Olive Tree Restaurant (Closed)

* * * * * * *What Are the Rules of Dining at a Buffet?#1 You Don’t Have To Always Eat All#2 Keep It Clean#3 Take Care of Your Server- Richie Frieman, Modern Manners Guy* * * * * * *We were here for an advance Mother's Day dinner so as to reserve the actual day for my mother & mother-in-law.It was slightly 15 minutes later than our reserved timing when we arrived at the restaurant. I was worried that our reserved table would had been given away. we might have to wait for awhile with our extremely stomachs.To my astonishment, the charmingly friendly host escorted us to an exclusive dining corner reserved especially for us!"This is going to be a very enjoyable evening...""Hmm...Nice...""Wow! So special ahh...""Felt like VIP already..." All of us settled down, chatted a little with sips of the icy cold water (served diligently by the servers). Then, I volunteered to remain at the table while my family went on a recce tour of the restaurants.This encave corner is very decorative, it looked like a table set by the window that oversee a tranquil town besides the mountain. There were also bottles of wine, olive oil, beautiful plates set on the walls. Even the glassware looked imported...I was still absorbing the zen vibes of this little exclusive corner when my family members began to trickle back...each with a plate of their favorite starter, in small portions. The men started with the fresh seafood while we ladies prefered sashimi, salads & cold cuts.The freshly shuckled oysters...were plump, briny & all you have to do is slurp up everything!Although mignonette was available, I had mine with Tobasco, Green Pepper Tobasco or just plain. "How did you like your oysters?"Daughters & I went for the Sashimi, next. There was not many varieties but the slices were fresh, thick & juicy. Oishi! The crayfish tasted firm, springy & full of its natural flavor...m m m . . .They have plenty of the delicious big prawns, succulent mussels & springy scallops. We would simply have just eaten these throughout the evening...although the baskets were emptied as soon as they were filled, the servers were dilligently replenishing them...Nice!The crunchy asparagus mixed with flaky cooked salmon made a surprisingly pleasing salad...I especially liked the Dory Fish in sweet & sour sauce, it just opened up my palate...The mushroom salad was full of different types of mushrooms like the shiitake, the drumstick, the portabelo, the straw, the inoki & the abalone...Yummy!An unlikely choice for most but a delightful find for me! The crispiness of the papadum, the tanginess of the mint sauce (from the Roasted Lamb station), the soothing yogurt & the spiciness of the red chutney (yes, i wondered what it was made of, too)...all came to unlock the saliavary gland so as to be prepared for more exciting flavours!I discovered a DIY Gado-Gado station! Although the ingredients were slightly cold, the warm, tangy & slightly sweet peanut sauce was a delight! I liked the way they double-boiled the peanut sauce. A small claypot of the peanut sauce was kept warm in the constantly heated water of a slightly bigger claypot. Very thoughtful, right?!The fried crispy taukwa might looked dry but it was really soft & moist inside; the cabbages, long beans & bean sprouts were scaldded perfectly - retaining the crunchiness; the chewy & flavorful tempeh was a surprise, very difficult to find it in this dish elsewhere now...Overall satisfaction!This station was not manned throughout. A courteous young man came to my rescue as soon as he saw me stopped there. So nice...The lamb was tenderly roasted, tomatoes were lightly grilled & was delightfully sweet, the potato & veggies complimented the dish very well.This was a pleasant surprise among the western lot of cuisine served here. It had a distinct Nonya flavour. Delightfully additive for a partial-Nonya like me...Desserts!No lady would politely refuse a serving of desserts without blinking an eye...The must-haves are aplenty but I could only devour (err...taste) these...Heavenly Divine!!!Being a "Health Concious" person, I also had some of these to assist my digestion. Verdict: #1 - checked: we ate in moderation, having small quantity per plate per trip#2 - checked: our table is free from shells & spillage, used plates were stacked up nicely#3 - checked: we showed appreciation with smiles, please & thank you to all serversYes. It was an Enjoyable Evening!It's a promise that "We Will Be Back!"** Did you know **The oyster world seems overwhelming, but there are only five species of oysters in the world, and it’s easy to tell one from another.Don’t say “oyster juice,” say “liquor.” - Oyster liquor is the natural juice inside the oyster that keeps it alive once it’s out of the water. It is unacceptable to rinse or dump that juice out of the oyster before consuming it raw. That juice is precious and should taste amazing, and that’s why it’s referred to as liquor. It should be clear not cloudy.- The Only 7 Things You Need To Know About Oyster, Buzzfeed. continue reading

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/01/16/very-average-buffet-citibank-1-for-1-olive-tree-on-15jan2014/6 of us went to olive tree for the citibank 1 for 1 S$68pax weekday buffet on 15.1.2014. i had not been to this place for umpteen years, so thought gave it a try. the evening was fun but the food was very average, not expensive at S$34pax=S$40nett, but i agreed with my “fussy” friend = no need to spend S$40 on average food even though price was ok. the cold crayfish & scallops were not sweet (or like tasteless?) but quite ok if you add the hot sauce & tabasco (which means…)…the same with the cold flower crabs (nothing like teochew cold crab)..i took them with wasabi so it was ok..the snails were good & oysters good too (i had 3 of each)..but 2 of my friends had bad tummy afterwards though i was ok.the biggest letdown was sashimi! the photo above looked great, and i was telling my friend who didn’t take sashimi much that kajiki (swordfish) was 1 of my favourites & got him to take 2 pieces from my plate, but as it turned out it was the worst, completely tasteless! likewise the salmon. tako was average, not the good sweet ones.the cold pasta & salad station was among the best. but this was also a station that most people gave a miss w/o trying. the spicy prawn salad was great & the chicken sausage risoni as well.the prawn noodles station was self service which suited me fine as i took very little noodles & a lot of bean sprouts, prawns & fishcake & just enough of soup. i liked the very intense soup & had a 2nd helping, but i agreed with my “fussy” friend that the soup was too salty.i also had some nasi padang dishes. the beef rending sambal chilli & ikan bilis with peanuts all quite average.i skipped most cooked food stations in buffet (& that’s the reason i prefer semi-buffet places like the excellent one ninety, equinox & basilico where the main courses are served separately as fine dining dishes.for olive tree though, i must say i liked all 3 main courses = braised lamb, duck & dory, all good dishes.there was self service rojak station as well. i liked this too. & i had a helping of cheese. there was kikarangi, a light kiwi blue cheese i used to like. today somehow it was not so pungent, perhaps i have forgotten the taste..my “fussy” friend added – everything was not quite right..haha…we do all affect each other. i not much dessert person so i found nothing in the wide array of dessert. the coconut & durian ice creams were very good though!the restaurant was sadly only 30% full on a wednesday evening, so many of us were saying the cold seafood & sashimi were left-overs. anyway it sure looked like a lot of wastage!the ambience was great except an untimely lion dance, which 1 friend described as louder than MS in a tennis grand slam (that was supposedly louder than a airplane landing). fortunately it was over in 10minutes.the service was very good though. we were first seated in a corner & like all kiasu singaporeans we decided to park ourselves next to the cold appetiser station, but the lady server rearranged the tables to let us sit near but slightly off the station which was better.the buffet also came with coffee, cappuccino, camomile tea etc.i would rate this buffet below The Edge, but this was substantially cheaper at S$34 (only with the 1 for 1), but for me like my friend, the price was ok i won’t really come back here for this. equinox & one ninety are still the (semi) buffets for me. continue reading

For more reviews, visit www.ms-skinnyfat.comA good buffet line isn't one that has a whole truckload of crappy food but one with a crafted selection of fine dishes. Olive Tree at InterContinental Singapore has just the right ingredients to make it a great buffet line, especially with their best of Thai cuisine offering right now. With two renowned guest chefs from the Thailand Culinary Academy – Chef Surasak Kongsawat and Chef Jareuk Sriaroon, together with a locally acclaimed Thai culinary expert Chef Hansongkhram Chutnapa, Olive Tree is determined to deliver a truly authentic Thai experience from now till 13 October 2013.The thai seafood salads fared well with its mix of succulent prawns paired with pomelo and roasted chili paste. The Spicy Beef Salad was also well flavored with lime, chili padi and fish sauce. For some crunch, try the fluffy Catfish and Green Mango Salad.My favorite appetizer was no doubt the Kao Tang Na Tung. It looked like hummus and it even had that grainy creamy texture but this sweet and savory paste was actually minced pork. Slather the crispy rice crackers with this and i swear you wouldn't be able to stop munching on them.There were 4-5 types of Claypot Curries stewing away. The Green Curry Pork was fragrant and minty. I thought it fared better than the Deep Fried Seabass with Red Curry. The best curry was hands down the Beef with Mild Red Curry Sauce Pu-Pad-Pong-Kari! Extremely tender beef in a semi sweet peanut red curry. I could have a huge bowl of rice with this one. Do not miss out on the Kor Moo Yang, a succulent char-grilled pork shoulder with a secret blend of spices.Other classic dishes such as the Stir Fried Beef with Thai Basil, Stir Fried Chicken with Cashew Nuts, Pineapple Fried Rice, Pad Thai and Tom Yum Kung were part of the line up. The tom yum and pad thai could be more fiery though. The colourful Lup Chup (fruit-shaped desserts made of mung-bean flour with natural colouring) looked too pretty to be eaten. I've tried them before along the streets of Bangkok but never took to it. I was surprised that these ones were actually tasty. The Red Ruby in coconut milk was a great option after the spicy meal. Skip the Mango Sticky Rice and the steamed puddings. You may want to do the international selection of chocolate fondue and cakes if you wish. On top of the special Thai cuisine, there are the regular international seafood, sashimi and dessert section for the added variety. continue reading

Olive tree is a buffet restaurant for all meals. We went there for a birthday celebration on a weekend night. Overall the quality of the food was acceptable, however the variety was very limited and food was not replenished closer to the end of the buffet. Te desserts were pretty good and I quite liked the pannecotta which came in both matcha and vanilla flavour. continue reading

Tried this buffet for the first time. Overall the quality of the food is ok, but there is lack of variety for the high cost. One main problem of this buffet is that although the buffet is from 7-10.30pm at first there is more variety of food and the live stations are all manned. But by about 9 pm no one is manning the stations and they run out of food at some stations. For example they ran out of salmon sashimi by 8 plus! I requested for laksa at about 9 pm and although a chef came out to dish up my food at the previously unmanned station the food was not even hot! continue reading