Bar & Billard Room

This was highly recommended by a friend and so my boy and I decided to check it out.

Initially, S and I were all excited to get started. We decided to "discipline" ourselves and took a walk around to survey the food displayed first before tucking in. The spread was good and fairly impressive. Not the best I've seen but it had a good mix of grill, chinese, fresh seafood, italian pasta, appetizers, and desserts.

We started with the grill. The chef was located on the patio outside. There were some garden sets which looked really pretty out on the lower level. Nicely surrounded by lush greenery, the only setback was how the leaf-ed fence could not block out the city beyond. That aside, the place was cosy and exhibited a sense of insulation from the hustles and bustles. S and I went straight for the grilled prawns, beef, lamb and potato - of which we happily helped ourselves to the bacon and sour cream. NOT GOOD. The food were all pre-grilled so when we asked for them, the chef simply reheated the food resulting in them coming off hard. The prawn shells were also stuck to the meat, signifying a lack of freshness. The seasoning also wasn't great. Even something as simple as the potato was a disappointment as the potato was very hard.

We decided to try something more guaranteed and safe - the salmon sashimi. I took the cold mud crab too, thinking I couldn't go wrong with my favourite crabs. I was wrong. The crabs weren't fresh and they weren't sweet. In fact, it had a mushy feel to it and was difficult to crack. The salmon sashimi was the only saving grace. They were very fresh and the wasabi was fantastic. The salmon was well cut and very easy down the throat. Probably the best item there.

I decided to give the Poached Prawns a try as well. This was better than the grilled prawns in that it seemed fresher except that it was somewhat blend. I also gave the beef, chicken stew and beef lasagne a go but they were all average tasting.

Finally I decided to take a break and try something less likely to go wrong. I headed for the appetizers. Pharma Ham, Smoked Salmon, Mozerella Cheese with Tomatoes - my all time favourite; but I was disappointed yet again. Whislt the smoked salmon and pharma ham didn't stray very far, the mozerella actually tasted bad. The olive oil wasn't right, the mozerella cheese was hard, the entire dish was bordering a failure.

S checked out the oysters and thankfully they too were pretty fresh so he dug in to a couple happily. Our next ray of hope for the place was in their pasta. I ordered a fuscilli to be done with the cream sauce and told the chef to blend in all the ingredients with more emphasis on garlic. It came out pretty decent. It was actually quite yummy. What a relief.

Desserts. I am not one for desserts so I went for the boring stuff like strawberry fondue. The strawberries were alright, nothing to complain about; but the chocolate sauce wasn't thick enough. Kinda seemed diluted. Haiz.

This is supposed to be a relatively high-end buffet at the Raffles Hotel but the standard was seriously lacking. I must say I was sorely disappointed. For the price I was paying, this shouldn't be the quality served to me. I think the Raffles Hotel should have a taste of their buffet spread and revisit their entire buffet spread.

A little thing which kinda turned me off as well was the inhibition of just 2 cups of tea/coffee per diner. It's tea and coffee for crying out loud, and we are paying $80 per head just to eat here. That's something I honestly can't figure out.

Sorry folks, but the buffet at the Bar & Billiard Room is a NO-GO for me.

Stick to the brunch! I came back here for the dinner buffet and wasn't very impressed. The fare just didn't seem as exciting, maybe due to the lack of free flow champagne? Oh and there wasn't any foie gras, much to my disappointment.

Desserts, which are more important to me than mains (damn that sweet tooth of mine), were pretty bad compared to what I had at the brunch. For some reason, the "creme brulee" was pumpkin paste, the famous bread pudding not quite right and the pannacotta was too milky. Only the chocolate pralines were delectable enough.  

Came here for Sunday brunch to celebrate my uncle's birthday and we had an amazing time! Love the colonial charm of Raffles Hotel's Bar & Billard Room, was surprisingly cool inside despite it being a bright, sunny day. It's free flow of champagne (Bollinger), which was why we chose to come here instead of the Greenhouse at the Ritz (they serve Moet).

To one corner of the restaurant, there's a separate room with the cold cuts & salads, bread and cheese and dessert bar. In the middle, there's an egg station, and the patio on the opposite side houses the mains (to keep the heat out, I'd imagine). Decent variety offered. Highlights for me were the pate and duck rillette, the pan-fried foie gras with apple sauce and the green tea cheese cake.  

The atmosphere here is perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon, and there's a live band too; they played Happy Birthday when they brought my uncle's cake out. Confetti was thrown in the air by the staff (I kid you not) but at that stage the champagne masked any cheesiness. We had a really great, fun time. The only thing that didn't impress me was the service, which wasn't up to standard and a little on the slow side.