Lavish Buffet

Lavish Buffet

Tuesday, 20 December 2016

Festive Dinner Buffet at Melt Cafe (5 Raffles Avenue - Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Level 4, Singapore 039797)

It's such a hassle to make reservation through phone - Book now through Chope for Instant Reservations!

Buffet Prices & Timing (Except Eve and Public Holidays)
Visited on 7 Dec 2016 (Wed). Melt Cafe serves International Buffet. They have a outdoor bbq grilled station that is only available on Fri & Sat night at $85++ per person. The photos below were taken during weekday dinner buffet.








The Melt Chocolate Cake


Chocolate Moist


Banana Cake


Red Velvet Cheesecake


Pistachio Cake


Alfonso Mango Pudding


Lemon Tart


Bread & Butter Pudding
Chocolate Soil

Nonya Kueh

Mini Chocolate Fondue 

Chilled Juices
Mango / Pink Guava / Grapefruit
Green Guava / Mixed Fruit Juice

Fruits

 Fruits Compote





Cheese Corner



Free Flow Coffee & Tea (Nice Cappucino!)


Seafood On Ice




Singapore Chilli Crab
 I was disappointed with their chilli crab... The crab meat was soggy



Ginseng Black Chicken Soup with Winter Melon
Tom Yum Prawn Soup


Fish with Zhang Jiang Sauce


Thai Style Crab


Thai Style Fried Prawn Cake


Duck Breast Meat


Braised White Wine Mussels


Gratinated Sausages


Tako Ball Topped with Tonakatsu Bonito Flakes

Spring Chicken


Herbs Flavoured Mashed Potatoes


 Baked Fish


Bread Selection

Salad


Cold Cuts


Japanese




Maple-Glazed Ham




Whole Roasted Turkey with Cranberry Stuffing

Tandoori Chicken / Vegetable Kebab


Tandoori Lamb



Overall Impression: Service was quite good. We were there during weekday so the food and dessert selection were not impressive. Food quality was decent with nice ambience. There was no live crepe station, (although that was mentioned in other blogs), just only a waffle station. The restaurant is huge, suitable for group gatherings.  


Wednesday, 23 November 2016

Weekend Ala Carte Dim Sum Brunch Buffet at Cherry Garden (5 Raffles Avenue - Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Level 5, Beside Marina Square)

It's such a hassle to make reservation through phone - Book now through Chope for Instant Reservations!

Weekend Ala Carte Dim Sum Brunch Buffet (Sat, Sun & Public Holiday)

First Seating: 11.00am to 1.00pm

Second Seating: 1.30pm to 3.30pm

Price: $68++ per adult, $40++ per child (7-11yrs)
(Includes Free Flow Tea of the day - Premium Quality)


Visited on 12 Nov 2016 (Sat). Cherry Garden, with its distinctive oriental charm, is one of the most beautiful chinese restaurants in Singapore. They offer an extensive menu of authentic Cantonese cuisine, presented with artistic modern flair. 



Have a seat outside if you're early. Enter the restaurant by this antique door, adorned with two traditional red lanterns. 

Cherry Garden's striking antique doorway. The restaurant has been designed according to Feng Shui, with charcoaled teak panels and slate floors to recreate the look of a splendid Oriental residence. 


Inform the staff of your reservation details at the reception

There are 3 sections in the restaurant. These are the tables at the main dining hall with some view of "greenery".

And these are the tables at the platform next to the main dining hall.



The 3rd section is their private room area. They have three private dining rooms. Lotus and Jasmine seat up to 12 guests each and can be combined. Bamboo is larger and can seat up to 24 guests.




Neat and beautiful table setting. The tea served for that day was "Dragon Well" (Long Jing) It is a type of green tea, said to aid digestion. It has an initial slight bitter taste but aromatic aftertaste. We really enjoyed the premium quality tea here! :)


Let's take a look at their menu and food below!

Steamed Pork Siew Mai with Baby Abalone 
The baby abalone was considered quite big. I always love siew mai topped with baby abalone! 



Steamed Kurobuta Char Siew Bao 


I just love the way they present their dim sum in a little wooden box. So presentable! The kurobuto pork filling really makes a difference, but a slight pity as the skin was not soft and "fluffy" enough.



Wafer-wrapped cod fillet with black pepper (Left)
Deep-fried escargot dumplings (Right)

Our initial thought was this was just a normal fried dim sum, but we were wrong. In fact, this wafer-wrapped cod fillet was the BEST Food in the menu! I just can't get enough of this! The exterior had a flaky crispness with very aromatic hot and tender cod fillet inside, probably with the black pepper taste, the overall combination was heavenly matched!



Wok-Fried Waxed Meat Radish Cake with Silver Sprouts in XO Sauce 
This was one of the lacklustre item there. The radish cake was quite dry, not crispy and couldn't taste any XO sauce in it. Anyway carrot cake, being a hawker staple, it's not easy to achieve the same standard as famous hawker stalls. So far most of the hotel chinese restaurants failed in this dish..so its not a surprise.



Steamed Custard Bun with Yam

Their version of custard bun was really very different from others. Interesting appearance with very fragrant yam custard filling!





Golden Pumpkin Soup with Morel
Mushrooms & Diced Chicken 
This soup was also very special.The pumpkin taste was mild and well balanced, giving the soup a more robust, earthy flavour. But I hope Cherry Garden can offer a one time serving of premium soup "Braised Bird's Nest or Fish Maw soup" like other chinese restaurants.



Drunken Chicken in Hua Diao & Rose Dew Chinese Wine 
This was served chilled. The drunken chicken meat was very tender with strong chinese wine taste that I liked very much.



Cantonese-Style Roasted Pork Belly
Crackling pork skin and spiced with flavour, while the meat was extremely tender, layered with just the right proportion of fatty meat. try it with the horseradish sauce for the full experience!



Cherry Wood Charcoal Roasted Duck 
Deboned for easy eating, the duck meat was quite tender with a crispy savoury skin. complemented with a special cranberry sauce.



Crisp-Fried Shredded Squids with Salt & Pepper
The taste itself was ok, but the "flour" was thick... would have been better if they balanced out the proportion. nontheless, it was still peppery spicy goodness.



Deep-fried Chinese bun served with Chili Crab Meat Sauce 
The chili crab meat sauce was really good! A little spicy with some succulent crab meat inside! Good for lazy people like me; can eat crab meat with sauce without dirtying my hands. 


Steamed Live Prawns with Minced Garlic 

The server will serve a cold towel to the table for you to clean your hands when this dish is served. Full blast of garlic soy sauce goodness, really enjoyed the prawns!



Braised Cod Fillet with Spinach Tofu
Wow the sauce that they used for this dish was really tasty with tender braised cod fillet and tofu!



Wok-fried Kurobuta Pork with Garlic, Leek and Honshimeiji Mushrooms 
Tender kurobuta pork with a very yummy sauce! i normally don't like the mushrooms and vege but the sauce made me just want to gobble everything up!



Wok-Fried Chicken with Cashew Nuts & Dried Chilli
I like their version of gong bao chicken as they used caramelized cashew nuts instead of normal cashew nuts. the sweetness of the cashew nuts served to neutralize the spiciness so you can taste the maximum gong bao flavour.






Premium Quality & Presentable Chilled Desserts

Chilled Cream of Mango with Sago Pearls, 
Pomelo & Lime Sorbet 

Their mango sago cream was not sour which I like! Complemented so well with the sour lime sorbet for you to cleanse your palate after a buffet!



Homemade Organic Black Bean Pudding
with Japanese Sesame Ice Cream



Cherries in Nui Er Hong & Kuei Hua Chen Wine Cocktail Jelly served with Refreshing Lychee Sorbet

This is their signature dessert, my favourite dessert here! You will be able to taste the alcohol at the base of the dessert to have a WOW feeling before you finished. There is no other place that has this unique and refreshing dessert in any chinese restaurants. Dessert is not the specialty in most chinese restaurants, but we found it at Cherry Garden! Even their dessert is a cut above others!


Chilled Osmanthus Jelly


Overall Impression: You will find top-notch service here compared to other chinese restaurants. Waiting time for food was quite fast. The food and dessert selection here were truly unique. If you're looking for high quality unique food with top-notch service and classy oriental ambience, look no further. Cherry Garden hits all the right spots! 

My Vote: 2nd Best Dim Sum Brunch in Singapore!

*Highly Recommended*