, we were wondering how come there is a fly in the air-conditioned area of an (self?) alleged premier hotel.

My 1st serving: calamari rings, salmon sashimi, chicken shawarma
The calamari rings did not look appetising at all. They looked desiccated and like as if they had been re-fried. There was nothing special at all to the calamari rings. I've had better calamari rings before, and I've had lousier ones as well. So I would just grade it as below average.
When I saw the chicken shawarma being prepared, I knew that I should not expect too much from it. The 'chef' actually mixed the chicken trimmings, onion salad and tehini together in a mixing-bowl before packing the concoction into the pita bread. It's definitely not how shawarma in pita is prepared in the Middle East. Anyway, I was disappointed with it after tasting it. It was very plain. The chicken did not have any tang to it, and the onions did not even have any 'kick'.
Being not so discerning of the quality of sashimi, I was only too happy and eager to gobble down the portion of salmon sashimi.

My 2nd serving: salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi, mackerel sashimi
Gobble, gobble, gobble…

My 3rd serving: raspberry lassi
It was not too bad, and I liked it. I would have enjoyed more if there was some rum to go with it, though.

My 4th serving: abalone, lamb & yoghurt rice
The abalone was acceptable for me, though I think the more picky eaters would evaluate it to be of the non-premium variety. The lamb & yoghurt rice did not appeal to my taste.

My 5th serving: salmon sashimi
Gobble, gobble, gobble…

I was actually very annoyed with our seating arrangement that the establishment had provided us with. The 10 of us were squeezed into 3 square tables joined together. Hence there were 4 of us sitting along the edges of 3 tables and we were practically hemmed into our seats without much space to navigate in and out of our seats. I suspect it was a deliberate attempt to make it as difficult as possible for us to get to the food.

For the duration of our dinner, it took a very long time for our table to get cleared of the used plates. It came to a point when we had to carry our plates to the next unoccupied table and leave them there. I was thinking that it was awfully kind of the management to factor in some exercise for us during our dinner to help with the digestion.

At around 8:10 PM, the 1.5 hours allowed to us for eating had apparently expired and a staff came by our table with the bill and 'suggested' that we settle it. 10 minutes later another staff came and told us, "Sorry, you really have to leave now, because the next group is already here." We knew we had already over-stayed our welcome since the bill had been paid; and we did not want to be forcefully ejected out of the premises by the security so we complied and left. Admittedly, our time had run out, but we were really annoyed because there were so many other unoccupied tables that could have been joined together for the next group. It was definitely not a case of the entire cafe being filled to full capacity.

The service here is so darn impeccable with your welfare at heart. They pack you in close next to each other so that you'll know when your tummy is too full to manoeuvre out between the tables, don't clear the used plates so that you get some more exercise balancing them and walking about, and if all else fails, they tell you straight in your face that you've already eaten too much and it is time to leave.