Made a last minute decision to celebrate my hubby's birthday at Todai. Since we had been an old-timer of the Todai Restaurant in Hong Kong (already closed), I thought it would bring us some good memories of the past. We ended up being regretfully unsatisfied.

We made a serious mistake of reaching there at 1:30pm for the lunch, while the buffet starts at 11:30am. After 2 rounds of my fill, there were no more refill for the hot dishes (at around 2:30pm), even though the buffet is supposed to end at 4pm. I feel like if I were there to finish the unwanted food. The saddest thing was that I saw the last few pieces of chili crayfish being taken by some Japanese ladies all at once.

Well, we still got the consolation prizes, which are the snow crab legs, sushi, sashimi, oyster, clam and mussel. The taste was only so-so. Actually, the price for Sat lunch is the same as dinner, but quite a lot of food is not available. The advertised free flow of strawberry was also not available.

I used to be very careful in my choice of the restaurants, especially for the high-end priced ones. This one is a major let down. Ouch! My wallet is hurt even with the credit card promotion.

Recently, I heard that Putien at City Square Mall is no longer serving buffet lunch. What a miss! Why can’t good things last forever (or just a bit longer)?

Last time, we visited there on a day off in lieu of National Day. There was much to choose for the appetizers. We had the small dishes covered the whole table.

The food seems to have much concern for the health conscious people. Both oil and salt contents are under control. The hot dishes were made to order, so it would remain hot and fresh. The buffet even included a small abalone and a herbal prawn for each person.

It’s difficult for me to take pictures for delicious food. I usually forget to take photos before trying them. Got to apologize for the smudge on the dishes of Chrysanthemum fish and chili clams.

Hey Mr or Mrs Putien, would you bring back the good old buffets for your dear patrons?

To wake up early on a Sunday morning is usually disheartening. Here is my wakeup call: a cuppa cappuccino with nicely decorated foam. Simply the look of it is worth more than it costs.

One complaint is the coco powder topping, it is actually milo. Can they provide something classier, like Vanhouten coco?

There are not many days in the year we can enjoy an official half day off. We had a relaxed teatime at the Coffee Beans of MBS on Christmas Eve.

Since there were some Christmas specials on the menu, we ordered two ice-blended drinks in dark choco peppermint and dark choco orange. Surprisingly, the choco peppermint favour was already out of stock. Somehow, we changed to ice-blended mocha.

The dark ice-blended choco orange tastes like vanhouten orange chocolate. That really quenches my thrist for a good choco drink. The Virginia Chocolate Brownie also makes a good match with the drink.

If you look for a variety of seafood from a buffet, that is probably the right choice for you.

Most of the hotel buffets do not serve so many kinds of seafood for buffet lunch. Let alone sashimi and cooked prawns, you can also find oysters (cooked or raw), crayfish, abalone and crabs. In the tappanyaki section, I can also find my favourite pregnant fish.

The cooked food are nice but not especially impressive. So, I spent most of my quota on seafood and teppanyaki. Dessert is the weakest link and you can give it a miss.