The ambience was cosy. There is quite a wide variety of food to choose from. The portions came as the right portions so that we have room to try other dishes as well. Nonetheless, we manage to fill up our stomachs, to the brink even before we finish the food list.

One setback was that the food came rather slow and there was a shortage of staff. Hence, we were often unable to find any service crew to order food. Even ordering porridge took more than 10 mins to come. beverage as well. By the time, we wanted to order tour 3rd round of food, the service crew told us that it was our last order already.

The buffet comes with dessert at the dessert bar to our surprise. We had a good time trying the desserts. The ice-creams had unique favours, unlike other buffets. Espresso Ice-cream was my favourite. The green bean soup with the coconut was nice too, except it was too cold. Perhaps the management could try to fix a burner under it to warm it.

With the cosy ambience and quality of good food, it is worth going again.

Me and my friends went there on a Friday night at around 10pm and waited for around 30 mins for a table. The restaurant did not take reservations which is not very customer-service oriented. In any case, since we were already there, we waited.

We ordered their speciality chicken in 3 favours; honey, garlic and orgiinal. The chicken come in both chicken breast and chicken wings. Both the honey and garlic were too sweet for my tastes. The original was the best. Skin was very crispy.

We also ordered a Kimchi seafood soup to share. It was satisfactory, except that towards the soup base, there wwas a powdery taste to the soup. Perhaps it was the chilli powder. In any case, it did not give me the feeling that I will crave for it again.

We were a bit shocked by the price. The kimchi soup costs $35 and the chicken wings (only 9 small pieces) cost $25. We had thought it was $30 and $20 respectively, based on the menu, but we were informed that the prices increase by $5 for dinner time. In other words, each customer is paying for the extra overhead and manpower costs for opening late? Never come across such pricing and we did not think it was worth paying the extra also, given the quality of food.

My friend ordered takeaway for the original favoured wings home. On the cab, the wings smelled so good. However, when she reached home, she found that the salad (a small portion like a garnish that comes with the chicken wings) was bad and smelly. The staff had given her all chicken breasts when she had specifically ordered no chicken breasts. Moreover, the chicken breasts were hard and dry.

Me and my frenz had this craving for steamboat, so we decided to try Tom Yum Kungfu since its reviews on Openrice and Hungrygowhere are prettty good.

To our disappointment, the reviews are overrated. For a 2-3 persons steamboat portion of $38, there was only a small basket of vegetables and tray of generous portion of pork, but cut into really thin slices, 1 prawn and scallop per person. We ordered an additional plate of chicken, but the chicken was hard and dry, probably because it was chicken breast.
Even after ordering a mango salad and potato cakes, we were still not full. Another one packet of noodles will cost a whopping $6 more!The menu is also very restrictive. It does not allow for mix and match, We could not have both pork and chicken in our
steamboat package. Unless we add-on, the package consists of only pork meat.

From the picture, you can see that the rounded grill had occupied the majority space in the middle of the steamboat pot and there was really no space for the soup around the grill, so it had to be constantly topped up. There was also difficulty scooping up the soup, owing to the space constraint. As a result of the grill, being rounded in shape, grilled food is sometimes in danger of slipping into the soup. There is also not enough space on the grill to put a lot of meat. The whole design of the steamboat was atrocious.

The service was also pretty bad, when the place was not even full house yet. Our drinks had to be repeated and followed-up many times. The place was also cramped with no additional space for leg space and bags.

Though the price is cheap, but me and my friends' steamboat craving were not satisfied. If I have to spend a $10-20 more for a better steamboat , I would gladly accept the latter.

This is my first time to Au Chocolat. I was really exited by the pretty displays of chocolates, candies and cakes and before long, I was busy snapping away like a small little girl out on an excursion.

Au Chocolate looks quite spacious on the outside. It occupies more than 2 stores' space. It has a chocolate shop on its own and the cafe is next to it. However, the cafe is quite small. Naturally as we are a big group of 10 and were sharing some food and drinks, the tables were a bit too cramped for us. Nevertheless, we made do with it.

For starters, we had truffle fries as recommended. There was a mild tint of sea-salt which blends very well with the fries. I like the presentation of the fries too as they were wrapped in Au Chocolat's special made newspaper.

For main course, we ordered fish & chips, roast chicken, spicy chorizo pasta, pork ribs, salmon crepe and salon sandwich. Most of the food was too salty, especially the pasta. The sauce was good and the pasta might have been less salty without the cheese. Individual portions were of the right size, but there were too much fries. Their mash potato was very soft and mashed very finely and hence would be a good substitute for fries.

We ordered a couple of drinks and the frozen hot chocolate was really good. It is not frozen and hot as its name suggests, but the chocolate was rich and creamy.

We also ordered a couple of cakes such as the original cheese cake, caramel swirl cake, pistacio cake, chocolate cake and the orange cake. The orginal cheese cake was the best of all.

The service staff were friendly and patient. They were also quick to refill empty glasses and clear away empty plates. They were also fast to respond to our requests for sauces, utensils etc.

Overall, I would say I had a pleasant dining experience at this place. I would recommend it more for desserts than main course. It would also be a good place for a lazy tea afternoon. I hope to go back and try its waffles, crepes and other desserts.

Perceptions

I am not a fan of ribs and meat. When my colleague told me that we are going to Tony Romas for lunch, I was not particularly enthusiatic. I remembered eating at Tony Romas many years back and I did not like their ribs. Kenny Rogers and Cafe Cartel also disappointed me in terms of their ribs and meat. Pieced together explains my lack of enthusiasm.

1st impression

I was taken by surprise when I first stepped into the restaurant. Very much like stepping into a pub with dim lightings.
We were showed to our seats and very soon I was clicking away on my camera.

Food

For starters, we had bread with butter. simply love the combination. However, it is not refillable (FOC) so the waitress only allowed us to have another half a loaf as free refill.

For 7 of us, we ordered sampler appetitizer as our apetitzer. It was a good choice indeed as the potato skins were crispy and tasty. Heard it is one of their popular dish as well. The boneless bits were delicious too. Although I did not try the spinach dip, my colleagues liked it.

Next comes the the ocean feast. I like the fish best in this dish. It was fried crispy on the outside and very soft in the inside. Unlike some western restaurants who tend to overfry their fish and chips, this was just right.

Next we ordered the rib combo which consists of half slab of pork ribs and BBQ chicken. We ordered mashed potatoes and brocoii as the sides. This is the first time I have eaten ribs where the meat peals off easily from the bones by just using fork and knife. The sauce was sweet and the meat juicy. The mashed potatos and brocoii are my favourites.

The most disappointing was the caesar salad which was salty with the dressing. I could not finish it despite my recent new craving for salad, pamesan cheese and croutons. Crutons were too salty too. As such, I will recommend to have dressing by the side next time if anyone really wants to order caesar salad.

For 7 of us, I think we have over-ordered. Nonetheless, it is still value for money. There is a 2% rebate for citibank card holders.