[SG Buffet] Open House Restaurant at Grand Park Orchard Hotel

Options for weekday high-tea seems to be quite limited and we can easily understand why.  Simply because the weekend crowd is generally better.  Recently, a group of friends decided to meet up over high tea and we went to Open House Restaurant at Grand Park Orchard (former Crown Prince Hotel).

The selection are mostly local delights with some Asian selection.  The food spread is quite good with a few stations where the dishes are freshly cooked and served at your table.

The choice of dim sum included siew mai, har gow, char siew bao and black bean pork ribs.  The kar gow skin was a little too thick while the siew mai was alright.



The local cuisine section has usual snacks and dishes that we Singaporeans eat at any time of the day.  That includes roti prata (Indian pancake), fried carrot cake (oriental pan-fried steamed rice cake in black soy sauce), nasi lemak (Malay coconut rice with otah, salted fried peanut and fried anchovy), chwee kueh (oriental steamed rice cup-sized cake topped with preserved radish), fried chicken wings, curry puffs, samosa and peanut pancake.

There is another section where ala carte dishes can be ordered namely claypot rice (oriental style steamed rice cooked with black soy sauce and Chinese sausage in a claypot), fishhead curry (Indian style way of cooking head of fish with brinjals and spicy coconut milk)  and sayur lodeh (Indonesian style vegetable curry that is usually not spicy or mild spicy).  Teochew Porridge is also available at the buffet line with braised peanuts and preserved cai xin.  Nothing elaborate and fanciful but the key condiments are there.

The cakes and pastries section was a little disappointing.  They look quite ordinary and the taste was average.  The durian pengat tasted a little sourish.

The black horse, which truly surprised me was this Sichuan Noodles.  It was very very good, for someone who enjoys eating food that has vinegar.  Spiciness and sourness was just at the right level.  The noodles, though it was a little thick, blended well with the hot and sour soup.  

On the whole, it was a good place for weekday high-tea.  Affordable price with a rather good spread of food.  There may also be seasonal credit card promotions.  The café staff will be able to advise.

Open House Restaurant

Grand Park Orchard Hotel

270 Orchard Road Singapore 238857

Tel: 6603 8855

Website: http://www.parkhotelgroup.com/orchard/dining/open-house/

Nearest MRT: Orchard Station

Getting there: Walk along the basement of Wisma Atria which connects to Ngee Ann City.  Exit Ngee Ann City, cross over to Paragon and then to Grand Park Orchard.

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YY Kafei Dian 喜园咖啡店

Not all coffeeshops open at 5am.  That's what I realised.  It was quite an experience for someone who hardly wakes up early just to catch breakfast.  For this breakfast trips, there were 3 surprising moments. 

Firstly, I was astonished to find that the shuttle at the coffeeshop, located at the junction of Purvis Street and Beach Road, was still closed when it was already approaching 8am.  The coffeeshop officially starts business at 8am.  Not surprising, I was the first customer for that day.  A little annoyed though since I had to leave by 8.30am and therefore, breakfast had to be rushed through.

The coffeeshop is located amongst the rows of old shop-houses.  It is quite tranquil to sit down and have a slow breakfast at these old-school coffeeshops, if you are not rushing for time.  YY serves economic fried bee hoon as well as toast bread in the morning.

The second surprise I had was - the coffeeshop went from empty at 8am to almost full-house within 10mins!  All of the sudden, the place became lively!

I chose to have the toast bread, soft-boiled egg and teh si.  $3.30 for the set.  Quite reasonably priced for a meal that is within the CBD.

The soft-boiled egg was the most satisfying of the 3 items.  The egg yolk was firm while the egg white was watery.  I think only those who are skilled can make such al-dente soft-boiled eggs.  As for the bread, I had asked for butter only but they had given me butter with kaya.  But nevermind, when life gives you lemon, you make into lemonade. 

And I thought that the dark kaya that they use is their signature ingredient.  The third surprise was that it tasted less than ordinary standard leh... sign.  And for the teh-si, it was also so-so and a little "siap".  I really wonder how the siap-ness came about since I am the first customer and the tea should have been freshly brewed?  Perhaps I should just stick with Teh and not Teh-si the next time round, if there is a next time.  Nonetheless, it was good to be an early bird once in a while to experience the Singapore breakfast culture =D

YY Kafei Dian
37 Beach Road #01-01 Singapore 189678

Getting there: Take MRT to Bugis Station.  Use the exit that heads towards Bugis Junction Shopping Mall.  Go to level 1, and head towards Inter-Continental Hotel.  At the cross-junction, walk along North Bridge Road and pass by the National Library.  Keep walking.  At the traffic light in front of Bras Basah Complex, cross over to the opposite side.  Walk along Purvis Street until the end.



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Ya Kun (Kaya Butter Cracker)

Life can be just as simple as kaya and butter with toasted crackers.  The crunchy crackers tasted extremely good with the thick slab of melting butter in between.  That's the type of simple pleasures that our parents and grandparents had experienced when life was so much simpler and unsophisticated.  Highly recommend that you try this during breakfast or afternoon, if you haven done so at Ya Kun.  $1.60 for this set of crackers.

Nam Heng Restaurant

The coffeeshop, located at the junction of Upper Serangoon Road and Simon Road has moved to a new location - 965 Upper Serangoon Road, according to ieatishootipost forum. 

The coffeeshop is popular for its grilled chicken wings, satay, carrot cake, oyster omelette, ngoh hiang etc all under 1 roof.

(source: ieatishootipost)

What's left at the old site is only these....pathetic....

Anyway, I hope to check out the new location soon....

Traditional Butter-Cream Cake

This is MY type of cake...traditional butter cream in the centre layer, on top with some cheena design. The level of deliciousness truly depends on how the cream is made. The cakes usually come in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, coffee or pandan flavour. Most of the time, the top and bottom are of different flavour. The cream is made of salted butter with sugar and egg, i supposed.

You can find these in those old-school confectionery / cake shops or at Swee Heng. SH outlets are usually co-located at MRT stations.

4 slices for $2.50... used to be juzt $2.20 though.