Asian Market Cafe

One of those days where my ugly side was shown. The first part of this review is about my complaints. So be prepared.

After hearing a positive review from one of my friends, my partner and I decided to try this place out. Since we didn't make any reservations, we had to wait about half an hour...which we did.

Whatever eager anticipation we had before reaching the place quickly died down after our first trip to the buffet spread. We found that 4 dishes had run out and none of the chefs seemed to be preparing replenishments. The grills and stoves just behind the buffet counter was emptier than my plate. So I walked on, only to find a queue of at least 4 diners waiting for one chef to carve out some chicken kebab (and yes, the kebab looked like it was finishing very soon).

Not wanting to commit my appetite without further exploration, I walked on to the other counters. I chanced upon the laksa counter and couldn't find any staff to help me out. I couldn't find the noodles so I moved on to the prata counter. After deciding that empty flour wouldn't be my first course, so I moved straight to the cold food counter.

I picked a couple of oysters, rounded back to the main courses and grabbed some teriyaki chicken, mutton mysore and some chicken kebab. Starting with the oysters, I found the first one lightly seasoned with sand and accompanied by some shell fragments. Brilliant stuff! I flagged the manager who was unfortunate enough to be nearby.

I immediately landed a barrage of complaints, gesturing almost wildly about the empty dishes, lack of replenishments and dangerous oysters. The manager, just like the buffet spread, looked very sorry. So he immediately asked what I wanted to have and had the dishes prepared fresh and delivered to my table.

After a few minutes, my table was filled with the requested dishes. All of them piping hot, and ready for me to devour. So I did...but stopped short for almost every dish. Things like the chicken, sashimi, kebab, prata, oyster omelette, chili crab, beef, mutton mysore, satay, grilled prawns and so on were at the most...forgettable.

The only dishes worth remembering included laksa and...well, I liked the juices too. Waterchestnut juice was pretty good. Guess that was their signature dish for the buffet.

We moved on to dessert pretty quickly and had some ice-cream, a couple of cakes and some self-made chendol. These weren't too bad but definitely not worth the price.

I want to go on but  retelling this catastrophe is causing my blood to boil and a blood vessel might be close to rupturing. So I'll stop here.

On the overall...dissatisfying and anger-triggering.

A large asian affair...local delights, peranakan, japanese, korean, malay & indian. The seafood corner: oysters, crayfish, crab, prawns & mussels. Simply salad items, 2 types of sashimi ( seabass & salmon) + mixed platter of sushi. They had chawamushi & cold soba which was so so. The Indian corner is not exciting at all except for the prata which you can request for paper prata, banana, egg or plain at the live station. The malay items they have satay ( chicken, mutton, beef), bbq prawns, bbq squid ( quite good) and even kebab. I like the teh tarik live station.

The Singaporean dishes will be the chili crab which is ok, the gravy needs to improve. They have the oyster omelette which is alright but the chili sauce can be better instead of the chicken rice chili sauce that was provided. 

Now to the couple of peranakan dishes which is rather a disappointment, not much flavour to all the dishes. The kueh pie tee fillings was quite plan.. Just next to this is the korean corner where they have some kimchi variety & fried rice which was decent.

For dessert fairly decent variety..fresh mixed fruits, ice kacang station, ice-cream ( 4 flavours), nonya kuehs, cakes, putu mayam, bread pudding, yam paste & durian pengat. There's also drink station where u can help yourself to homemade beverages like sour plum, chestnut and rose syrup drinks.

Well, good price & variety if using the feed@raffles card. Realised that its a halal restaurant now.

After reading all the various earlier reviews,  my conclusions are that it's not worth paying the full price for the food - at 50% off with the Raffles card,  or vouchers, it's OK.

It is a typical buffet spread but my favourite part is the dessert,  especially the durian "pengat"  which is creamed durian, D 24 I mean.  Most other buffets do not have this.

So, my wife and I had free-dinner coupons so we decided to head there for a quick Sunday dinner.  Lo and Behold, it was jam-packed with people.  Service staff were incapable of keeping pace (I feel so sorry for them).  Well, as my title says, if it is quantity you desire, this is the place to be, else Stay Away !

12 FEB 2011

Asian Market Cafe dinner buffet via Feed@Raffles voucher…

This used to be Plaza Market Cafe. Though they renamed it, the place still looked and felt the same… vibrant… almost crowded…

There's definitely an improvement food wise - both range and quality (specially the seafood counter - Oyster, Prawns, Mussels, Salmon)… Also, a much expanded range from what I remembered of the Plaza Market Cafe, that include a fair bit of local 'Hawker' food (Prata, Satay, Chili Crab, Stingray, Oyster Omelete… etc) which I thought one could bring friends from overseas to experience some of Singapore's 'must-try' food in a meal (if you are ready to foot ~$50SGD/person for such a buffet).

However, there's still room for improvement as some of the stations were neglected like an orphaned child. Noodle station was uninspiring… Indian food station didn't seem to get too much attention from diners… (I think everyone eye-ing those Chili Crab and deep fried buns).  Some of the stingray looked undercooked… Carvery station with roast beef barely made it, whereas the chicken on offer just looked sickly!! Great range of desserts… but only the Durain mousse / pudding really stood out.

Will I return? For ~$50SGD per head, most likely not. But with the discounted price using Feed@Raffles card, probably... 

This cafe was my regular place when it was part of Westin, but I kinda forgot about it for a while.  Re-discovered it recently and how much it has changed,  quantity of food and price too.  Dine only when you get 50% off.

Ambience:  It's set up like a high class air conditioned kopitiam.  It was unique in the earlier days, but many coffee shops have now dolled up their premises and service counters to look like this.  Comfortable tables, but all rectangular.

Food: I shall start from the left counter, moving up and then doing a U turn to the right.  Cold starters: oysters, prawns, flower crabs.  The flower crabs were delicious, so long as you've the patience to peel it open,  these small sized crabs.  Then the salad counter with fresh salmon sashimi which I ate a lot,  fatty stomach part and all. There was a lamb counter but it was pretty tough,  ate the seafood selection:  chili sting ray (not fresh), BBQed prawns - tasty,  Satay (chicken n beef), freshly prepared with a tasty satay sauce,  a mountain of chili crab,  was good quality, fleshy and fresh, not powdery to the touch.  The dessert counter is at the top of the U service counters,  One dish I recall from before is the creamed durian "pengat" or paste.  It was outstanding and it is still outstanding.  Before I talk about the dessert,  let me walk you through the right side of the food service - there were three stalls there, serving chicken rice,  laksa (very delicious, highly recommended) and lastly Indian food.  The prata was v good for hotel standard.  Onto the dessert,  I only managed to try the pineapple crumble, jelly in soy bean and fresh fruits - plus the durian I mentioned above.  Very full after that.

Value:  Reasonable, $55 ++ is a lot to pay for most of the stuff you cannot eat unless you're a glutton.

Service:  Good but staff kept very busy.

As part of a recent revamp, Fairmont, like several other hotel groups, has decided to focus its international buffet on Asian delights, and it seems that it has paid off. A largely Muslim crowd, the place is evidence that there is a big gap to fill in the halal market.

On a weekend, bookings is a must. I tried walking in one week ago to no avail and on this trip, despite making a booking, I was told that the earliest possible seating was only 8pm.

I started with the soups. The Szechuan hot and spicy soup was as expected, thick with starch with a mix of sour and spicy elements. The chicken and corn soup though is something that I would recommend as one can taste the goodness of the chicken in the soup.

On the cold appetiser platter, the items to try are the salmon belly sashimi, seabass sashimi, the squid mixed in cream, the crayfish and the oysters. Note that due to the halogen lights, some of the items may actually start to warm up, so its best to take them when it is first laid out.

Barbecue lovers would be happy with the live station that whips out squid, otah and sting ray. Do also try the chilli crab whose sauce goes well with the fried bee hoon.

For desserts the three items to check out are the cheesecake, bread pudding and Portuguese egg tart. 

So there you have it, all your favourite Asian items in one stop. Service can be a little on the slow side during peak hours, but very friendly. If you are not sure what to eat, just ask around the staff would be happy to recommend several items.

UOB members get a 15% discount.

Never ever visited this place due to the generally lousy reviews here.  Couldn't decide where to eat and decided to give it a try since my Feed at Raffles discount makes it really affordable ($52 for two pax I think).

The fare is somewhat Peranakan though the number of Peranakan dishes are limited and is not really authentic. (Note:  I am Baba).  There is a sashimi section where the fish is badly sliced but taste-wise is fresh "enough".  The rest would be your usual salad bar, Asian corner (think fried rice, fried noodles, chicken wings etc).  Mee siam and soup stations are available too.  As I was not very hungry, I tried a little bit of everything but did not eat that much save 2 large servings of  the Durian Pengat which was really good.  Do note that the variety of food is not huge by 5 star hotel's standards.

Service wise, I found it to be above average, at least with the staff serving our section.  Had a bottle of wine and she was quick to refill our glasses, adding a warm smile each time.

Ambience wise, the place looks like it's been stuck in the 1980s but then again, it probably could get away with it since it is serving local fare mostly.

Overall, I think it's fine for the price I paid.  I might not go back for a long time to come but I left the place feeling that it was pretty ok and not half as bad as expected.  I will probably feel otherwise if I was paying full price.

Conclusion: Go only if you have Feed the Raffles card!   =)

Food: I would say comfortable food, there are things we like and things we don't like, but overall the experience was good. We were contented and happy.

Service: They were helpful and friendly.

Charge: Pretty standard buffet price.

If you want to view the food photos: http://miammmiam.blogspot.com/

Wah I tell you har…this “peranakan” buffet is just exactly like the show “little nonya”.  At first we go there expecting the spread to be mainly peranakan…but then the food is just like the story of “little nonya”, got one japanese man marry peranakan woman, so give birth to half nonya half jap little girl. little girl grows up and gets involve with another chinese-peranakan boy but they cannot marry so girl becomes SPG and marries the ang moh but they cannot have eurasian children etc. then the nonya boy went on the marry Chinese girl who is adopted by another ang moh man. the story of one peranakan family become one big international family liao. the food at his place also like dat si beh international. I wonder whether can classify the type of cusine at this restaurant bo? Maybe can have “double barrel” like race like dat hor? 

the Japanese side of the family bring sashimi (salmon and sea bream or bass cannot remember) and assorted sushi. The ang moh side bring fresh oysters, chilled flower crabs and prawns. The Indian neighbour brought briani, dhall (2 types), tandori chicken and prata. The noyna auntie brought babi ponteh, ayam bua keluak, rojak (DIY) and laksa (DIY). The chinese ancestors of the nonya brought roast duck, pork, char siew and fatty lap cheong. Also they brought black pepper lobster claws (shiok siah). The anglo ang moh’s norman cousins got bring cheese cake and other pastries. and ah meng’s (the orangutan) cousins brought fruits, a lot siah, got passion fruit, mangosteen, melons etc. I think somewhere they also got swiss relatives cos got chocolate fountain and movenpick ice cream parlour.

Start with sashimi and oyster cos must eat fresh like subway mah. The salmon is very fresh and nice. The restaurant provides sliver chopstick to pick out the fish slices…heh heh I think the ang mohs got problems so maybe use chopsticks to spear the fish. Wah some more the chopsticks are silver one, make me feel like emperor in imperial china checking for poison in food. Luckily silver chopstick didn’t change colour… heng ah.  The sea bream or bass I dun like cos a bit too chewy. Maybe for this fish they can slice it thinner so won’t become too much of a mouthful. Oysters, prawns and crabs are fresh.

The nonya food is quite good got one uncle pile his plate with ALL the buah keluaks and left nothing for all the other diners except for the chicken. Wah piang dun like dat leh! he must be nuts…erh I mean nutz over the keluak nuts lah. The babi ponteh is nice very tender and the radish complemented the dish well. The ayam in the bua keluak is a bit dry but got interesting taste from the lime leaves. The laksa is DIY and the gravy is very coconuty and nice.

I like the black pepper lobster claws. The meat is very thick but I wonder why cannot find the rest of the lobster body anywhere in the restaurant leh. if u go to a chinese live seafood restaurant and the lobsters in the tanks have no claws, you know why liao.

Wah the bestest dessert is the durian pudding, damn power…you go there must try.

My friend said he saw one ang moh bring his own box of doughnuts to the chocolate fountain to coat them with the stuff. Wah piang like dat also can meh? Next time I bring my own box of ham cheem pang and yu cha kuey to do same thing eh sai bo?