I made a reservation through email and got a very nice and warm reply: Our team is excited to learn that you are coming.......

On the actual day, I was greeted by a restaurant staff (no smile), and was brought to a table next to the kitchen ( I had requested a window seat in my email), ok no big deal.

The square tables are very near to each other( see the picture).

The ice water was served only after I had made a request.

There is a coffee and tea making machine, you can self serve your cup of coffee.

They have three live stations: shellfish, curry noodle and beef steak.

For the shellfish, there are cockles, mussels, gong gong and clams. There are a few types of cooking method for shellfish, with white wine, sambal chilli or plain. I picked some mussels and gong gong and passed them to the chef to cook in white wine. The shellfish tasted really fresh and sweet.

The curry noodle soup tasted sandy, like those indian curry , I don't like this.

The beef steak is soft but too fatty.

For sashimi, they only have salmon on that day. The cooked food taste ok, prawn rolls (ngoh hiang), asparagus fry with seafood, roast duck, sambal stingray etc.

For the dessert, I only like the creme brulee on a spoon. I had three of that.

There is a 15% discount for DBS card on that day.

This is our first visit to Swatow Seafood Restaurant. As we were seated, the waitress gave us menus to browse through and told us there was a 1-for-1 promotion for shark's fin soup, two hot pots of shark's fin soup for the price of one, at S$38. She then recommended one of their popular dishes, 三脆，which means "three crunch". The dish consists of dried fish, french beans and brinjal fried with shrimps (虾米).

We ordered two pots of shark's fin soup, a plate of 三脆，and three dim sum dishes: siew mai, steamed pork ribs and chicken feet. For drinks, we had 八宝茶.

The three dim sum dishes arrived quickly, about one minute after we have placed our order. I have to say that I definitely have tasted better dim sum elsewhere and their dim sum did not live up to my expectations. I did not find prawn pieces in the siew mai, unlike the other siew mai served at other restaurants, and the chicken feet didn't taste fresh, so I was pretty disappointed.

The recommended 三脆 dish arrived next. I found the brinjal a tad salty, but the dish was still tasty.

As for the shark's fin soup, there were only two slices of shark's fin in the broth, so it looked a bit meagre. Perhaps they cut the portion down due to the 1-for-1 promotion? It still tasted good nevertheless.

I was prepared to be impressed by the cooked food, however unexpectedly, the 八宝茶 was what I liked the most. It was really fragrant, with red dates, chrysanthemum, rose buds and a few other herbs. We were given a big pot of hot water to refill our cups and the tea was so good, I had four cups. The tea costs S$3 per person, which I think is a reasonable price.

The food was not amazing, and the prices were not justified for such mediocre tasting dishes other than the 1-for-1 shark's fin promotion.

I went there for the Sunday Bruch (11.30am to 2.30pm) with my friend and were welcomed by the manager the moment we stepped into the restaurant.

The spread was extensive! Fresh oysters, salmon sashimi & tako were prepared on the spot. The oysters were so fresh I had four of them (each serving was 4 pieces of oyster). The cold crab legs were succulent and sweet too.

At a buffet, I don't normally eat food that can be found in hawker centres because it's a strategy to save some stomach space for the more luxurious food. However, knowing that their laksa is award winning, I ordered a bowl to see if it really lived up to its name. I was supposed to share it with my friend, but after tasting the first mouthful, i couldn't resist and finished the whole bowl by myself!

After a few rounds of food, I drifted to the desserts corner to check out the spread. We had durian penget (their specialty) and it felt like I was eating real durians! It was so good I devoured a few glasses of it. My friend had matcha ice-cream and she commented that it tasted like the one from haagen dazs!

For drinks, they have a coffee and tea making station where they serve teh tarik. The apple juice is also free flow.

I want to commend the live station cooking chef for his friendly and jovial customer service, which is rarely seen in other hotel buffet restaurants. Our used plates were also cleared very quickly. Overall, I was super pleased with the quality of the food and the awesome service.

I used DBS card on that day and was given 20 percent discount.

Toast box has added a lot more variety of food to their breakfast menu. I tried their mee goreng yesterday, the noodles was fried with diced tomatoes and some green beans, topped with a few pieces of fried bean and garnished with fried fried shallots. I feel that it tasted ok only if compared to that selling at indian stall. A set consisted of mee goreng and drink cost $4.80.

That meagre portion of chicken in the picture costs $9.50, which I think is extremely expensive for just a few pieces of chicken. Although the chicken tasted smooth ,because it was the thigh part, it was a tad bland to my taste. I also ordered a bowl of ma la kway teow (麻辣粿条), this dish is neither ma nor la, I didn't like it. The chicken rice was not grainy enough, I don't think I will visit this restaurant again.