The restaurant has what I would refer to as 6 main stations:
(1) Cooked Food Station
Local delights such as Korean Glass Noodles (Jab-chae/잡채) and Spicy Rice Cake (Ddeokbokki/떡볶이) were presented, the former of which I loved a lot! I am not a big fan of korean rice cakes, but my younger sister who is did not fancy the ones in I'm Kim so I have reservations about that. I also tried their OMG Fried Rice, which tastes oddly similar yet dissimilar to our beloved claypot rice. The carbonara was a good distractor but the heavy taste of the sauce made me much fuller than I had expected to be, so that is one dish I suggest you not try. Other cooked food included....

For more detail, please visit http://teeseirelav.blogspot.sg/2015/11/yummy-in-my-tummy-im-kim-korean-bbq-sota.html !

Cafebiz @ Hotel Jen is the place to go if you want a relaxing atmosphere to have a nice meal with your friends in, with a palatable spread.

My family and I visited CafeBiz @ Hotel Jen on the 3rd of March for a weekday buffet dinner to celebrate my elder sister's 19th birthday. My resourceful younger sister was the one who had learnt of the buffet and its good reviews, so I owe that one good meal to her!

We arrived just about the start of the buffet dinner, so everything pretty much was still.... 'intact' . Lucky for me, I was able to flit about snapping delicious photos of the food there before the others could attack them. Fruits! I've always had my doubts about casually picking a fruit out of the fruit bowl and eating though... What if they are mere decorations?Fresh seafood, which sadly lacks oysters. They were good nonetheless.Closeup of the prawns for you prawn fanatics out thereA whole salmon to mutilate feast onSushi platter! Thank god for the array of sushi and the cha soba on the opposite endJapanese/Korean Side DishesBraised DuckIndian Briyani (Saffron Rice for non-Asians)Stir-fried prawn (left) and clams (right)Dim Sum for pastry lovers! Clockwise from top left: Fried pork bun, spring rolls, unknown (and flavourless) cake-like pastryOther pastries available at the Dim Sum counterSauces for the Dim Sum!Japanese Broth (the name of which I have forgotten)

Some other soups were available there, but sadly I forgot to snap some pictures Bread basket with a wholesome variety of butters!Me being adventurous and trying all four kinds of homemade butter.

Left to Right: Garlic, Sundried Tomato, Anchovies, Olive

The taste of the garlic butter with the bread (as a spread) was really really strong, but it was the fragrant kind of strong, so it is not a bad thing. It's meant to be spread lightly on bread and toasted anyway, so I'd say that this garlic butter was well-done.

The Sundried Tomato one was my favourite - It had this special taste, almost like butter and ketchup mixed but without that vinegar taste... and a little bit more tomato-ish taste. The after taste was tangy and delightful. The problem was I had accidentally spread a bit too much on the bread, so it was almost overkill.

The anchovies butter was a special one. It was salty. Very salty. And it had that fishy taste at the end that was rather off-putting considering how this is a spread. I felt that it would be a good butter to fry food with, but not so much as a spread.

The last one - The olive butter was just appalling. It was disgusting. Now, I have absolutely nothing against olives, and olive butter is actually something we see everywhere, don't we? Well for one, I think this is the real deal - genuine butter made from 100% olive, and secondly I think the real deal is eew. I'm not even going to begin to describe what a horrible after taste it left on my tongue.

Overall verdict: Get the Sundried Tomato one. Save your appetite for something better.North Indian Cuisine Counter!!Snacks to pair the various sauces behind withCloseup of the sauces. Clockwise from top left: Chicken curry, apple chutney, green chutney, unknown (I should really start asking if I don't know :x)Fish Curry and Aloo Gobi (Cauliflower and Potatoes)

I think I would go as far as to say that the North Indian cuisine was the highlight of the buffet. Of course, this is coming from me, an avid fan of Indian food. Masala chicken, curries, prata... You name it, I savour it. But this is also because of the beautiful pots in which the food were kept. If you were surveying the restaurant, I think that would probably be the first thing you'd see. And most definitely, the food was good! What more to expect?Desserts Counter!!Chocolate Fountain, majestic as always. I'm still looking for a dark chocolate fountain.'Condiments' to dip in the chocolate fountain! The puffs to the right were surprisingly light (think plastic bag) and crispy (I hope it's not because they were stale -.-)More desert. Left to right: WAFFLES, Portuguese Egg Tart, Muah CheeMore starchy dessert for those who like it filling

Clockwise from top left: Nyonya Kueh-Mueh, Strawberry Roll, Kek Lapis, Pandan CakeChinese new year goodies at the background!!And again, more cakes.An amazingly comprehensive drinks counterA separate counter for hot drinks

What I really liked about the buffet, was that they had beverages. Not just plain water or the soft drink dispenser you might find in other buffets like Kiseki / Sakura, but REAL refreshing drinks such as the following:Cranberry Juice Cocktail (MUST TRY!) and Lychee Tea

I loved in particular the Cranberry Juice Cocktail because it was so flavourful! I don't usually drink Cranberry juice because it's always too sweet with a powdery after-taste (anything to do with it being from a packet?) But this one is special! The sweetness is mild so it does not spoil your appetite, and the slight sour taste can help whet your appetite for the large spread in the restaurant! Plus points for the adorable presentation on a mini chalkboard

And did I mention?? There's even a bubble tea machine for you to seal your plastic cup!! Now THAT'S a first. Another bonus for creativity! How novel! A bubble tea machine in a buffet restaurant!With all the accessories, too!Clockwise from top left: Clam, Cooked Salmon, Prawn

The seafood was rather disappointing mainly because there weren't any oysters, but that's just me acting up on a no-oyster fit. The clams were tasteless, which was quite disappointing, but I think you had to pair them with some sauce... which I didn't because I like my raw seafood plain. It's all about savouring the sweetness! The cooked salmon was rather tasteless but it tasted really good with the sauce I grabbed from the side. Was it ranch??? I'm so clueless when it comes to condiments.Salmon sashimi and sushi

I'm surprised I didn't take more salmon sashimi. I did take another two more plates after this photo but it was certainly not my usual 'appetite'. Looking back I regret not having relished more sashimi, because that is probably the best seafood that came out from the buffet.

The sashimi was fresh, and the sushi was good. I suggest not eating too much sushi though as it can make you feel rather full in the long run.Cheese and Crackers!!! Failed artistic closeup. I really need a DSLR and some photography lessons

This came from the counter that I forgot to snap a picture of :'(

As usual, the cheese never failed to disappoint my tummy. The crackers were great on its own, but the brie made it 100x better. I LOVE BRIE! Or was this Camembert? I can never tell the difference.

The cheddar cheese that I got tasted a bit 'meh'... Probably because I only had it after relishing my brie, so it seemed bland to me.Clockwise from top left: Mutton sausage, pork sausage, chicken sausage, Briyani, roasted potatoes, Chicken coq au vin (french dish of chicken braised with wine)

THE SAUSAGES WERE SO GOOD! I really liked the chicken one. It spurt out juice even when it was cold (I'd left it at a side because I was busy talking to my family) and it was so good I made my grandmother and father try it on the spot. Cut, feed, cut, feed. I was raving about this chicken sausage all the time.

The mutton one was really good too, but it doesn't taste like mutton to me. Maybe it was some other meat.... It was delish nonetheless.

The pork sausage however was just mediocre. It paled in comparison to the other two sausages I had, which were really flavourful!

The briyani was rather bland (again, maybe I should have paired it with some gravy) and I felt that it was a waste of stomach space (especially when you can save them for those chicken sausages *salivates*)

The roasted potatoes were nothing to shout about - I felt they could have been spiced more, maybe a bit more salty? No harm having a few just for the experience though.

The chicken coq au vin was a special dish (my first time trying it I think). On one hand, I liked how the taste was not overpowering yet on the other hand, I think the dish is meant to have a strong taste... So I'm not too sure how to critique this dish. Then again, I'm not a gourmet. I only eat. And that alone makes me happy Clockwise from top left: Apple chutney, fried char siew bao, Dhal tarka, Naan bread, spring roll

Usually I am not a big fan of char siew, but the char siew bao was really rather delicious. I think the pastry was what made me like the dish as a whole, but the filling was decent too! The spring roll was normal, just like any other you'd find at a hawker centre. I suggest taking just one for the sake of it. Any more and you'd be wasting your stomach space. The apple chutney was life-changing though! It tasted exactly like the filling from a McDonald's Apple Pie, only perhaps without the cinnamon and slightly more sour. The texture was definitely more fluid to be a sauce, and it was such a great combination with the naan bread! Fans of apple pie, go grab that apple chutney when you visit! The naan bread was not as fluffy as I wished it would be, but still great when I dipped it in the dhal.Durian PengatMuah Chee

I really like how the buffet included local delights such as the above. The durian pengat does not need any further advertisment - I think the name itself already attracts truckloads of visitors to Cafebiz and the only thing I can say is, "Go there now." It was cold, fragrant, creamy... The best dessert to have at anytime! The muah chee was mediocre, but nevertheless the great addition to the buffet. If you like sweet food, I am thinking that this would make a good appetizer. Top to bottom: Pulut inti and Kueh Dadar

The kueh-mueh is a must try if you are a fan of nyonya food. The pastries were fragrant and I liked these two especially.Lime sorbet with toppings (cranberry and candy stars)

After a while I decided to go try out the dessert because I was getting rather full. Being a fan of sorbet I was gladdened to see that there was sorbet there. It is, to me, very important to add in a sorbet into the array of ice cream because not everyone like creamy ice cream, and most of the time I am one of them.

My sister and I decided to get funky and make our money's worth, so we created what we thought would usually cost a hefty $15.00++ in a cafe:Tada!! High class waffles served hot and coldCloseup of the dessertThis would easily cost $15.00 at a desserts cafe!

My sister and I got a slice of waffle as a base and spread durian pengat all over it. We then sprinkled pumpkin seeds on top and topped it off with vanilla icecream. Then we had some chocolate sauce on top to finish the look.

And mind you, it tastes delicious! This is my favourite thing about visiting buffets where you get to walk around and take food. No waiters to judge you by the amount of food you eat, and you get to do crazy stuff like these!

Overall, this buffet was a great experience and I would not hesitate to visit again if there are any events to celebrate. Upon some research I realise that Cafebiz does offer oysters, but only during weekend dinner. That is going to cost me a bomb so I shall put this away till my birthday when someone would hopefully treat me to a nice dinner

We caught this buffet when they were offering a one-for-one promotion, so it was a great deal for us. On other days, here are the prices:

Weekday Lunch - Adult Price - S$47.00++

Weekday Dinner - Adult Price - S$60.00++

And my rating for Hotel Jen's Cafebiz is:

Ambience: 5/5

Food: 5/5

Price: 4/5

Service: 3/5 (waitresses were not very responsive even when we thanked them for refilling our glasses... where's the smile and "you're welcome"?!)

Variety: 4/5

Overall: 21/25 --> 84%

I hope this review has been useful to some! I must say I am getting tired of my own post.

xoxo

Valerie

Sun's Cafe offers foreign guests an appetizing insight into Singapore's local delights as well as famous Asian dishes.

☆72/100

So two weeks back (yes, yes, late post, I know) the Seets went to Sun's Cafe at Hotel Grand Pacific to meet a family friend for dinner, in lieu of a CNY house visit. When I first heard of the dinner venue, the first thought that popped into my head was, "Sun's Cafe? Must be rather lame." - I mean, for a buffet restaurant, [Sun's Cafe] is certainly not a very professional name to have... The name reminds me of a coffee-shop and is definitely not reminiscent of a hotel eatery; I was expecting something more pleasant to fit the hotel name (Hotel Grand Pacific - how elegant is that?) But let's not stay on the topic of names and labelling anymore, because it has nothing to do with the quality of food served anyway...

Sun's Cafe serves an Asian-themed buffet with highlights such as Nyona kueh-mueh, Roasted Pork and Fish Maw Soup. To accommodate the palates of the international guests though, they have also made it a point to add in Seafood on Ice to the variety, which is good in my opinion. At first glance the spread is rather small, which might be disappointing for those who prefer quantity over quality. I'm somewhere in the middle, bending towards quantity, but I was still satisfied overall because the buffet was cheap to start with. You get what you pay for, and in this case Sun's Cafe offers more than it charges. I see a win situation. What do you see?

This is (hopefully) a full list of what was offered at the cafe at the date of my visit (28/02/2015):

APPETIZERS

Baby Asparagus

Fresh Green Lettuce (for salad; toppings/dressings below)

- Olive Oil

- Balsamic Oil

- Thousand Island Dressing

- Shredded Carrots

- Cucumbers

- Sliced Bell Peppers

- Cherry Tomatoes

- Peas (?)

Green Apple Salad

Marinated Papaya Salad

Nyonya Achar

Pasta

Smoked Salmon Platter

Seafood on Ice - Chilled Fresh Prawns, Green Lips Mussels and Scallops

MAIN COURSE

Braised Ee Fu

Crabstick Porridge with condiments (Century Egg was one of them)

Steamed Fragrant Rice

SIDES

Braised Dried Oysters with Black Moss (Fa Cai)

Braised Fish (Apologies for forgetting to note what fish - but it was good for the record)

Braised Pork Belly with Dark Soya Sauce

Broccoli with Scallop and Bailing Mushrooms

Crispy Boneless Chicken with Mango Sauce

Poached Herbal Prawns

Prawn and Fish Crackers

Roasted Duck

Roasted Pork

SOUPS

Fish Maw with Crabmeat

DESSERT

Assorted Fruit Platter (Honey Dew, Oranges, Pineapple, and Watermelon)

Assorted Nyonya Kueh (Kueh Wajik, Kueh Dadar, Kek Lapis, Kueh Salat, Tapioca Kueh, Kueh Lapis)

Fried Nian Gao

Swensen's Ice Cream (Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla, Yam)

White Fungus with Red Dates

For those who like visuals as I do, here are some photos of the spread at Sun's Cafe:

I apologise in advance for the poor quality - I am but a poor student surviving on a Samsung camera for my blog.There was also Yu-Sheng because it was during CNY period! The platter was great We relished every bit of it. Blurry closeup of the Yu-ShengFirst plate of goodness!

To start my meal, I first had some Eefu Noodles along with braised fish. "Warm your stomach first!" as my grandma always says.

I liked how the Eefu noodles had absorbed the flavour of the sauce it was cooked in, without having its original taste being replaced (you know that fragrant taste of Eefu noodles? Gotta love that!) The fish was great - I always love a well cooked fish, because it tastes very off if it isn't prepared well. You either get a strong fishy taste, or powdery substance on your tongue (I'm thinking it's due to the meat not being fresh) ... The side vegetables and mushrooms were also good, but nothing to shout about. Very quickly I downed the first portion and went off searching for more food.My second plate of food

After 'prepping' my stomach for more goodies to come, I dived into the food with stronger taste to whet my appetite ('prepping' my tongue ahaha).

The baby asparagus was mediocre, but the good thing is that it didn't taste disgusting - eat your greens, kiddos! The roast pork was really good, and the skin was still crisp despite having been left out for quite some time before I took some. Pair it with the chilli, and you get an appetiser! The smoked salmon on the other hand, was too salty for my liking and curbed my appetite for a while instead of whetting it. It was fresh nonetheless, and delicious if you are willing to overlook the saltiness. The pasta was good, cooked al dente, but was not very flavourful. I felt that the olives, which were extremely salty, were needed to enhance the flavour of the pasta, and I could imagine the moles of sodium entering my body as I advanced with every spoonful... Oh, but that's the price you pay for good food! Who cares! In 20 years' time I probably will, but let me just live in the present now.Chicken Karage with Mango Sauce

Halfway through my forage for my third plate of food, I noticed this interesting dish - Fried Chicken with Mango Sauce. Intrigued, I took a small portion and returned to the table, fixated on trying only that one particular dish. As a fan of mango, I daringly drizzled a substantial amount of sauce on the chicken despite not knowing what was awaiting me, and before I knew it the very first spoonful was about to enter my mouth...

AND IT WAS GOOD!

I love fried chicken cutlet itself, but pairing it with the mango sauce brought it to a whole new level with its refreshing sour taste. I know how fried foodstuff tend to get soggy after a while, so the mango sauce helped to disguise the texture which might have otherwise, on its own made the entire dish unpalatable. It was delicious, full stop. I went back for seconds, thirds, and many more servings. I guess you could say that I'm a sucker for fried chicken and mango sauce My fourth plate of food with my favourites

I know how I said that the smoked salmon was really salty and unappetising at the top, and how the pasta was bland, but despite the bad points, they were rather memorable and I felt like having more carbs so I went back for more during my fourth hunt for food and decided to replace the olives with some smoked salmon. The new addition was the bailing mushroom which I tried from my sister's plate and liked. It wasn't anything special, but simple, old mushroom. Which I love! Yay mushrooms!Star of my main course: Fish Maw Soup with Crabmeat!

As my family would know, I love fish maw, and I love knock-off Shark's Fin broth. Combine them together and you'd get something close to this awesome fish maw soup that I had at Sun's Cafe. While it was extremely light on my stomach, which allowed me to go for many more servings without feelings full, it was rather bland on its own, so I often had to add some vinegar to it to enhance its taste. The consistency of the soup was rather disappointing too, because it was runnier than I had hoped it would be. Traditionally I would prefer a thicker broth, so that it would taste nicer, but on second thought I decided that a thinner broth contributes to it being 'light on the stomach' . So thumbs up! I must have like six bowls of it that day, because it was simply too good!Going strong... my fifth plate of food

After having so much Asian food I decided to try out the seafood section, which I had initially avoided because I didn't particularly like any of them. Towards the end of my fourth plate however I figured that I'd try them both for fun and the sake of this blog post (for the benefit of potential Sun's Cafe customers!)

The scallops were bland, but I guess that's just how normal scallops taste. I rarely eat scallops, so I'll need some coaching on this one, The mussels however, which I do eat sometimes, were good. Fresh, and not too chewy. Sometimes I get old mussels which are rather hard to chew because they are too tough.

I am not a big fan of prawn, so I usually avoid it to save stomach space in buffets, but that day I decided to try some because I know that many people out there love prawns and sometimes pivot their choice on buffet restaurants around the quality of prawn. Bear with me on this, though, because I am not experienced with prawns and therefore my verdict is purely a personal opinion: The prawn seemed fresh because the flesh readily detached from the shell and it didn't have the powdery texture that many prawns have (main reason why I don't like prawns much) - Bottom line is, the meat was fresh and it was good. But then again, nothing to shout about.A closeup of the prawns for you prawn experts to deliberate over

My appetite hasn't been good lately, so after my fifth plate I decided to retire to desserts, and as you may have seen from the photos above, there was quite a lot to cover. I skipped the fruits and went forward with the fried Nian Gao:Closeup of the fried gooey goodness

I like especially how the nian gao was not too sweet, and the batter was not too strong, so I could pop in several at a go without feeling overpowered by the taste. When I tore the nian gao into two the sticky contents would slowly and unwillingly separate into the two halves (think anaphase) and it was a really satisfying sight to witness. Once again apologies for not having a picture for that crucial moment as I was unable to take a photo with my two hands occupied with holding the two ends of the nian gao.....

Okay I lied. I was too preoccupied with eating that I forgot :'(Nyonya Kueh-Mueh! Kelihatan amat menyelerakan, kan?

The nyonya kueh-mueh were the star of my dessert quest. I remember that on that particular day I was craving for sweet food, so the kueh-mueh to me were like angels sent from Heaven. Delicious angels at that!

The kueh wajik was previously unknown to me, as I have neither heard of it nor tasted it before. My virgin experience at eating it was a pleasant one, though, and it is now on my list of favourite kueh-mueh. As with the fried Nian Gao, it wasn't too sweet, which was absolutely great, and it had a fragrant taste of gula melaka. My family friend sang praises of it as did I!

The kueh dadar was also very good, and trust me on this one - I don't usually like kueh dadar because I don't fancy coconut much. It was fragrant - what more can I say? I wrote "damn nice" on my notes for this Buffet review so it really must have been quite delicious (I am sad to say that I have forgotten the taste)

The kueh salat was delicious, but definitely not as fragrant as the ones you can get at Bengawan Solo. But I wasn't expecting it to be extremely good because they were yummy enough, so I was pretty much satisfied with the kueh-mueh.Closeup!

I then ended my meal with some Swensen's Ice Cream, which lived up to its standard. Creamy and sweet - best way to end off a buffet dinner! I like Yam especially, so it is perhaps biased of me to say that the Yam was the best out of the four...Ice Cream! Glorious Ice Cream...My poor yam being photobombed by Mr Chocolate and Mr Vanilla

All in all, the food was great, and definitely value for money. Service was good, but I personally feel that the staff could have been more well-trained in terms of language skills (A foreign waiter had a hard time understanding what I meant by a 'fork' when I told him that another waiter had cleared my fork and that I needed a new one - which was rather unsettling because despite switching to mandarin for better communication he offered me a pair of chopsticks when I clearly mentioned 叉子... how peculiar)

This is probably the moment that everyone has been waiting for - the great revelation of the price! The price I have here was during CNY period, so I am not too sure about normal times (I admit I forgot to check the rates for the rest - I promise I'll check it out the next time!) Give below is the price, which was really value for money considering how it was a weekend dinner during a festive season:

Weekend Dinner - Adult Price - S$32.00++ (Festive Occassion)

And all of these boil down to my ratings for Sun's Cafe:

Ambience: 4/5

Food: 4/5

Price: 4/5

Service: 3/5 (because of the language crisis - sorry)

Variety: 3/5

Overall: 18/25 --> 72%

That gives you an A2 by O Level standards, Sun! (Caught the pun?)

My next post will be on Cafebiz @ Hotel Jen, which will probably come in a week or two because of my packed schedule. Till then, hopefully this review has benefited some hungry people like me!

Small spread, but satisfactory considering price paid.

Their ice-cream is sourced from Swensen's

Complementary Yu Sheng came in a large portion, which was great.