Sunday, December 14, 2008

The Biting Fish Bowl in Hai Tien Lo

Despite his repeated reminders to me that times are bad, hubby wanted a good meal on his rest day, so we ended up with a S$58++ a la carte buffet brunch at the Cantonese restaurant, Hai Tien Lo, in Pan Pacific hotel. Located on level 37, Sam enjoyed the ride on the 'glass' lifts on the outside of the building. But the view today was dismal due to the weepy weather:


The baby chair isn't my fav type - it looks like a mini chair from those old-styled Chinese restaurants, and have absolutely no form of restraints whatsoever to keep the child safely in the seat. Even Sam was disappointed to find no safety belt for him to buckle into. I suppose the high chair would be good for older children who are a trifle too short for the adult chairs, but as expected, we spent the latter half of the meal telling Sam to sit down and keep his hands off the dishes.

On the plus side, the plastic kid's bowl was an entertainment in itself. Never mind the small shiny metallic fork & spoon. Sam spent the 1st 20 min of the meal pretending he was bitten by the 'fish'. Initially I didn't understand what he was doing, and was rather irritated to hear him go "ouch" with no apparent reason when I'm trying to eat my lunch. Then I saw him touch the bowl (at the tail end!) with one finger, quickly retracted it, & mutter 'ouch'! So he was pretending the 'fish' bit his finger!!!!


Sorry no photos of the food, me too busy eating & didn't wanna try taking photos of 10+ dishes served at various points of time. ;P That's a testimony to genuinely good food, a reason for the rather high price of the buffet. Besides the bird's nest egg tarts, shark's fin soup & lobster dumplings (only 1 serving per person for these dishes), the other dishes we tried (including steamed cod fish, fried garoupa, wasabi prawns, 虾饺,烧卖, homemade tofu, black pepper ostrich, stewed pork ribs, seasonal vegetables with lily bulbs, 油鸡,烧肉, drunken prawns) were all delicious.

The white peony tea at $6/pax was no joke, but as hubby says, it's 'real' tea, fragrant & full-bodied, didn't get too bitter or mild after repeated servings over the 1.75 hr meal. The fruits (including strawberries, sweet rock melon & jamu) & desserts (various types of kueh & cakes, a good mango pudding, among others) were at a self-service buffet table, and by the end of the hot dishes I was really stuffing myself full so as not to miss the mango pudding, my fav dessert!

Sam loved the sesame seed walnuts served as appetiser, and polished off several prawns again. I found that the prawns used in the steamed prawn dumpling are usually softer and easier for Sam to eat, compared to the firm ones in the drunken prawn dish. As hubby pointed out, the firm ones are probably fresher, but after Sam spat out those prawns after 5 min of constant chewing, I rather let him eat (& chewed then swallowed) prawn dumplings.

Can't wait for hubby's next urge for good food! ;)

Oh, almost forgot: UOB credit card members get 15% discount off, making the buffet a trifle more friendly on the wallet.........


Hai Tien Lo
Level 37, Pan Pacific Hotel,
7 Raffles Boulevard , Marina Square
Tel: 6826-8240
A La Carte Buffet Brunch: 11.30am to 2.30pm (Weekends & Public Holidays)
Dress code: Smart Casual

No comments:

Post a Comment