Entree Kibbles: Katong Kitchen - Halal Lunch Buffet That's Largely Peranakan Style @ Village Hotel Katong [Opposite Parkway Parade]

Sunday, March 01, 2015

Katong Kitchen - Halal Lunch Buffet That's Largely Peranakan Style @ Village Hotel Katong [Opposite Parkway Parade]

It wasn't too long ago i mentioned in my blog that buffets are generally not my cup of tea nowadays; i simply could not squeeze in as much food as i wanted to make my money worth!

Nevertheless, i couldn't stop friends from giving a treat (for that, i am grateful okay) and hence, had the opportunity to dine in a quality, halal buffet restaurant in the East of Singapore; Katong Kitchen.

Since we were the first few customers, the place was pretty empty and permission was granted for me to take as many photographs as i could. In fact, the friendly staff suggested i should do it soon, before more customers walk in! That's the spirit; extra points given for service!

It's actually quite stressful for me to blog about buffets as many a time, i would be holding up famished customers behind me, from whom i could literally feel the impatience! Anyway, no such problem encountered in Katong Kitchen then.

I am not sure where to begin but i guess the limited seafood section with the customary, cold prawns, flower crabs, scallops and black mussels would be a good start; no oysters though.

Eat them with the condiments; lemon, the nonya chincalok sauce and the western style cocktail sauce. For me, my favourite sauce would have been Kimball Thai Chilli Sauce, which wasn't available of course.

A tray of sushi - Katong Kitchen doesn't focus on nonya food only. From the website, it was indicated as "serving a mix of authentic local and international cuisine." Not that i am complaining, the more the merrier.

Three plates of cooked food were placed next to the sushi; baked whole fish, grilled pumpkin and potatoes. Honestly didn't sound too appealing to me, especially the potatoes.

However, i heard from friends that the grilled pumpkin was delicious! Aiyah, i should have grabbed some before i stuffed myself crazy!

Dim Sum - Chicken Glutinous Rice & Chicken Char Siew Pao. Both items are carbohydrate-heavy and would have reduced your intake that day if you persist to have them!

Bread would be a no-no too in buffets, no matter how badly you are drawn to the aroma! The pot of Cream of Broccoli might be a better choice.

I shall talk more about the live stations later.

In the meantime, let's proceed to the "main dish" section; there were mutton masak merah, roasted duck, chicken ponteh, black pepper prawn, spinach with mushroom, fried kway teow, nasi kuning, Cantonese beef stew etc.

My recommendation is to take a bit at a time; no point wasting the whole lot when you came to the conclusion that you don't really like the dish at all. Photograph above shows black pepper prawns.

Not sure what meat it contained? Check out the symbol at the bottom right of the food label.

Chilli lovers would definitely welcome the huge serving of sambal balachan provided in a stone mortar and accompanied by a pestle too; the way my mom would have made it at home!

Dip the crackers into the sambal balachan! Chilli haters, please stay out of the chilli lest it destroys your appetite as it was rather potent!

The boring salad section; one of the things you would never catch me eating in a buffet would be salads! We are supposed to indulge in buffets and not suffer further by eating greens! I do have exceptions though; egg and fruit salads.

These were not your conventional salads; Jelly Fish Salad, Confit of Mushroom and the Mango Kerabu, two of which have an oriental twist.

Make it yourself - the local unhealthy dessert; rojak! It's a misconception if you think it would be easy to make a good plate of rojak; the wrong proportion of prawn sauce (hae ko) can adversely affect the taste of it.

Those who don't know what to make out of the various ingredients, follow the simple instructions and good luck with your version!

Make it yourself - Kueh Pie Tee!

As with the rojak, follow the instructional poster.

Aside for plain water, you could also help yourself with tea, coffee / espresso. Reduce your water intake as it would likely give your tummy an impression of being full.

Who can forget the fruit platter, which is a must have in every buffet; be it breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Now coming to the dessert zone; my personal favourite! Quite a good spread and in bite sized; two major factors i always look forward to seeing in buffet desserts.

Chocolate cake and blueberry cheese cake i think.

On display were also fruit tarts and cakes, beautiful mini ang ku kueh, egg tarts, Thai sticky rice with mango, kueh lapis, dessert shooters and even bubur cha cha! Enough to whet my appetite for sure!

Make my own chendol - something i really enjoy doing as i could add in more gula melaka!

Live stations include Straits Satay (choice of chicken or mutton), laksa and homemade waffles! As it was weekend when we visited, soft serve ice cream can be requested as well!

An impressive array of "accessories" to beautify your homemade waffles! I am a simple man; buttery waffles with a crustier bite and a serving of good old vanilla would be sufficient to satisfy me.

I didn't manage to eat everything but i was most impressed with the laksa. The flavourful gravy was rich, milky with a smooth consistency that was almost a match with my favourite laksa stall in Yishun!

Kueh Pie Tee, lovingly made by the motherly Dawn, was as delicious as its look! Chilli was a tad too spicy for me although it didn't deter me from having a second.

Rojak wasn't made to the high standard i imposed even though i was the one who embarked on the do-it-yourself journey! Ingredients like the cucumber and turnips were incredibly fresh; my only grudge was on the hardly energised dough fritters! A toaster to perk them up would be beneficial.

None of the 'main dish' items appealed to me. They were alright; just unexceptional.

Grab more of the satays as they were surprisingly good even though they were not grilled over charcoal. The marination was on the sweet side (my kind of satay) and the meat was extremely tender; yes. even the mutton!

Waffle was a letdown; too soft and even the "fanciful accessories" failed to arrest the disappointment. Ice cream was just simple soft-serve and required no particular mention.

My chendol was better than expected even though i wasn't as generous with the gula melaka. Of course, my all time favourite would be the one from ABC Market!

Hits and misses with the desserts; the fruit cake and egg tart on the plate had a more lasting impression. I didn't manage to try all the dessert shooters and my major regret was that i clean forgot about the bubur cha cha!

Upon knowing it was a friend's birthday the day before, the staff kindly offered a slice of cake for the birthday girl! So nice of them right?! Another star for service!

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