Cafe Vic, Carlton Hotel - April 28, 2008

Yesterday, I attended another colleague's farewell lunch at Cafe Vic, Carlton Hotel. As I stepped into the restaurant, the first thing that caught my eye was the colourful salad bar (which reminded me of the veggie corner in Marche).

From caesar salad to lovely cherry tomatoes, Italian dressing to the regular thousand island...I couldn't help but to whip up my own salad. At the bottom of my salad bowl, you will see traces of the cafe's mushroom salad (not too bad) and some tomato cum cheese (that doesn't taste like cheese) salad soaked in an unknown condiment.


Beside my salad bowl, was a cup of braised crab meat soup which I'm leaving it to my colleague's boy to comment... Lele was happily taking (my) pictures until he tried the soup...hahaha

Ok, maybe it was my hp camera flash but the soup is really something you can give a miss in this buffet...starchy...hardly any traces of crab meat (when it's supposed to be a Crab Meat soup). Btw, there is an alternative soup, Onion soup (I think) but I didn't try as it wasn't very appealing to me.

On the right side of the buffet hall, you will find appetizers like japanese octopus, smoked spicy salmon, yellow clam salad deep fried (cold) samosa & spring rolls.

On the opposide pillar, you can get a good variety of cheese & 3 types of hams from the cheese & ham counter. The hams tasted ordinary but the light yellow cheese with 'holes' was nice!

On the ice, we have the usual oysters, clams & boiled prawns. The chilled prawns were pretty fresh & sweet.

Moving on to the Mains...they have hot dishes like grilled beef tenderloin with black pepper, seafood with lotus bulb, roast duck, deep fried salmon cheeks, teriyaki chicken & irish lamb stew on mashed potatoes, sushi...

The variety of main dishes was limited & ordinary except for the irish lamb stew - one of the better hot dishes. Oh ya, I also had a mini roasted drumstick & german coiled sausage from their 'show kitchen', with 2 chefs manning the oven (for roasted poultry) & teppanyaki stove (for the sausages & assorted grilled meats). The chicken was ok but the sausage was salty! The hashbrown was worst..golden brown on the outside but very dry in the inside; the MacDonald breakfast hashbrown tastes better.

Finally...something good about the buffet...

The desserts outshone the mains in turns of variety & presentation. There are at least 8 types of cakes, along with cute mini dessert tapas, bread pudding, sea-coconut dessert, standard fruit platters & ice-cream for the sweet tooth to choose.

I tried a bit of almost everything at the dessert section (since I didn't have a 2nd helping of the mains hee..) & most of them were pretty nice, except for the 2 tapas in mini glasses. They tasted like some breakfast jams & very sweet too. The brown ball in the transparent spoon was an enlarged version of the Ferror Rocher, while the white 'snow ball' in porcelain spoon is full of milky white chocolate goodness. Beside the porcelain spoon, is a solidified version of the chinese dessert 'Fu Zhu Yi Mi' (sweet beancurd barley) with a hidden ginko in the bottom & a raspberry on top. It was not too sweet & surprisingly very palatable.

The chocolate fountain was small (compared to the one at The Line) but the skewers of fruits & mashmallows had helped to make the set-up look more attractive.

Overall, nothing extraordinary about this buffet & I think it's a bit overpriced ($35++ & $45++ for lunch & dinner) if not the card discounts. Here is my verdict:

Ambience - 6.5/10 (simple decor)

Service - 8/10

Food - 7/10 (desserts saved the day!)

Value for $ - 6/10

Fyi, the reservation no. is 6311 8195 & Carlton Hotel is located at 76 Bras Basah Road S(189558)