Marriott Cafe

Last night’s buffet was a doozy. I don’t even know where to begin.

Let’s begin with ribbing our guests. One guest, whom we shall refer to as Thin, went for the piled-high plate route, thus ending up with only three plates total. Other guest, J’s Brother From The Same Mother, also had three plates, but with an average amount of food for each. Oh sure he was a lot of talk, but let me tell you the eating was few and far between.



The setting was very nice, with high ceilings and wall to wall windows, giving you a feeling of space hard won in this city and a panoramic view. In the middle of the lounge was a tea display in the Old Chinese style, with hefty jars of tea lining shelves and a step ladder for the proprietor (really a fancily dressed waiter) to fetch the tea. All in all, a great atmosphere for enjoying good food and conversation.

But there’s always a catch. All night, music was blaring from the inexplicably proximate little night club for tourists. Lounge acts wearing flesh-toned skimpy dresses, which were not only stretchy but also cinchable in all strategic areas (leading J to remark, “Mariah Carey”) covered everything from the Carpenters to the Enrique Eglesias (the lesser Eglesias). It was noise pollution.



The food made up for it all. With clean displays and thoughtfully pre-arranged portions, the food was pleasing to the eye as well to the palate. Even the staff were friendly and well informed.



First Plate: Thanks to sound buffet strategy, I arrived (late) with a stomach ready to go. I was hungry and that fact was reflected in my first plate; a mish mash of stuff that would make food combining adherents shrink back in horror. Mold-riddled brie (yum) with a paper-thin bread product, a slice of Chorizo sausage, a chocolate drenched profiterole, duck slices on a bed of lettuce, and a hot beef tamale with guacamole, sour cream and salsa. Everything was fresh tasting and delectable. Both the tamale and Chorizo could have been spicier, but



Second Plate: I decided to re-visit my roots and make selections from the Asian spread. It was a mix of sushi and dim sum housed in giant steamers. I sampled a few hunks of sushi, including California roll, but concentrated largely on the dim sum. This included a steamed pork bun, Shanghai dumplings with red vinegar sauce, steamed glutinous rice (my favorite), a shark fin dumpling and steamed fish bits with rice attractively packaged in a round bamboo container. I was widely disparaged for choosing the glutinous rice for being an anti-buffet stomach filler, but I could not resist. Some dishes, whenever and wherever you see them, you have to have.

Overall this plate was satisfying, but as individual selections, not so much. The pork bun seemed to have raw bits inside. It was tasty, but easily abandoned. The dumplings were not as soupy as they could have been. The shark fin dumpling was just an anomaly and chosen out of curiosity. The steamed fish was very, very good – moist and tasty. However, the bed of rice on which it lounged was a little nubby.



Third Plate: The obligatory dessert break. Guest Thin objected strongly to this concept, but was simply reassured that he was brainwashed by the Western Powers that be - the same people responsible for that ridiculous Food Pyramid. Three chocolate drenched profiteroles, a dish of strawberries and blueberries with a dollop of cream, something called a terrine (just a generic pastry), one spoonful of tiramisu and one spoonful of bitter sweet chocolate mousse. They know how to do dessert around these parts. The profiteroles were a keeper, as evidenced by my repeat tastings (more to come). The berry dish was refreshing, with cream that was just milky sweet enough but not overwhelming. The terrine was the only inconsequential dish – like the guy in the office who does his job but otherwise doesn’t make a difference and goes largely unnoticed. The bittersweet chocolate was a Holy Grail of chocolates. It was just pure chocolate. It made me feel like one of the characters on those Japanese cookery cartoons who bites into something and immediately goes into a reverie, with the backdrop falling away to reveal a scenic lake while they wax poetic about the taste sensations. The ideal dish for those periodic chocolate cravings. The tiramisu was nice and fluffy.



Fourth Plate: Tapas time. Black olives, carrot dip, unidentified dip, roasted squash, grilled mushroom, toasted baguette slices and a slice of pita. The tapas spread was very nice looking, being flanked by an assortment of olive oils. Most of the tapas were very good, especially the juicy mushroom, but I officially think that olive lovers are weird. Olives are just sour, thoroughly unpleasant things.

Fifth Plate: Mini lamb chop on a scoop of mashed potatoes, garlic mussel in clam shell and hot beef tamale. The scrumptious tamale deserved another go. The mussel was very nice, flavorful and small. The lamb was average, but the mashed potatoes were nice and savory.



Around this time, we discovered that the buffet package included the fine teas served by the Lounge, which made it a very good deal indeed. Thin ordered a very British Earl Grey, J had some blended concoction, J’s bro had a fancy Chinese Jasmine tea that had to be poured twice and I chose the China Black Rose tea. Do not order the China Black Rose tea. Although I am amenable to most teas, this one was just strange. I ended up cultivating a subconscious desire for Thin’s tea, culminating in pouring myself a full cup of it right under his nose. But do not let this deter you. The selection of teas here is varied and wonderful.



Sixth Plate: The final plate – desserts. Chocolate-made dish with custardy cream, another dish of berries, cheese cake, berry cake and one final profiterole. Having been done in by all those profiteroles, I only had a dainty sample of the chocolate dish with the generous helping of cream. It was very satisfying, the cream not too sweet or heavy and just the right complement for the chocolate shell. The cheese cake seemed to be quite nicely done, but by that time my taste buds were a little numb. The fruits were appropriately refreshing at this time.

While I put the finishing touches on this marathon meal, J was already in full recline mode. Thankfully, the chairs were big and comfy – very conducive to buffet eating. In total, we had been eating for 3 hours straight, and it was all we could do to stop from passing out in our seats.

Although we were quite obviously in Hong Kong, the Western dishes far bested the Asian ones. The overall quality was the best we had experienced so far, and I would like to ordain this as our default buffet. It definitely merits a second visit.

Kowloon Hotel - Singapore special

Loyal buffetbuff fans, kind readers, I have, in the words of a fellow buffetbuff, buf-failed you all.

We went to a Singapore themed buffet (limited time only, run, run....run away!) in order to test out speciality buffets.

I must admit, dear readers, that I did not prepare properly. I had a late business lunch and my stressful day made my stomach a bit more clenched than usual. However, a panadol was swallowed and I soldiered on.

The Singapore buffet was actually limited to a small kiosk. It offered the delights of laksa (spicy coconut flavoured soup noodles), bak kut teh soup (pork rib bone tea), hainan chicken, satay (beef and chicken), roti, fried squid rings, fried soft shell crab with chili, kwai tiu (fried noodles) and one or two other small dishes.

The other parts of the buffet included a sashimi station, hot foods station, salad station, prime rib carving, dessert section, chocolate fountain and..... it's crowning glory (to me anyways), was the Ben and Jerry's ice cream section. Featuring a total of 6 flavors (including mango, strawberry, chocolate fudge brownie, cookies and cream, coffee coffee buzz buzz buzz and one other I forget).

Well, I had to start somewhere so I had a few satay sticks (a bit too cold and tough for my liking and peanut sauce was disappointing), soft shell crab (very cold and greasy), and a bowl of laksa. The fishcake in the laksa was disappoitingly rubbery, the fried tofu ball average and I opted not to have shrimp due to allergies. The soup, the most important bit, was average. It was not hot enough (do you see a theme here?) and the flavours not punchy enough. This soup is usually so rich and flavourful you still feel it after a mouthful. Hmmm, not a good start. I also tried the famous and usually delicious bak kut teh...it tasted like it came from a mix. I then moved on to a tiny selection of hot dishes, including a small slice of prime rib (too tough), a stuffed pasta shell (had shrimp so could not have but one bite), curry potatoes (acceptable) and sweet and spicy beancurd (mushy). I didn't finish any of it. I was starting to lag behind quite significantly and my fellow buffetbuff started the merciless mocking of my small (and shrinking appetite). (Although the lack of photos in this blog is her fault, I'd like to point out!)

I decided that having an ice cream break may revive my tastebuds. After a small scoop of fudge brownie, I took a plate and attempted to find something else to tempt me. I didn't want to risk seafood as we have been having record breaking hot weather and many people had contracted food poisoning from seafood. Unfortunately I returned to the table in shame, with a tiny piece of chicken and chutney and 2 tablespoons of soup. I was subjected to more mockery.

I decided on more ice cream. Then half a bowl of noodles, then fruit and finally, a smidge of cheese. I was done.

Total cost? HKD$268 with 20% off (only way it could attract people, I'm sure)

Total cost of food eaten? No more than HK$50 -

Verdict? Pass unless you're desperate.

All I can say is that I hope very much I win the lucky draw to Singapore. I am sure the food is much better than this...

Have no fear buffetbuffs, I am sure to rally back with significant portions at our next buffet next week! Stay tuned....

Cafe Too - Island Shangri La

Today's first official outing for the buffet buffs, plus Guest (J's boy toy, aka flavor of the last three years). Unfortunately, J had committed buffet-cide (not to be confused with buffet sides), by going to two previous buffets prior to the scheduled one. She argues that this shows dedication, but I advocate a clearly defined buffet approach, which includes an empty stomach and cleansed palate pre-buffet.

Ergo, preparation for day of buffet: half a bowl of oatmeal in the morning. Strategic buffet wear: Juicy terry tube top/dress with no visible waist definition to speak of.



Cafe Too is the combination of a Marche and a typical innocuous looking cafe where the owner had no concept of the decor but wanted to make money from coffee-drinking masses. And, of course, Cafe One.

The tables spaced together like a typical Chinese restaurant for maximum return, but not so close as to offend space-loving tourists. Towards one end of the expansive eatery were themed stations, comprising Indian, Chinese, Japanese and a dessert island.






First Plate: Tuna pizza, tandoori chicken, naan bread, pullao rice, curry sauce, dahl.
Curiously placed tuna pizza among an assortment of curries drew me to the Indian station first. The tandoori chicken was tender and rice well-steamed (what else can you say about rice). Only the dahl was sub par, but the truth is that good dahl is hard to find these days. Much like a good proctologist. Or so I hear. Anyways, good dahl in my book is the kind that is all slimy. That does not sound as appetizing as it is.


Second Plate: Ravioli with tomatoes, ham slices, mushrooms and sliced squash in tomato sauce.
Very excited at the sight of Pasta Station. Reminiscent of fresh pasta cooked on the spot in Wegman's with delectable vodka sauce. Began taking photos of Station with cook at work. To enhance Italian vibe, cook made feeble flirtatious comments (cook was after all not Italian, but Chinese). Pasta was shit. Moving on.




Third Plate: Dessert break! (BB tip: Cutting savory courses with sweet plate will enhance eating power) Chocolate cake, chocolate-dipped marshmallows, chocolate-dipped strawberries, cream-filled profiterole.
Well deserved chocolate break. Encountered my first chocolate fountain ever (which J has had much previous experience with, so she claims). It was a thing of beauty. A fountain of glistening sheets of chocolate goodness will not be denied. The chocolate cake was so-so. Deceiving appearance of being rich, Death By Chocolate-style chocolate cake, but more Betty Crocker. The profiterole was almost impenetrable, not what you expect from a light, flaky pastry.

Fourth Plate: Cold Soba noodles, smoked salmon slices, brie on bread, prosciutto ham, grapes (ultimately untouched).
Starting to lose form and piling whatever onto plate. The noodles were ok. None of the bounciness you expect from good soba. The Western style appetizers were so-so. Which was almost to be expected, being that they were relegated to a non-visible part of the restaurant, with no chef-types in attendance. Staring at giant grapes on plate, could not help thinking of genetic modification, and so they were ultimately forsaken.



Fifth Plate (we did not start this blog for nothing): Banana and vanilla ice cream crepe with chocolate and custard sauce, more chocolate-dipped marshmallows, apple tart, fruit-topped and cream-filled white chocolate cone, poached pear pastry (aw yeh, alliteration baby).
Crepe was very close to the consistency of paper. Confession: I grabbed the white chocolate cone in a fit of 'just because I can'. I hate white chocolate, nasty stuff.





Sixth Plate: Gelatin/chocolate/fruit cakelet, sugary white egg concoction, yet more chocolate-dipped marshmallows.
Starting to hallucinate now. Could have sworn I saw a boy wearing a "Treat Animals Badly" shirt - was actually 'kindly', not 'badly'. Saying half sentences and assuming positions of recline. Also started to experience dreaded food coma (dreaded only because it means have to stop eating, but quite a pleasant feeling in truth).

This is where we decided to stop (well, J squeezed in one more bowl of ho fan). Not bad for a first concentrated effort, if I do say so myself. J and I nearly matched each other plate for plate - we don't call ourselves buffet buffs for nothing. Dammit. Guest was a little less on the ball. Piling single plates with entire meals, he only got through three. No buffet mentality, but is merely Guest. He does not have a name to live up to.

Although no unbuttoning was required, we were fairly full to bursting, and had to waddle out to the taxi stand. In the cab, we had to refrain from spewing from all the lurching the cabbie was doing.

Of course, if it was a really good buffet, with a truly tasty selection, we'd be at death's door.

Café Kool - Kowloon Shangri-la

Café Kool is one of Kowloon Shangri-la’s restaurants and I inadvertently had a buffet lunch there today, having been invited by a colleague and not one to turn down a free lunch, I happily grabbed a plate.

Café Kool, established after the success of Café Too at the Island Shangri-la, is based on a similar concept of open kitchen with different chefs at each station. The selection was very widespread with 4 manned stations, the salad station (you select the veggies, they toss the salad with your choice of dressing), the noodle station (much more varied than Café One, with a wide choice of noodles and toppings), a congee station (again with a variety of toppings to be cooked with your congee of choice), and a pasta station (your choice of ingredients, pasta and sauce). The dessert presentation was to die for with a whole glass wall full of cakes as you walk in, then all the tempting desserts laid out for your choosing. There was also a raw seafood selection with oysters (I didn’t try after a fellow buffet buff’s dodgy food poisoning recently), prawns and all sorts of sea creatures.

I started with a bit of everything, some sashimi (impressive freshness), a bit of aloo gobi (can’t resist), some of the exotic salads (middle eastern lamb salad, seared tuna Mediterranean salad, roasted fennel salad), it was all delicious. My colleague had some nice rice cakes with curry, some of the prawn salad and a tossed salad before proceeding to the Japanese section with sushi, sashimi and cold soba noodles. I continued with a bowl of thin yellow noodles with clear soup, fish balls (surprisingly delicious!) and vegetables.

Then, the dessert. To begin with, they also had a chocolate fountain (+1), and a freezer drawer with little cups of…Haagen Daaz ice cream (+1). Then mountains of fruit (dragon fruit, strawberries, pineapple, etc.), a beautiful French apple tart, thin as a whisper and not too sweet, green tea tiramisu, crème brulee, molten chocolate cake, meringue on fruit salad. It was all tiny portions (+1 for being considerate – I want a bite of each, not a slice of each) and very varied, imaginative and beautifully presented. Definitely worth a try. I’m not sure about price as my colleague paid, so value for money is undetermined at this point.

Lovely, lovely lunch and a nice set up for comparison for…..Cafe Too!

Food presentation: 9/10
Food selection: 8/10
Food quality: 8/10
Setting: 8/10
Service: 8/10

Café One – Tea Buffet

As a first entry, Cafe One seems like an ideal kick off point. With a 24 hour buffet running from breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner, late-night, teemed with a la carte options, Cafe One forms part of the Park Lane Hotel. Having visited the dinner buffet when it first opened, my mango-obsessed friend insisted that the mango tea buffet seemed like a good idea and a reservation was duly made.

A confirmation call was given 24 hours before our reservation and warning given that the table would only be held for 10 minutes. So, the following day, we arrived, 3:32pm (the buffet starts at 3:30) to our table.

We had a glimpse of the chocolate fountain at the entrance (+1 immediately given) and lead to our table. A quick tour around revealed a small sushi section, salad section (quite a poor selection for a low cost item), a hot foods section (comprising of 2 Indian dishes of tandoori chicken and curry potato salad, a Thai dish of minced lamb larb, a Japanese dish of beef wrapped enoki mushrooms and a variety of Chinese hot foods and dim sum. There was also a noodle station, a sweet soup section and of course, the dessert section.

As my friend noted with much disappointment, there was a distinct lack of mangoness to the place but plates were filled (starting with the sushi first, of course) and we sat down to begin. I started with 2 pieces of scallop sushi (could have been fresher with not such gummy rice) and 1 piece of mackerel sush (definitely could be fresher!) along with a small piece of tandoori chicken with mango chutney, some lamb larb with cucumber raita. The larb and tandoori went down well but it was immediately decided to forgo any more sushi. The hot food selection consisted of salt and pepper salmon head (quite alright although not hot enough), seasonal vegetables (cooked to some limp state), braised tofu with fish meat, fried chicken stuffed with little bits of ham, breakfast pork sausages (?!?), and the dim sum selection was decent with har gau (wrapper looked awful but apparently was quite good and chewy), sui mai, lotus seed bun and beef gau.

The noodle section had a choice of three kinds of noodles: ho fun, lai fun and yellow noodles with a choice of ingredients including 3 kinds of squid, lobster ball and beef ball accompanied by either baby bak choi or yau choi and plain soup or spicy soup. I opted for the spicy soup which was very plain and flavourless, with undercooked lai fun and soggy beef balls, overall, not worth trying although the line up for the noodles is tempting.

The best part, by far was the dessert station where there was a soft-serve ice cream station with chocolate, vanilla and mix flavor either in a cone or cup, with a variety of toppings, then pancakes and waffles, in addition to the dragonfruit, honeydew and marshmallows to dip in the chocolate fountain. There was the usual assortment of cakes and puddings, along with fruit. Upon questioning the waitress, it was found that the lack of mangoness was due to being in the wrong place! The mango tea buffet was downstairs in a different restaurant altogether although still part of the Park Lane Hotel.

Overall the food was ok and for the price of $120 a head, it was decent with a nice setting, friendly service and a nice cup of tea/coffee. Value for money is there if you bring along a big appetite and a love of desserts.

Food presentation: 6/10
Food selection: 7/10
Food quality: 5/10
Setting: 7/10
Service: 8/10