Authentic Asian Buffet @ Quality Cafe

Restaurant Name: Quality Cafe @ Quality Hotel Marlow

Pricing: $$/5

Food: ♥♥♥/5

Ambience: ♥♥♥/5

Service: ♥♥♥♥/5

Website: http://qualityhotelmarlow.com.sg/dining/quality-cafe

Location: 201 Balestier Road, Singapore 329926
Tel: +65 6355 9988
Operating Hours: Open Daily; Lunch: 11:30 – 14:30, Dinner: 18:00 – 20:00, Supper: 22:30 – 00:30

Da Rabbit has been invited by Quality Hotel Marlow to try their infamous Taiwan Porridge Buffet during the weekends!! And.. Da Rabbit is really grateful that the hotel staff has kindly accommodated her request to extend the invite to Sweetie Muffin as he plays an important role in her life as a chauffeur and guide (Da Rabbit has a terrible sense of direction). Da Rabbit and Sweetie Muffin wish to express their heartfelt thanks to Faith for arranging this food-tasting session 🙂

Since this food-tasting is not a hosted event, Da Rabbit and Sweetie Muffin gets to experience dining in the Quality Cafe fully without hotel staff watching them eat (affecting their digestion of course) and making them feel queasy. In fact, the entire dining experience was just like any other buffet they have went to 😉

Le’ First Impression

Driving into the Car Park

The Banner on Quality Cafe’s Daily Buffet

I have first come to know about Quality Hotel Marlow through my ex-colleagues as they mentioned that their department’s secretary particularly enjoys to patronize the hotel for drinks and delicious fried chicken. So upon arrival at the hotel’s car park lift lobby, we saw the poster on Chilling Out @ the Piano Lounge and have to agree that the alcoholic drinks are really affordable 🙂

Chill Out @ The Piano Lounge

(Happy Hour All Night Long)

Le’ Reception Area

I love the decor!

Yes, the Christmas tree is up too..

Authentic Asian Buffet @ Quality Cafe

The prices for the hotel buffet are really reasonable. 

Moreover, they are having a lunch promotion during Mondays – Thursdays whereby 1 person gets to dine FREE with every 3 paying adults.

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	Mon-Thurs	Fri – Sun
Asian Buffet Lunch
Adult	SGD 18.00	SGD 21.00
Child	SGD 11.80	SGD 11.80
Taiwan Buffet Dinner
Adult	SGD 20.80	SGD 22.80
Child	SGD 11.80	SGD 11.80
Taiwan Porrdige Supper Buffet
Adult	SGD 12.80	SGD 14.80
Child	SGD 6.80	SGD 6.80

*Prices are subject to 10% service charge and prevailing GST

*Prices are subject to change during Eve of Public Holidays, Public Holidays, Festive Period and Special Occasions

Tips on Buffet Eating

We will be sharing with you about the tips of buffet eating to make your money worthwhile.

1. 
   

   Avoid Carbs at all cost!

   Do not take too much starchy food like rice, noodles and anything too starchy as these guys stuff your stomach really fast and before you know it, your stomach will be too bloated for other foodies!

2. 
   

   Start with a sip of warm beverage / hot soup

   This helps to warm-up your stomach to eat more somehow 🙂

3. 
   

   Take a little of everything

The idea of going to a buffet is so that you get to sample a huge variety of food. Helping yourself to a small portion of each variety helps you to taste all the food without getting stucked with a huge portion of food that disgusts you. You can also have a second helping to the food which you prefer afterwards. And also, this helps to minimize food wastage *Think about the poor African kids!*

Avoid Fizzy Drinks

Yes, fizzy drinks do taste good, but they fill your stomach with gas and you will be too bloated to eat anything afterwards. And sorry to say, your stomach would be emptied fast after all that farting.. *LOL*

Le’ Ambience

The cafe is rather cozy with cushioned seats and it is flooded with diners – mostly families consisting of the elderly and children.

Le’ Buffet Spread

Taiwanese Porridge

The cafe prides itself in serving the Authentic Taiwanese Porridge Buffet. There were 2 types of porridge served that night –  Sweet Potato Porridge and Chicken Porridge. As time progresses, our younger generation has long forgotten the hard times which our forefathers have went through during the Japanese Occupation. Sweet Potato has been a staple food during the wartime especially when food rations were running low and the families have started growing their own sweet potatoes for survival. Porridge – which is made by cooking rice in plenty of water. As poor families and coolies could hardly afford rice, they would normally add more water to their rice to fill their tummies. We have heard stories of how the adults would make sweet potato porridge with their remaining ingredients they could find in their houses and feed the children while they watched them eat in hunger and yet have to put up a false front in front of their kids. These heart-wrenching scenes are very common in Mediacorp’s TV Dramas like The Price of Peace (和平的代价), The Awakening (霧鎖南洋), Samsui Women (红头巾) etc.

Nowadays, the standards of living for Singaporeans have improved and not many of us have experienced the meaning of true hunger. Hence it is important for our future generations to know and understand the hardship which our forefathers have went through in order for them to cherish what they have now (I know, now this review is sounding like some National Education lesson as it has become slightly emotional)… We shall continue with the review proper..

Taiwan Porridge Condiments

As porridge in itself tastes really bland and plain, you might want to eat the porridge with the condiments for a more enhanced flavour. I have heard stories of how my grandmother fed my dad with sweet potato porridge together with pickled vegetables and soya sauce which was considered a luxury food in those times *Awww*

Quality Cafe offers many porridge condiments to choose from – I think my grandparents would be so delighted to see them if they are still alive *I’m MISSING them already*

Seafood

Prawns

Fish

Black Pepper Crab

I love the black pepper sauce!!! It enhances the taste of the crab totally! However Sweetie Muffin was somewhat not satisfied with the crab as he was commenting that it was just normal Sri Lankan Crab with not much meat.. Meh~

As it is a challenge to eat crabs using our utensils and hence we were compelled to eat the crabs with our bare hands.. And Sweetie Fin was complaining that there isn’t any wet tissue / lemon water provided to clean our dirty hands afterwards. Usually, Seafood Restaurants would provide a bowl of lemon water to rinse our hands. 

Sweetie Fin dirtying his hands whilst eating the prawns and black pepper crab

Meat

There are plentiful of meat to choose from.

Mutton

Sweetie Fin was busily filling up the plate with food…

Chicken

Yes!! The fried chicken is really crispy on the outside. The meat is tender and juicy! Ultra love it!!

Braised Duck

Mixed Vegetables

Curry

The curry is rich and fragrant and we both loved it ♥

Chicken Curry

Vegetables Curry

A basket loaded with assorted breads to complement the curry gravy

The fried mantou (bun) is not as crispy as the ones that are normally served in Seafood Restaurants as they have been fried for some time before they have been placed into the basket. Da Rabbit would suggest for the curries be placed on the counters manned by the chef so that customers can place their orders for fried mantous / toasted french loaves over the counter to ensure that the breads and buns are served piping hot and crispy. Or perhaps the hotel can invest in a good toaster so that we can self-service and toast the bread ourselves 🙂

Soft, soggy fried mantou 🙁

Desserts

The most popular station amongst the kids and some adults is the desserts area. You get to create your own local desserts like – Ice Kachang (flavored shaved ice) and Chendol with the ingredients provided. If you are an ice-cream lover, you might want to create your own sundae too! 

*Warning: You will be fully responsible for the overall taste of the desserts, since the proportions are being controlled by your own goodself!

The place was crowded with happy and enthusiastic kids fighting to decorate their bowls with the colourful desserts…

Auntie making her own Chendol

Da Rabbit added too much syrup and ingredients into her Ice Kachang which made the entire dessert too sweet and Sweetie Muffin was compelled to top the dish with more shaved ice to dilute the sweetness *Oops*

Yes, and we would like to give an honest feedback on the Attap Seeds for Ice Kachang – there is no quality control over them as some are too soft whereas some are too hard. It was hard to find an Attap Seed with the desirable hardness from the bowl of Ice Kachang we consumed… 

It is just so weird to taste Attap Seeds of varying textures all in all :S

Le’ Making of Ice Kachang

However, Da Rabbit is a pro when it comes to ice-cream ♥♥

Muahahaha!! We LOVE ice-cream!

5 Flavours available – Mango, Yam, Vanilla, Strawberry and Chocolate.

We realized that only ONE ice-cream scoop was provided and would suggest that the cafe should place at least 2 scoops because it is rather awkward for one to scoop the ice-cream whilst the others are staring at him and wait for their turn impatiently. The place should be big enough to have 2 people standing at the freezer and scoop at the same time. Moreover, the frozen ice-cream is a little hard to scoop as strength is required to do so.

Da Rabbit, feeling happy with her ice-cream

We came to a consensus that the Yam ice-cream tasted best somehow 🙂

Fresh Fruits and Nonya Kueh

There is a counter serving Nonya cakes. Nonya cakes are generally starchy and will not be advisable for you to eat too much during a buffet.

Bread Pudding

Yes it is literally made of bread (looks like the normal Gardenia Bread with fruit toppings).. Do be reminded to pour lots of custard sauce for the bread to absorb, otherwise the bread pudding will taste like plain and dry bread!

 

Da Rabbit did not add enough custard sauce to the Bread Pudding 🙁

Other Local Delights

Laksa

The laksa tasted great. The gravy is fragrant and the overall is delectable.

Laksa served in a vintage looking bowl

Popiah (fresh spring roll)

The portion of the gravy is well-controlled. Not too much to tear the Popiah skin but not too dry either. Sweetie Muffin said that the Popiah has standard *thumbs up*

Soup

The soup of the day consists of potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes and chicken. It tasted like home-cooked fare and a little too bland to our liking. Perhaps the chef can increase the proportion of the ingredients so as to bring out the sweetness of the vegetables.

Drinks

The only complimentary drinks served were hot and cold water and Hot Chrysanthemum Tea. 

You have to top-up an additional S$2.50 for guava / orange juice, S$1.50 for fizzy drinks like coke, pepsi and sprite and S$2.00 for coffee and tea. These drinks are normally complimentary for buffets and hence Sweetie Muffin suggested for the cafe to consider offering complimentary drinks for buffet as kids tend to like flavored beverages.

Le’ Service

We were greeted and shown to our seats by the staff. There was a chef overseeing the buffet spread to ensure that the food was replenished on a timely basis. Also, the staff was very prompt to help clear our plates after eating.

Overall

We feel that Quality Cafe is worth a visit during weekends by families. As the Chinese saying goes: “饮水思源” (ponder about the source whilst drinking water – meaning we should trace our roots and heritage whilst enjoying the fruits sown by our forefathers). We can make use of this dining opportunity to educate our children and future generation about the food which our forefathers ate and the hardships they have endured. Also, for those who have elderly parents and grandparents, it would be a good way to pamper them with the Taiwanese Buffet treat and also relief them of their cooking chore 🙂