They are back with their seasonal buffet themes! This time round it is Sensational Seafood. At $58++ per person, this buffet is definitely worth going for. Come on and take a look at what they offer!

Go to http://nainaigrandma.blogspot.sg/2013/03/ellenborough-market-cafe-seafood-buffet.html

Some items that I forgot to take photos are the salad bar which normally I don't take during buffet. They do serve tea and coffee for the buffet as well! In general, the dishes are well-cooked and seafood is so fresh! This buffet is a steal and it is regretful that it is only available for a mere 15 days.

The ratings for Ellenborough Market Café are generally not high, but I went there for a buffet around last July and had quite a good impression of the spread and the taste of the food – both the savoury dishes and the dessert. Last December I called the restaurant to enquire about its pricing over the holiday season but the phone was perpetually engaged and I did not receive any return call after I left a message with the hotel operator nor did I get any reply when I enquired via email. This April, a relative tried calling the place before the Easter weekend and again the phone seemed to be engaged at different times of the day. So I was pleasantly surprised when I called recently and got through at the first try! And thus we ended up at the restaurant for a buffet dinner on a Sunday. The buffet cost $52++ per person. There is a promotion of one dines free with 3 paying adults with OCBC credit card or 15% off total bill with HSBC credit card.

We needn’t have bothered to make a repeat visit. The spread had shrunk. For a buffet that was supposed to feature local foods, the only local noodle served was char kway teow. There was a nonya food section but the food was mediocre; the ayam pongteh (chicken and potato stew) was too salty. Few patrons went for the cold seafood and probably with good reason – my mum said that the crab had gone bad. There were a few decent dishes, such as the seafood karaage, crayfish in chilli and peanut saurce, steamed sea bass and fried yam-mango roll. The dessert (nonya kuehs etc.) was also quite nice. But overall, the buffet was disappointing.

The service was not up to par either. Towards the later part of the evening, the serving staff seemed to have disappeared. They were not around to clear plates and one had to walk around to find a staff to take orders for tea and coffee and also to bring us the bill.

Suffice it to say that Ellenborough Market Café won’t be on my list of dining options in the foreseeable future.

We've eaten many times at Ellenborough, but I thought I'd add this review because other than the buah keluak (Indonesian mangrove tree "Pangium Edule" nut paste), a most tasty dish is the butter fish, probably "Escolar" and not the Japanese butterfish. Anyway it's tasty.

Ambience: Still the same setting, crowded and spaced tightly together, I could hear the number crunch into her passion fruit.

Food: Outstanding dishes were the keluak taste, I usually just mix it up with white rice to form a rice black looking rice dish. Had lots of salmon sashimi. But the hotel replaced the usual poached salmon with butter fish. I had three servings of this delicious fish, white, creamy in texture and very tasty, like unsalted butter. On checking websites, this fishis probably Escolar, and has an oil that some people cannot tolerate. It's also known as "snake mackerel"

Value: We had a coupon, so the price is really low.

Service: Pleasant Indian lady from Tamil Naidu helped us clear the dishes quickly and engaged us in delightful conversation. Filipino gal at the counter acted like she had personal problems bugging her - unsmiling.