Yesterday, Laine and I celebrated 10 years of being together. You can get the story from Laine as to how it all happened.
What I’d like to do is a short write-up on our dinner date.
Can call it my 1st ever restaurant (pseudo-)review! 
Choosing the Venue:
Although I sometimes act like I’m a totally unromantic boring-nerd-for-a-husband, I really enjoy giving Laine surprises. But, for this milestone celebration, it was Laine who made the 1st move, asking for a buffet dinner where she can gouge on oysters! Thus-tasked, I went researching for an appropriate dinner venue.
My final shortlisted buffets were: Melt – The World Cafe (Mandarin Oriental Hotel) & The Line (Shangri-La Hotel). Having enjoyed a truly sumptuous buffet at Melt before, I thought it would be fun to try The Line to compare. My colleagues’ comments that The Line is good for oysters gave another nudge in that direction.
The “Review”:
Upon arrival and providing my booking number, we were brought to our table, which was disappointing, as it was in a darker part of the restaurant. It’s not romantic-dark, just dark. We wanted to look at what we would be eating, so we asked for a change, which was quickly accommodated. Then, Laine and I went for a hand-in-hand walk around the various stations to decide where we should start 1st.
A pleasant surprise was presented: our buffet comes with free flow of drinks, including wines (sparkling, white & red). Oooh, a glass of sparkling for the lady, and a glass of the unwooded Chardonnay for me please.
We started with cold seafood. Half a dozen oysters please. The station had staff shucking oysters, so we can be sure the oysters were not sitting there exposed to diners’ glares for longer than 5 min. (A guy in front of me decided to liberally splash Tabasco sauce all over the oysters! Why would you do that?!) We also had some Alaskan King Crab and mussels. The oysters were plump, and really creamy. 3 each and we were satisfied. We’ll have more later, we promised ourselves. The King Crab were beautifully sweet.
Second course for us were Sashimi. The station had staff freshly slicing from choice(s) of salmon, tuna, swordfish (I think) & octopus. This is much better than just leaving sliced raw fish sitting on ice. We had salmon & tuna, 5 slices each. Fish was fresh and melts in the mouth. The only sad thing being that the staff had no pride in what he did: the slices were grossly uneven, a ultra-thin one followed by an inch-thick slice. Retraining, please.
The salads station was next, where I enjoyed some mango & crab salad and Thai prawn salad. Very enjoyable. Laine also tried their wilted asparagus, which looked good. Then, on to the “western” station. There were Mexican, Italian and a small carving area with just a roll of sirloin. Disappointing selection: we were not about to fill ourselves with uninspiring pizzas nor pasta nor tacos that don’t look so inviting. We tried some Mexican dishes – 2 were too salty and the 3rd had too strong of a chili hit. The sirloin was roasted to a beautiful medium, and the slices we had were nice & tender. The gravy, on the other hand, was too runny and does not pack enough flavour.
Next up, Asian stations: Chinese, Indian & Singaporean. Dim-sums (only 4 usual-suspects) anyone? Nope. Fried rice? No thanks. Satay? Not quite interested. Tandoori & curries? Not for me. Chicken rice? Roast pork/duck rice? Laksa? Wanton noodles? Mee rebus? Ho-hum. I ended up with a small plate of roast duck & some Chinese braised duck. Laine tried some of the Indian curries and a black dhal, which was beautiful. By the end of this, we were already feeling so full, and we haven’t touched dessert yet!
Now, we did promise to go get more oysters, but our palate, having gone through the progression to rich foods is now craving for sweets, instead of having to be re-calibrated for a delicate morsel like oysters. So, on we charge to desserts.
The selection was good: plenty of cakes, shot-glasses of various other desserts, local ‘kuehs’, mooncakes (well, tis the season, why not?), a chocolate fountain, and a range of ice-cream. When we returned to our table with our modest selection, the Assistant Manager nearby asked if I wanted a refill of my glass of red wine, to which I cheekily asked if they have dessert wine. He said they don’t, but he will “see what he can do”. Halfway through my desserts, lo & behold, a glass of beautiful liqueur muscat came, compliments from Kumar the Asst Manager (cheers!). So, I went and found some cheese & crackers too. Even with valiant effort & a “good go”, we still couldn’t finish all the dessert & cheeses. The muscat was thoroughly enjoyed & finished though.
Our “old age” has caught up with us, and we just can’t eat as much as we used to now. How sad. By the time we paid and left, I was positively feeling overloaded. The damage was $155 (including taxes) for us, as I was able to get 25% off by booking online, and the free drinks meant I need not pay for a glass (or 4) of wine.
We did enjoy ourselves. The food was more hit than miss. We enjoyed the cold seafood, sashimi, salads, sirloin, and some of the desserts. Disappointing were limited ‘western food’ selection, the tiredness in the Asian food sections, and the other half of the desserts.
The “Verdict”:
Value: quite good, considering the oysters & free flow of drinks (wines)
Prospect of returning: probably not, we much prefer Melt.
For Laine and I, having a buffet is about enjoying a nice selection of good food, not about stuffing our faces with the most expensive items to “make it worthwhile”. So, in that respect, we would return to Melt, as we can clearly remember some of the items there that pleased us.
The Date:
In the middle of diner, I told Laine that a buffet is really not the best place to have a date. Whilst we tried to enjoy a relaxed pace of eating, we were spending time away from the table and from each other to have nice, long conversations. We couldn’t sit there idly eating our food and looking into each other’s eyes. But, we still enjoyed ourselves.
I wonder how we ever got to the topic, but at one stage, Laine had me trying to name ‘angmo‘ girls (whom we know) that I find quite attractive. I was only able to pick one. Laine agreed with my selection but we both thought her husband was more attractive (LoL!). Then, I had to name Asian girls we know… oh dear. Definitely an interesting topic for an anniversary date!
For the record, I sincerely find Laine to be one of the most attractive girls I know, based on outward appearance only (which was why I went after her in the 1st place… yes, men always start shallow! hehehee…)
And, I told her that.
Twice. :)
Happy 10 years, my dear wife!
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