Alright, this is quite a belated update as I've visited the restaurant before we backslid into HA. Well, if you've been following me on IG you should know, and hopefully has treated yourself to a takeout feast with the 15% discount promotion code too?
Anyway, here's a much overdue review of my ala carte buffet dinner at Ellenborough Market Cafe, located at Swissotel Merchant Court.
A small dampening aspect of the situation now, due to covid measures, is that the buffet line is no longer open. So the excitement of browsing through the buffet line to find out 'what's up for grabs' and also to decide for ourselves on how much or how little of each food to take, is wholly removed from the dining experience. Instead, you'll be given a few sheets of the ala carte order chit and be overwhelmed by row and rows of dish names.
But that teeny weeny disappointment was quickly dissolved by the wow factor of the seafood bucket that was served to our table. It was literally a bucket, filled with Boston lobster, rock lobster, clam, whelk, prawns, black mussels, king grab, sausages, root vegetables and mushrooms.
Definitely a treat for seafood lovers, YUMS!
The dishes available for the ala carte dinner buffet are of a Peranakan fusion theme, so you can expect lovely dishes like laksa, nonya, rojak, kueh pie tee, babi pongteh, nasi lemak rice (dyed a beautiful blue with the butterfly pea flower) and ngoh hiang et cetera.
And at the same time, you can also find more western dishes like sirloin steak, pasta, roasted potatoes and mushroom soup, and chinese dishes like kung bao lotus root and wok-fried asian greens on the menu to help satiate your hunger.
While the HB was totally in love with the Rock Lobster in Singapore Chili Crab Sauce (because lobster, DUH!), the dish that left the most lasting impression on me for the night was the pasta with pork ragout and sous vide egg. The super IG-worthy #eggporn moment of breaking the yolk of the sous vide egg aside, the pork ragout was really flavourful, and together with the sous vide egg, gave the paste a lovely creamy, savoury taste.
Being a ant-person (someone with an extreme sweet-tooth), the dessert menu of 14 dishes wasn't all that impressive. A huge part of it was also because I'm not much of a fan of local/nonya desserts (nonya kueh, chendol, bubur cha cha, durian), and so my choices of dessert was immediately reduced by half.
Anyway, the HB quite enjoyed the durian fritter, and also felt that it was better than the durian penyet. Well, I guess you just can't go wrong with dipping food in batter and deep-frying them, yes?
And out of all the cakes and patisserie that I've tried (black forest trifle, new york cheesecake, raspberry lychee mousse, honey pecan walnut tart), I have the say that the raspberry lychee mousse stood out the most. Love the tanginess of the raspberry, coupled with the sweetness of the lychee that is enveloped in the fluffy near-nothingness of the airy mousse. The NY cheesecake was pretty good as well, rich and creamy, but both the HB and I did not understand why they had to add the icing pearl sprinkles on top. It was so hard crunchy that it nearly chipped my filling. =,="
Do check out the HB's full video review of our dinner feast for the night.
For more information on Ellenborough Market Cafe current opening hours and their dining offers, visit their website HERE
Till then,
Mia Foo
0 comments:
Post a Comment