PuTien @ City Square Mall

Located at Level 2 of City Square Mall, near the OCBC bank. It's been a while since I ate any buffets, so was quite anxious about it since I had beehoon for breakfast. But hey, since my friends want to try it, and I get to take pictures, why not! Win-win for all!

Pu Tien has ala-carte buffet at City Square Mall and on weekends it's from 1130am till 230pm (last order). For most of the dishes, the serving size was quite manageable. Our table had 4 ladies and 1 guy, and we managed to try quite a number of the dishes. Our neighbouring tables consist of a larger group and hence, I believed they really did manage to order everything in the menu!




Although it's ala-carte buffet, there are other spread available on the 'buffet' table. Appetisers, fruits and desserts. Drinks are free flow, and patrons can help themselve to the coffee/soft drink dispenser. Teabags and hot water are also available.

Some of the appetisers:


nice to look at but quite tough to bite...


peanuts


shrimp/crabstick mayo




cold pork trotter slice


fried yam, sweet potato ball, and fish


For mains, we started off with soups:


double-boiled duck soup (limited to 1 per pax)


bamboo herbal prawn


I must say that the duck soup was very tasty! It doesn't have the gamey smell of duck, and the meat was tender. It has one slice of 'pao shen' and some kind of mushroom. The prawn soup was pleasantly lighter in taste with a hint of herb, but has fresh firm prawn that is sweet to taste. Hence, if you intend to have these 2 soups, do start with the prawn soup first and then duck soup last.

The restaurant makes its own chili sauce (which is also available for patrons to buy in the restaurant) that added some excitement to the meat.


Putien chili sauce


another soupy dish!


scallops with garlic vermicelli


Next up, we had loads of fried stuff (tsk tsk!):


seafood roll


minced meat with prawn ball (I forgot what's the name for this dish)


inside of the ball


golden flower/chrysanthemum fish


Verdict, the fried stuffs were pretty run-of-the-mill in terms of taste.

Next up, our main course... Meat!


steamed fish


fried chicken wings


deep fried trotters with 4 homemade dips


close-up


whole chicken leg


tofu


beancurd skin with vegetables


fried yam balls coated with sugar


fried hing hwa bee hoon


I liked the deep fried trotters as the meat is tender and not too oily (minus skin). The chicken leg was also very very tender and quite likeable, especially if dip in Putien homemade chili sauce. The tofu dish was nice as well. Every dish felt somewhat 'healthy' as it was not overly salty and nor too oily. Except for the steamed fish sauce which came across as abit too salty.


For desserts, we tried these:


cakes and kuehs


jelly


fruits


coffee and gui ling gao


We paid $37 per pax. Service was good and the wait staff were friendly. Plates were changed once during our meal. Felt that the ala-carte buffet was good for people who wants to try most of Putien's food in one seating. It's too bad, our tummies couldn't take it anymore, otherwise, I'd like to try the 'gu lao rou' with lychee and the stir fried venison.