I had never heard of "The Line" before today. But I had always known that Shangri-la had one the best buffets in town. Today was supposed to be a ladies' day out- a time for high tea with my sister and my mum, and we were supposed to go shopping at Takashimaya.
But in the midst of finding "the best buffet", I discovered this restaurant called "The Line" had Shangri-la, which everyone was raving about. A supposed innocent Ladies' affair soon turned into a raucous family brunch for 6! We had wanted a high-tea session, but the Line only had this buffet lunch that started from 12 till 2:30pm. My mum was quite apprehensive initially because she didn't like chinese food that much as it was always oily. But the huge variety that was presented awed us so much we knew we had made the right choice!
I don't think that pictures or words can convey how large the buffet is or how grand the entire restaurant was to us. Ok, so it wasn't really some majestic place, but the variety! It was definitely mind-boggling! Because we had reserved the places late, we were only able to turn up at 1:15pm as the place was jam-packed! Seriously, Shangri-la is in such a far-in location, and it was a weekday. Yet the place was packed with office people, who were there for a lunch break. I mean, the buffet came up to $50 per person ($33.33 USD), if I can eat there everyday, I must be some rich office girl!
The many waiters around to attend to your every need
This probably explained why service was always very prompt, fast and efficient despite the huge crowd. Though we had to remind the waiter to top up our glasses every now and then, our plates were constantly changed.
The white and orange colours of the restaurant
Very chic design. I like the restaurant because it is surrounded by lush green foilage and this makes the lunching experience all the more enjoyable when you are seated next to the window which presents you with your little oasis. Running water, green pretty flowers and great food! I would definitely go back for the food! Though the place isn't exactly where you should propose, because the rumbling madness of the crowd would drown out all sounds of your marriage proposal!
It was a good thing we were seated away from the hustle of the office crowd.
More privacy and space. The only thing was that after a while, the sun got in our eyes.
The sumptous spread
When we saw the variety, we just went mad. Like an uncouth, famished vagrant, I dashed to the buffet spread to fill my stomach's worth.
The huge varieties
It was just mind-boggling because every corner you turned, there was another spread waiting you.
Indian food like curry and tandori, chinese food like dim sum and stir-fried items, japanese food like sushi and sashimi, cold appeitisers, fresh seafood (the freshest prawns, oysters, crabs and scallops!), desserts (crazy load of desserts awaiting me including a one metre high fondue fountain!) and western food such as baked chicken, lasagne, pasta, pizza...
Indeed the varieties were just mind-boggling because we were just raring to try everything all at once! A pity I didn't try the lobster-like thing. I'm not too sure if it was a lobster or a crayfish because I was focusing more on the scallops, oysters and prawns!
And another section...
The whole place is so big, it's all connected by the linear designs about the restaurant.
The joyous office crowds
I mean, I can understand their joy. I ate till I was so happy!
The dessert section.
I went wild here. There were mousse desserts, cakes, pastries, (even macaroons!), and kuehs! Unfortuantely, I didn't get to try every item! :(
A close-up of all the glorious desserts present
Behind the dessert display, there is an ice-cream booth!
It comes with a whole load of variety of sweets! Just to decorate your ice cream concoction! Talk about pampering me! I think kids would absolutely adore this place. It was my dream come true!
The sweets that you could top your dessert with- includes mashmallows!
Ice cream flavours: Mango, cookies and cream, chocolate, coconut, strawberry and vanilla.
They even had a section for crepes!
Seriously, my life couldn't get any better! A chef to personally fry a crepe for me! Just how I like it! You can choose the different fillings to go inside your crepe. And there were lots of toppings as well!
My sister L and my brother Ti waiting for their crepes.
We were all so excited!
And finally we come to the review of the food! I don't edit my photos ever, so the food presented here are all in their glorious, original form! Soooo good!
Dim Sum and a sausage
The first thing we headed for was the dim sum section. I don't know why I put the sausage on the same plate, but everything was sooooo good! Of course the trick is that you shouldn't finish everything (though you would want to) just so you can save space in your stomach for many good things later! The dim sum was so delicately done. The siew mai, har gau was all fresh. While I wished the har gau skin was thinner, it was good enough (definitely better than many dim sum buffets' standard) for me. The sausage was yummy for me too, though my mother wishes it wasn't that salty.
The seafood I went to grab!
It was just so good! From left: This raw octopus in mango sauce concoction (yummy!), crab, prawns, oysters, and scallops. Have you ever seen such a big scallop before? It was soooooo fresh!! SOOOOO good and SOOOOO big! The oysters? I ate 10 of them at least. So fresh! Marche charges $4 for one oyster, so to have so many top-quality oysters laid out before me was pure heaven! I am sure i recuperated my cost of the buffet! The prawns were also very good! Abosolute seafood heaven!
The one thing I hate most about buffets is that they always have small quantities of seafood and even then, the quality of the seafood is of sub-standard. But at the Shangri-la, everything was of top-notch standard! It was just abosolutely a fantastic time!
If there is one place you have to go before dying, I would say that it's The line at Shangri-la!
Oh by the way, I don't know how the satay sauce got onto my plate of seafood, haha, but yeap, there's satays available- Chicken, beef, lamb etc. And roti prata too!
The sashimi
I think of late, God has been very good to me. I have been lamenting since my return from Canada, how much I miss the fresh salmon there. The sashimi is always so thick and cheap and good in Vancouver and it has been such a tedious task trying to find any possible substitutes. But recently I found the Fish Mart at Parkway Parade, and now I've finally found a buffet after my own heart! A place where the freshest, highest quality of ingredients are used and where there is bountless supply of your favourite foods!
Did I mention that there is a counter where the chefs slice up the sashimis for you on the spot? So this keeps the salmon fresh! It's not just displayed on the seafood rack! Ooooo la la!!
You can request for as much sashimi as you like. The above picture is the consolidation of 4 portions! I was in pure heaven yesterday! And yes, it is a worthy contender for Sushi Garden's title for "Best sashimi". I think this definitely beats going to some up-scale japanese restaurant and paying $80 for a few pieces of sashimi. My only gripe was that I wished it was colder. I love the cold, fresh meat of sashimi!!
The prawns, oysters and scallop
I kept grabbing seconds of them! The oyster will burst in your mouth with freshness! I like to eat it topped with splashes of lemon and a drop of tabasco sauce! So shiok! Did you see how big and fat the scallop is?
A close-up of the oyster
In all its galore of untainted freshness!!! I want to go back now!
The glorious crispiness and fats of the roasted pork!
I think alot of people are not aware that there is a counter serving roast pork, chicken and char siew.
You have to ask the chef to slice it up for you. While the roasted pork can't hold a candle to Lei Garden's famed roasted pork, it was still very very very good! The crispy skin, the sweet juicy tender fats just melt in your mouth! I will definitely go back for more of this!
The char siew and roast pork.
The good thing about the Line is that their portions are always so generous!
Dessert galore!
After lots of "seconds", I rushed to the dessert section. I was racing against time at 2:15pm, as the buffet ended at 2:30 (but you could sit there for as long as you wished) and I had to grab all the desserts, plonk them on my table, before sitting down to eat all of them.
I totally went crazy here.
From left: Tiramisu, green tea macaroons, chocolate cupcake, alcoholic jelly (I made this name up myself because for some of the items I have no idea what they are), mango pudding (that had such a smooth delicate tofu texture), kuehs (including thousand-layer kueh), passionfruit cake, blueberry crumble, and yet another kueh (the pink coconut kueh). And to think that I didn't manage to eat all the desserts! I was totally bloated by the end of all this desserts!
A closeup of the Tiramisu, green-tea macaroon, and chocolate cupcake
The tiramisu was just pure heaven. I think I'm running out of adjectives here, but try it to believe it! The bitter-sweet cocoa powder drizzled atop glorious layers of mascaporne cream cheese amidst generous alcohol-soaked sponge layers. Just one scoop of Tiramisu, and you can taste the alcohol-drenched sponge layers.
The Alcoholic jelly with rasberries
My brother's favourite! He liked how the jelly was alcoholic (really deceiving) and yet went really well with the sweet texture of the raspberries. I've never eaten such a unique dessert like this before!
The Mango tofu dessert
Actually I myself am not too sure what this is because I ate so much desserts till my tongue was numb! But I'm pretty sure that it tasted of mango! It was really smooth and not-too-sweet. I like it alot too!
My brother TO's ice cream concotion.
He drizzled them with jelly-sweets and mashmallows. He chose the mango and cookie-and-cream ice cream falvours here. What can I say? The ice cream used here is of premium quality and totally rocks!
My ice cream concoction of strawverry, mango and vanilla flavours
I love the Vanilla flavour! It was absolutely of premium grade. You can even see the vanilla beans present! Absolutely delectable and gratifying!! I love how the mango ice cream is a delight of sour-sweetness and how the strawberry has remnants of the fruit in its body. Unlike other artificially sweet strawberry ice creams, this one totally won hands-down because of its unique and fresh flavour.
My brother TO's crepes
It was just amazing eating the crepes. You can add fruits to the crepes available at the dessert section.
Verdict: Needless to say, after my lavish gushing and incoherent rants, this has to be the best buffet I have ever eaten! Like I said before, before you die, everyone has to eat at this place at least once! If you are feeling rich, or if you just want great fresh food, or want to give your love one a treat (who's as greedy as me :) ), just turn up at the Line! Priced at $43+++, our bill came up to $300 for 6 people, which was about $50 each. It was a good thing my mum used her HSBC credit card because she had 15% discount for the total bill, thus our bill was reduced to a nice $250 figure. And that worked out to about $40 plus per person.
The Line also have a seafood buffet at $88+++. Haha I think I have to reserve that for when I finally start working (like about next year!)!!
Ambiance: I loved the ambiance as it had alot of vibe and energy. A great place to have lots of noisy messy chatter with your friends! The clean orange and white lines of the restaurant gave it a really chic look! But for more privacy you can ask to be seated away from the crowd. We sat next to the full-length windows which gave us a great view of the lush greenery outside. A topical oasis I must add. Be sure to note though that this is not your typical romantic restaurant. It's just a fun place for you to go and gobble down food with your group of close friends! 4/5
Service: The service was fast and efficient and the waiters were very polite. There were time though when we had to ask for our cups to be replenished. 3.5/5
Food: What more can I say? The food is so fresh, top-notch quality. The chefs are friendly and accomodating so they will cater to your personal preferences (be it when frying your noodles, or your crepes) and they are willing to slice you extra portions! Generous portions are constantly dished out and everything is just a delight to eat! Many suprises behold you in every corner! Be it the Xiao Long Bao that bursts out with flavour in your mouth, or the sashimi and seafood that surprises you with the freshness, there is surely everything for everyone of all ages and sizes! A must-try!! It's definitely my favourite buffet where quality and quantity is never compromised. 4.5/5
The Line at Shangri-La
Contact no. : (+65) 6213 4275
Address: Shangri-La Hotel Singapore
22 Orange Grove Road
Lower Lobby, Tower Wing
Opening Hours
Breakfast: 6 am - 10:30 am (Weekends and public Holidays to 11 am)
Lunch: 12 noon - 2:30 pm (Weekends and Public Holidays to 3 pm)
Dinner: 6:30 pm - 10:30 pm (Weekends and Public Holidays start at 6 pm)
Supper: 10:30 pm - 6 am
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