Lunch Buffet @ Greenhouse, Ritz Carlton

O pointed this out to me, that Greenhouse was having a dinner offer as stated below
Countdown to Lunch at Greenhouse (Starts 11 May 2009 & Ends 31 August 2009)
Multiple-tier dining offer and maximum discount offered is 50% with no restriction to number of guests
5 days advanced booking before event date – 50% off the Buffet Luncheon
4 days advanced booking before event date – 40% off the Buffet Luncheon
3 days advanced booking before event date – 30% off the Buffet Luncheon
2 days advanced booking before event date – 20% off the Buffet Luncheon
1 day advance d booking before event date – 10% off the Buffet Luncheon

• All-day á la carte: 6:30 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.
• Buffet breakfast: 6:30 – 10:30 a.m.
• Buffet lunch: Noon - 2:30 p.m.
• Buffet dinner: 6:30 - 10.30 p.m.
• Saturday lunch buffet: Noon - 2.30 p.m.
• Sunday vintage champagne brunch: 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m., offering an unlimited flow of Moët & Chandon, wines and selected cocktails accompanied by freshly shucked oysters, seafood, roasts, 50 French farmhouse cheeses and freshly baked soufflés
• Advanced reservations recommended

So obviously we booked in advance for at least 5 days... earliest slot was about 3 weeks later. Anyway, i'm glad i called a day before to confirm my booking cause apparently it got LOST.
Apparently they are supposed to send me a confirmation E-mail about my reservation BUT how could they do that without asking for my e-mail addy in the first place!?

Anyway O took over and demonstrated Fury-under-restraint-politeness-lvl99
(it was impressive to behold) and we got our table!


We got a nice table for 2 by the glass panel with this view. Nice.





So other shots of the surrounding area.

Without further ado, (some of) the food!


Char Siew: Pleasantly forgettable.
Soft Shell Crab: Pretty good but the vegetable ones are better.
Sushi: Supermarket.
Salmon Sashimi: Shrugs.
Prawn: Sweet! Pretty fresh and firm.
Crab: Didn't try, there seemed so little reward for so much work...





Mushroom Cream Soup: Passable. Looks better than it tastes.
Tomato Soup: Ditto.
Cheese Hotdog: Reminds me of the cinema kind. The 3 kinds available were all decent.
Lamb?: I don't remember if it was lamb or something else. Says alot.
Smoked salmon: Very good, perhaps the only thing we got 3-4 servings of.
Scallops: These were competently done and went well with the salad cream but the rock melon balls tasted like they were dipped in vinegar. URrghh.

I loved the pickled beetroot and party onions. More than anything above. Sad.
Needless to say, we won't be back, not for the lunch buffet at least.

Next!

Baah.. humbug(er)

If i weren't so tired, i would blog about the kickassingly disappointing meal @ Masala Hut in Little India.

Think Pizza Hut gone wrong.

*Snooze*

Botak Jones, D Genki and iL Piccolo

A 3 pronged review! A first!
Out with O and mum for dinner and i suggested Botak Jones near Clementi MRT. On hindsight, what a great decision that turned out to be!

We arrived to a nearly filled coffeeshop which kinda sucked cause i knew most of the people there was there for BJ.
To my surprise, i saw a new Italian place (iL Piccolo) and Japanese place (D Genki).
Could i not try?

We tried...

[D Genki]

Pork Katsu Curry - $6.90

After Japan, i've been thinking of C&C Curry day and night. Tried Bishamon Express but even though piping hot and the pork katsu fried on the spot, the curry lacked the depth and richness leaving one unsatisfied. I'm no food connoisseur but even i have standards, albeit rather low ones.
Am happy to announce this was good enough to bring back memories of Japan. The curry is rich, somewhat thick and a little on the sweet side. O thinks it's too sweet for her and i agree that there is this sweet tangy trace which i suspect to be ketchup ( i do hope not ). Sweetness aside, it is probably the closest budget substitute i'll find in Singapore.



Grilled Chicken Curry - $6.90

The grilled chicken was great! The chicken was abnormally tender to the extent of being suspect but was well worth the order of a second curry set. Now if only we didn't order...
...
......

Teppan Salmon - $7.90

I rarely, if ever, bitch about food. I don't bitch, normally, period. If i HAD to, i would about this. Dry tasteless salmon that cost more than my curry set! Ok i'm biased but aren't we all?
This came with miso soup and a bowl of rice. The grilled vegetables on the side weren't bad though.

[Botak Jones]

Rosemary Lamb Chops - $19.00 (300 grams)

We took the upsized for this as we were sharing. They also have a 200g version @ $14. The order was for medium rare but parts of it was rare and the other parts medium. Honestly have no idea how they did it...
The herbs taste present wasn't really my thing though O said it was hers but Baaahhhhhh the whole rare/medium but not medium rare thing already put me off.
For the sides, the corn was nice and comforting but the asparagus came cold... rather unappetizing.
Noted that they were rather busy with the dinner crowd and all but still...



Spicy Fries (regular) - $3.80

I felt this was overpriced. At almost 4 bucks a pop and for the smallest size to boot, it wasn't really value for money in any way. Noteworthy though is that in the past they used really large crinkle fries but now they've changed to smaller ones. A good call in my opinion as there is to me more surface area for seasoning and i really tasted the difference.
Mum prefers old school though.

[iL Piccolo]


We did note this place coming in but was only half interested to try at first. We then saw quite a few people trying the clam vongole which had a HUGE amount of clams which got O all starry eyed. Unfortunately we were a little too late as they ran out. I thought it looked kinda bland anyway so instead i ordered the...


Puttanesca Pasta - $6

Topped with rather generous servings of anchovies, black olives, capers mushroom, chilli in tomato sauce & cream sauce, it was waaaaaayyy better than we thought it would be. I inherited my taste for tomato cream pasta from O and i'm proud to call this my new favourite pasta! Much better than Pasta Mania (though i'm ok with PM) and even rivaling that of Pasta Fresca (saw previous post), this was a absolute STEAL at its price. I read reviews on HungryGoWhere on their Toa Payoh branch and realize there's also a Botak Jones there near iL Piccolo. Sister Co or major competitor? Hmmm.


Panna Cotta - $2.50 ($2 back in '08)

The uncle there worked there was new and gave me a Tiramisu ($3) instead but i didn't even know it.
Shows how much i know my desserts huh?

Back to the dessert, O gave it a try and said i would like it... and i did! Smooth, milky and not overly sweet, i was impressed with the panna cotta (in particular how much it cost) for its quality. I'm sure in many other places they would charge twice as much or more for something similar. Maybe this just suited my palate more.

There you have it.
Once a coffeeshop with only Botak Jones reelin in the crowds, now a much larger selection of interesting stuff spoiling diners for choice. There's even an interesting self proclaimed Hong Kong tze char store tucked in one corner.

We're already planning the next trip back. Yumz.


325 Clementi Avenue 5
#01- 129