Hey Hive!
Even though there are still people getting covid, it's basically being treated like a cold these days so thankfully almost everything is back to normal now! There are no more restrictions on dining these days and you don't even have to wear a mask anymore if you don't want to! It's a huge relief and this allows us to try out different food places again!
To celebrate Chinese New Year 2023, Sean's parents invited us to join them and his other relatives for a nice buffet at a hotel restaurant called J65 in Hotel Jen at Tanglin Singapore! I've never actually heard of this hotel before but apparently its just opposite Sean's office so he's familiar. I don't think he's ever eaten at the hotel restaurant though.
The hotel lobby was decorated very nicely for the occasion of course, and the restaurant was actually bustling when we arrived! There must have been some promotion of sorts. Sean's relatives and grandma were already seated so we went to their tables to get seats as well.
Once we were situated, we quickly went up to browse the huge array of dishes available. There were a few islands with food on either side and it was quite a crowd in the restaurant. I apologise in advance for the poor pictures since I didn't want to block anyone from the food or otherwise.
Closest to our table was an island called the Kids corner where there were mainly desserts but also small corner of art supplies to keep them entertained I guess?
The other side of the Kids Corner had plenty of desserts from cakes to cookies and tarts, including a local favourite - kueh lapis, whihch is a traditional Indonesian snack of steamed colourful layered soft rice flour pudding.
Along the way was the Salad Counter and even a DIY Lohei station! Lohei is a traditional Chinese dish that is kind of a salad with veggies, raw salmon and tamarind sauce. It is commonly eaten during the New Year where the whole family gathers and tosses the ingredients while yelling auspicious phrases to ring in the new year!
It's interesting that the restaurant just lets customers prepare their own lohei. I guess it's easier this way rather than catering for different groups of people. It is a buffet after all.
Next was the seafood island with assorted sushi and maki rolls and a whole mountain of shrimp and crab legs! Neither of us are big seafood fans (other than salmon and some sushi) so we passed on this one.
The next area was the Asian Cuisine Station where there were many different dishes from dim sum to steamed fish, soup and congee.
There were some interesting dishes like this Tofu with Crab Meat Sauce and also some other entrees.
On the other side of the Asian Cuisine was actually Western Cuisine! I guess even though it's a Chinese New Year buffet they do want to include as much variety as possible to the patrons.
Towards the back were some pastries and fried stuff on display under heat lamps. But since these didn't have a cooker underneath them I feared they were a little cold and they were.
On the other side of the pastries there were some other festive delights like Kueh Pie Tee, which is a Peranakan dish where a thin and crispy pastry tart shell is filled with a spicy, shredded Chinese turnips, sweet mixture of thinly sliced vegetables and prawns.
There was also a table with some carbs where there was steamed rice and one of our favourite dishes - char kway teow!
The restaurant had 2 levels separated by some steps. It actually looked really nice and modern and was nicely decorated as well.
On the lower level there were more dishes here in front of a designated chef! There were Malay and Indian dishes here like another local favourite - satay!
There were also some crackers and stews and curries in these very fancy looking pots.
After taking a look around, I was very overwhelmed not only by the huge variety of dishes available but also by all the people. I don't really do well in crowds and the restaurant was packed!
But I did try to enjoy myself as best as I could, and since there was so much food we paced ourselves and took a little bit of those we wanted to try. This was also our first meal of the day so I had to be cautious of overeating.
This was my first plate of food that I finished in 5 minutes. 😂 We went back for second, third and fourth helpings to try a little bit of whatever we could. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of those though.
After about an hour or so, we were so stuffed! My belly was very full so we went to take a walk around to help digest found a nice display of wedding stuff on the second floor on the way to the restroom.
The second floor was basically a balcony into the restaurant so we got a bird's eye view of the whole restaurant from up there:
It was pretty cool that we could see everything from up here and our table was actually just below us!
Overall, I'd say the food was better than average, maybe 6 or 7/10? It is a buffet after all so some of the dishes just alright, a few not to my taste and all. Despite that, I'll still recommend it and if you get the chance to come here for a festive occasion, go for it (just mind the crowds)!
Thanks so much for reading!
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