Ellenborough Market Café

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/10/08/good-value-peranakan-buffet-ellenborough-market-cafe-on-8oct2015/went with a friend, who is an accomplished peranakan home chef himself, to ellenborough market cafe for lunch today on 8.10.2015. ^^this my second time here this year, after a hiatus of probably 8 or 10 years. never get to use the FAR (feed at raffles) 50% vouchers for many years at this or other FAR restaurants either.ambience was pretty nice. friend who is more familiar with this place thought it’s usually quite packed & was surprised that it wasn’t.there was a cold appetizer section with prawns, yabbies, mussels.prawns was good, i guess quite standard.yabbies nice to look at & admire. as we know, not much meat & also meat is rougher that prawns, not as fine & sweet.there was a salad section bread soup & bread.there were 2 soup – a chinese lie tong type, pork ribs i think & a cream of tomato with basil. i wasn’t too interested so did not take photos.i tried the lady fingers. pretty ok.the prawn mushrooms. ok too.there was only salmon sashimi & some maki sushi.i started with sashimi, cold appetiser & salad.didn’t look particularly great, but the salmon sashimi was quite excellent. fresh & sweet & i like the oily belly cuts. ^^friend made 6 kueh pie tee (you have to add the ingredients onto the hat yourself).they were nice, good standard.i think the chinese ramen was the bestest dish!^^ramen chef made a live demo, whacking the marble top with the flour noodles.freshly made & rather thick.but it was super nice! excellent texture, wholesome taste, a super broth to rival any tonkotsu & very tasty meatballs.i liked the babi pongteh too. just perfect texture & so flavourful.liked the chicken too.very nice curry, some very fragrant galangal taste & ginger fibre texture.the hong kong steamed garoupa was also very well done.problem with buffet – you take a tiny morsel here, and there & your plate & stomach are full.the sea sumcumber duck was also very good.duck was very tender, very lightly & nicely flavoured. i had a second helping.did too for the babi pongteh & ayam buah keluak.din take the fruits nor the ahborling (sesame dumplings) & most other dessert.basically took some durian pengat.they were very good.usually i go for semi buffet where the main course is an ala carte order like at one ninety @ four seasons hotel or equinox or basilico, like a fine dining main course.for buffets like the edge or carousel or olive tree (all i mostly don’t really like) or 10 at claymore with ala carte buffet items (which i like), i go for the appetizer & skips most of the main course.here at EMC, there is very little appetizer to talk about (say c/w one ninety or equinox), fortunately main courses tasted quite well.best thing was the price. just S$19++pax weekday lunch after 50% FAR discounts, nothing to complain about, and the best thing was that the dishes were really quite good.& the great ambience, good company & conversation.…Read More

For more photos, check out my blogpost:http://hazeldiary.com/2015-08-ellenborough-market-cafe-swissotel-merchant-court/August has been a fabulous month with the celebration of SG50, Golden Jubilee of Singapore and also my birthday month. I had a foodolicious over the jubilee weekend. One of the highlight is the food tasting session with foodies at Ellenborough Market Café, Swissotel Merchant Court. It was my second visit and you can read about my first visit here as a pay customer last year.What’s so different of this month buffet is that they are having “Heritage Flavours” from 6th August till 23rd August 2015. In conjunction with Singapore reveling in her 50th birthday of the month, the dinner buffet here showcase the tastes, sights and sounds of Little Red Dot’s pioneering traditional cuisine on top of it’s usual dishes. And mega love with the bounteous offering of Fresh Durians and durian-based dishes to delight your palate.There are live stations for satay, teh tarik ‘pulled’ right in front of you, deep-frying fried durians, pick up roasted nuts from the Kacang Puteh station and many more. What attracts me is the free flow of Mao Shan Wang durians where freshly-opened durians are served on the spot! Look at the mega display! Warning Sign: Try other dishes before indulging in durians as it can be very filling! But if you are aiming on the durian feast, this would be an ideal buffet for you too!Other than the King of fruit and fried durians, there are durians and bacon fried rice to explore! It is my first time trying this and I think the durian taste mid in the fried rice. Nevertheless, it’s a good try dish for nostalgia moments. Durian Pengat and some other durian desserts are served at the dessert counter.Grandma’s home cooking dishes are available during “Heritage Flavours” such as Chicken Feet Kerabu, Achar Awak (Nyonya Pickled Vegetables), Lor Ark (Braised Duck) and Steamed Patin Fish with Nyonya Sauce. Their signature slippery lobsters with black pepper sauce were well-received. It was clear every time I walked past and the staffs are quite efficient in re-filling the portions to cater to diners.On top of these, their usual spreads are available as well. Do not miss the DIY kueh pie tee where you can customize your own ingredients for savoury. Local fried carrot cake and some of the signature hawker foods are available as well. And their chili crabs are served separately with mantou/ buns to dip with the gravy. Peranakan cuisines such as Ayam Buah Keluk is available.Desserts stations are not to be missed. Serving all kinds of traditional and western style desserts that spoilt you with choices. There is also pandan flavored fondue instead of the usual chocolate fondue to suit the theme of the buffet.Kudos to the chef and management for being so innovative on the dishes.There are hit and misses on some of the dishes but overall it’s worth pocket friendly buffet. Especially paying S$68.00++ for the buffet that includes international dishes and free flow durians. I would say give it a GO!…Read More

I went for a dinner buffet at Ellenborough Market Cafe on Monday, 14 October 2013 with 4 other friends. During the buffet dinner, we noticed that the crabs did not taste fresh. The next day, all 5 of us developed symptoms of food poisoning - stomach discomfort, vomiting and diarrhea. Our symptoms worsened and all of us went to the doctor's. One of my friend's symptoms were so severe that she had to be sent to the hospital and put on a drip. I myself vomited anything I ate or drank for 3 days. Another friend had diarrhea for 4 days. The doctor's diagnosis in all 5 cases was food poisoning.I lodged a formal complaint with the hotel and their reply was that they did not receive any complaints from the other diners for that night. This I have no way of verifying.What I am certain, is that apart from that fateful dinner buffet, we did not had any other food in common in the days before and after that dinner buffet - and all 5 of us came down with food poisoning at the very same time.…Read More

Before we went to join in the nightlife at Clarke Quay, we had a feast at Ellenborough (if I don’t recall wrong , it’s pronounced as brou, like “dough”) Market Café. Variety of food ranges from peranakan to local to international. I found myself spending more time mainly at the seafood/hotfoods stations. The salt baked crab preserves its original taste, somehow the salt makes the meat much more sweeter. Firm and juicy, I went back for multiple servings and eventually tired myself out breaking open crabs.I didn’t eat much of the assorted sashimis as my tummy doesn’t handle mixtures of hot and cold savoury foods well and I wanted to eat my “maximum potential” at this buffet.The colourful and appealing assorted nonya kueh was my other favourite section, especially loved their kueh dar dar. Soft pandan flavoured skinwrapped with sugar caramelized coconut flakes.Durian Pengat , was soooo creamy, thick and rich, I almost choked forgetting to catch my breath , I could eat this all day! It’s like melted durian icecream (without the ice), the combined coconut taste was a nice subtle touch.So while it is great on its own, my “style” of preference is to put it together with bread as if it were jam!…Read More

We have hold a fairwell lunch at this popular buffet restaurant for our colleague. Lots of choices to choose from,which definitely will have food that suit your taste buds. My favourite will be their cold fresh mussels. which is chewy and not tough. Their potato salad is also very fresh and appetitizing. Service here was really friendly and they clear our plates very fast as well. Restaurant is quite big and spacious too. A great venue to hold a party and gatherings.…Read More