Only read about Shangri-La's "Flash Your Age" promotion in the Straits Times today. We didn't know about it when we made the reservation at The Line on Friday evening, and I was totally confused when the woman answering the call explained the limit's been reached & we won't be able to enjoy the promotion. But hubby wanted to eat BBQ seafood & MIL didn't, so the buffet was the best compromise to celebrate MIL's birthday yesterday night.
On hindsight, we would really have saved a lot off the bill had we been able to take up the promotion - imagine, 65% off the bill simply cos MIL was celebrating the 65th birthday then! But fortunately, got at least 15% discount via the UOB credit card. And got free parking cos we applied - on the spot - for the Singapore Shangri-La Food Circle card (free application, lifetime membership, earn points per $ spent for dining vouchers).
But I'm getting way ahead of my story, and starting to sound like I'm a waitress promoting the hotel. ;P But then, I really enjoyed the meal yesterday night, and even if there was no discount, I thought it was worth every single cent of the S$68++/pax (children half price, ages 6 & below free).
We got there a trifle later than the appointed time of 7pm, and managed to get parking at the basement 2 carpark. Which was lucky, cos hubby's sister's family was late and had to park all the way at the service apartment side at 8pm. Reason for the hordes of cars?? There were no less than 3 wedding dinners at the hotel on Saturday night!
But no worries, there were at least 3 usherers at the main lobby to guide the arriving guests. One of them very nicely led us all the way to the escalator leading down to The Line in the basement. That also happened to be the entrance to the poolside wedding reception of one of the wedding couples (the other 2 weddings held in the hotel's large & smaller ballrooms). A bit unfortunate for the couple, cos it had started to drizzle. But fortunately for us, the restaurant managed to secure an indoor seating. ;)
I always love a restaurant that prepared the baby chair in advance before we arrive at the table, especially when we've made the reservation earlier. So I was very pleased to see the grey Rubbermaid baby high chair at the large round table. Was even happier to see a cute set of plastic utensils waiting - fork, spoon, bowl, plate & cup.Sam has recently demonstrated his new-found knowledge of asking the waitress for water at restaurants. Not that the poor waitresses usually understand what he meant, of course. But I reiterate Sam's meaning for water (warm, I added), and taught him to thank the serving waitress.
Meanwhile, hubby hurried back with some sushi to feed Sam. Then we can have some time to explore the wide selection of foods available.
And I really mean it when I typed "explore" & "wide". We've visited the place once many years ago before the refurbishment of the restaurant, and while now the place looked more 'hip', the foods were displayed all over the place in separate islands, making it a slight chore to view the entire selection.
And what a selection it was! There was a noodle bar (wanton mee, mee rebus, laksa, etc), an Indian selection (fresh naans with various curries, tikka grilling behind), a satay corner, a small salad bar & tapas corner, a Japanese selection (cha soba, selection of sushi & fresh sashimi - really fresh, they only slice the fish upon order), a crepe area, a fresh pasta corner, a steaming dim sum stove, a selection of Western & Chinese dishes, an ice-cream bar with plenty of toppings, and my favourite: the dessert & fruit bar with chocolate fondue!!! And every Singaporean's delight: the seafood counter with fresh oysters, prawns & crabs, eaten as displayed or can be BBQed upon request!
But the new layout meant some of the foods are actually not displayed prominantly on the serving plates. The glass walls of the various islands are really meant to display some of the food selections too. Hubby found the selection of cheeses at the tapas counter & we had some stinky zangy blue cheese. Sister-in-law found the roast chicken rice with char siew for my nephew. Hubby's sister went 3 rounds before she found the roast beef I recommended her.
Oh, the roast beef was the best I've ever eaten!!!!! This is the 1st time I've eaten medium-rare roast beef that sent me back for a 2nd serving! Even though the meat wasn't fully cooked it was still tender & flavourful. They must have used some of the best beef to make the dish. Only very good beef would taste good without cooking: the best beef I've eaten raw was used to make yuke, a kind of sliced raw beef salad with special sauce mixed with raw egg, when I was in Japan, and it was wonderfully tender! It's actually a Korean dish, I'm told, but it was heavenly with the Matsusaka beef!
Where was I? Oh yes, the roast beef in The Line. Hubby's sister didn't want to eat the beef thick & medium-rare like me (who just took whatever that was served), so she asked the serving chef to slice very thinly & cook the beef till it's nearly well-done. And it was still good!!!!
The other dishes that sent me back for seconds included chicken with exotic sauce and surprisingly, satay! I hadn't meant to eat a 'cheap' food at such a pricey buffet (typical Singaporean thinking, sorry!), but the lamb satay was just sitting there when I went past & everyone else was queuing for the chicken satay, so I just grabbed the 2 sticks back to try. Jackpot! The lamb was so tender & the flavouring so well-done (delicately & obviously satay but not overpowering the meat), I went back for the chicken & beef satay after trying the lamb version!
Unfortunately, I stuffed myself too full to eat much of my favourite desserts. :( And I was really stuffing myself when it came to dessert time! The chocolate mousse was good, not too sweet yet chocolatey bitter. The green tea strawberry cake was light, MIL even ate all the cream. The berry cheesecake was light too, not too creamy or cheesey. I didn't manage to get a slice of the durian cake, but on repeated visits managed to lay my hands on several macarons, which hubby found too sweet, but I loved, and surprisely, Sam loved it too! The petite pastry was just nice in his small hands, and he ate 2 of them easily.
It wasn't PERFECT, of course. I definitely didn't quite enjoy the lighting above our table: dim orange. Makes me feel as though I was eating in the dark. I appreciate mood lighting, but I do like to see what I'm eating. Sometimes I wonder if restaurants delibrately darken the lighting at tables so as to hide the non-freshness of the food served. ;P
But then, there was nothing to hide at The Line. The food was good. Very good!!! Though there were many local delights, the quality of food makes the high price of the buffet worth it. Oh, not ALL the dishes were perfect, of course. FIL said the laksa was too salty. The tom yam soup was too spicy. The cream of asparagus was nothing to rave about. But considering the spread, there were many, many, many more hits than misses.
Sam was quite well behaved yesterday. He loved the 2 different varieties of breadsticks from the small bread counter - ate 3 in total. The strawberry ice cream was a let down though, a trifle too strawberry sour for our tastes. Sam loved the wanton mee though. He's learning to eat noodles with his own fork, ate 1/3 bowl himself (we had to cut the noodles up slightly of course).
With the wonderful service & food, we ended the meal with a good strong cup of aromatic coffee (for hubby) & tea (for me), all the more lovely cos it was complimentary. ;)
The Line, Shangri-La hotel
22 Orange Grove Rd
Tel: 6213 4275
Dinner: 6.30pm - 10.30pm (weekends & holidays from 6pm)
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