[Ala-Carte Buffet] Saturday Lunch @ Famous Treasure Capitol

It was a rather quiet Saturday noon, and Siew Li suggested for ala-carte buffet and everyone else agreed so it was a rather impromptu decision for the change in venue and without any reservations.

Staff said that the ala-carte buffet promo is popular and usually the place would be crowded especially weekends so I guess we were lucky that day!

ala-carte buffet menu

Take note that the snacks on the table and wet towels are chargeable. Staff would enquire on the drinks once you are seated. We opted for pu-erh (can choose from tie guan yin, chrysanthemum, jasmine or pu-eh). Chinese tea (served in a pot for the table) is chargeable at $3++ per pax.

boiled peanuts

cherry tomatoes with preserved plums

There is an order chit to input the dishes that the table wants for the ala-carte buffet, and each serving of the all-you-can-eat dishes is said to be good for 3-4 pax portions. 

There is also a one-time limited fish dish and as we were in a group of 8, we could order up to 2 whole fish for the table. We chose steamed tilapia and deep fried seabass.

roasted crispy pork belly (8 slices per serving)

crystal chicken (half)

The ordered dishes were served up pretty quickly. The thinly sliced pork belly had crispy crackling and enjoyable with the mustard dip. Would be nicer if it is slightly fattier. Crystal chicken was flavourful but rather smallish.

deep-fried seabass with superior soya sauce (1 time order)

Staff asked if we wanted to snap a photo of the fish first before he portioned it out for us. Oops, perhaps we been taking one photo too many. 

steamed tilapia with bean sauce

I liked the steamed tilapia more than the deep-fried seabass. Tilapia was perfectly steamed with its flesh remaining tender and moist.

stir-fried romaine lettuce with fermented shrimp paste in claypot

wok-fried squid with chinchalok and ladies finger

I liked that the dishes were generally tasty yet not too overpowering so one could still enjoy the dishes on its own.

While the rest of us has no intention to order any carbs, Sze Jia wanted some. We thought it would be easy to share since there are 8 of us and staff did say the portion is good for 3-4 pax.

Yang Chow fried rice

Whoa, I think the fried rice portion was indeed for 3-4 pax but perhaps as main dish? Hahaa! It was pretty good nonetheless especially with the good sized shrimps in there. 

spicy mapo beancurd with meat sauce, deepfried de-shelled prawns with salted egg yolk, live poached prawns

Though menu stated it as spicy mapo beancurd, it wasn't spicy at all. It was savoury sweet and good as a topping for the fried rice for a change-up in flavours.

The salted egg yolk prawns looked like chicken karaage so we got confused for a while. It was good and that prompted us to order the rest of the prawn dishes available in the ala-carte buffet menu. Keke.

live poached prawns

deepfried de-shelled prawns with wasabi sauce

The wasabi sauce was creamy and lovely with the good sized prawns. Texture was firm and sauce was only mildly reminiscent of wasabi.

wok sliced beef with black pepper sauce

Was a tad disappointed with the beef though, as it wasn't as tender as anticipated.

stir-fried sliced fish with bean sauce

crispy chicken chop with Thai sweet sauce

braised beancurd with Chinese mushrooms and vegetables

The crispy chicken chop was a nice surprise as the batter remained crispy even after letting it sit for a while in the sauce. Loved the wholesome flavours of the braised beancurd as well.

table full of good flavours

Overall, staff was efficient in their service. Food arrived pretty quickly and there were constant top-ups to our tea. 

Food was enjoyable and it was a great catch-up with university friends. 

We spent around $52 per pax.

 

Famous Treasure

Address: 13 Stamford Rd, #02-28 Capitol Singapore, Singapore 178905

Website: https://thefamoustreasure.com/

Business Hours:

Daily 11:30 AM–3 PM, 6–10:30 PM

Frieda Beer Garden & German Restaurant @ Capitol Singapore

Place was suggested by Jingwen, and it was picked as none of our group has tried this before. Plus, our colleague whom was leaving, do enjoy beer thus, Frieda seemed about right.

One thing about the clusters of restaurants at this place, is that it still felt pretty warm in here especially the 'outdoor' seats. Maybe it is just me? Hahaa!

Funny thing was that I had mistakenly stood at the La Scala entrance and the staff was looking bored (as though this probably happened often enough) and asked, are you visiting Frieda? Next door.

Happy Hour

Was too late for Happy Hour though, but nevertheless, still ordered our pints. Place seemed understaffed so, we had to wait for 15 more minutes after we had informed that we were ready to order.

for the thirsties

Mine was the Geisshugel Weiss. Refreshing with a bitter aftertaste. Colleagues ordered Signature Frieda Lager and Geisshugel IPA. Teetotalers went for the fermented drink; 1994 Bionade Lemon-Bergamot and San Pellegrino Limonata.

complimentary bread

The butter was already placed part of the table setting. Bread was nice but we also ordered their house baked pretzel to try.

Rinderragout Mit Wurzelgemuse (Beef Stew with root vegetables and Spatzle) @$29

KäseSpätzle Mit Lachs Creme Sauce Und Gouda Käse Uberbacken (Cheese Spatzle with Salmon) @$29

Coincidentally, two of my colleagues ordered dishes with Spatzle in them. Read more about spatzle here.

Is veal from cow or pork? As per my understanding as well as what is written in Wikipedia , veal is the meat of calves or young cows. We also asked the staff, and according to the staff, the veal sausage here is made of pork. Hmmm.

Anyway, to play safe as one of my colleague doesn't take beef, we ordered non-veal dishes. I suggested to her to get the Chicken Cordon Bleu and it was a good choice.

Cordon Bleu, Kartoffel-Gurkensalat Und Preiselbeeren (Chicken Cordon Bleu)  @$32

with cheese layer rolled within the chicken breast

Cranberry sauce that came with the dish was yummy as well. We used it as the dip for other things such as pretzel. Hahaa!

Hausgebackene Pretzel (freshly baked Pretzel) @$5

The pretzel was lovely with the coarse salt on it. Pair it with cranberry sauce or butter for extra oomph.

Gegrillte Wurst Platte, Hausgemachtes Sauerkraut, Kartoffelbrei, Bretzel Knodel, Dijon Senf @$49

The sharing platter (for 2 pax) consists of grilled sausages (4 types), a piece of ham, served with sauerkraut, mashed potato, pretzel dumplings and dijon mustard.

The mashed potato was a crowd favourite for it was buttery and flavourful on its own. The prerzel dumplings was unique as it tasted like bread but looked like a meatloaf. Hahaha! It was a mild flavourful bready savoury kind of taste, and no, it didn't taste like pretzel.

Pretzel Dumplings

The version of sauerkraut here tasted like the fillings of popiah (the cooked turnip fillings) with a slight tangy-ness, hence it was a rather familiar taste.

Enjoyed all of the sausages but can't remember which one was which but there was pork and chicken somewhere in there, and one that was spicy.

The above orders fed the five of us and everyone was stuffed.

Thank you to the staff who came by to top up our water. Payment at the counter.

Frieda Beer Garden & German Restaurant

Address: 13 Stamford Rd, Singapore 178905

Website: https://www.kempinski.com/en/the-capitol-singapore/restaurants-bars/frieda-beer-garden-german-restaurant

Contact: +65 6715 6873

Business Hours:

Sun-Wed: 11:30 am–10 pm

Thu-Sat: 11:30 am–12 am

Café Kitsuné @ Capitol

Yen chose the place for tea after our lunch at Suntec. This place is nearer to Wu Pao Chun side. Was there around 4pm and we waited for a table.

shopfront

Staff was nice to pass us the menu and to talk to us a bit about the menu. The available bakes are visibly displayed, so one could just go over to that counter to see what's available for the day.

drinks menu

After half an hour, we were presented with a choice on whether we would like to continue waiting for a slightly larger table or all 5 of us squeezed to the smaller table. We didn't mind the smaller table plus I got tired of waiting. Hahaa!

table decor

Iced Houjicha Latte @$8.50

It was a warm day, so I opted for Iced Houjicha Latte. Pretty mild but it's likeable. The hot drinks looked pretty good with the latte art.

Latte @$7.00

Sesame Latte @$7.50

Tried a sip of the sesame latte and it tasted just like the sesame paste dessert albeit not so thick. Lovely flavour if you like sesame.

We got  a couple of the dessert, so our table was pretty busy with all the small plates.

Strawberry Shortcake @$13

I liked the cake. Tasted as how a strawberry shortcake would be.

cross section view

Think Wendy chose the Yuzu Pistachio. Hmmm, it was tiny. It tasted sweet, slightly tart and tangy. 

Yuzu Pistachio Strawberry Tart @$13

inner view

Actually, Yen just wanted the shortbread. Because of its shape. Cute fox shape. We got 2 out of 4 flavours. Had the plain and the choco ones.

Kitsune Shortbread @$4 (one piece)

photogenic

Also tried the Paris-Brest. Paris-Brest by far, is a good choice. Well, my sampling size was rather small. In reality, am only eating this like once in every few years? Ginett version was giant-sized in comparison.

Paris-Brest @$12

The cream was delicious, although one of friend would disagree. But this dessert is my kind of thing. And the shortcake.

Overall, the place seemed popular. There was a small line outside when we were there.

Café Kitsuné Singapore

Address: 13 Stamford Rd, #01-11, Singapore 178905

Website: https://www.instagram.com/cafekitsune

Business Hours: 

Daily 10 am–10 pm

Ka-EN Grill and Sushi Bar @ Capitol Singapore

Was there for a late lunch with Shermaine and Kris, and our birthday treat for Kris.

store front

Kris chose the Premium Buta Kashira Don, while Shermaine decided on inaniwa udon.

Premium Buta Kashira Don @$22

Wagyu Suji Inaniwa Udon @$15

my choice

Premium Buta Don @$19

The accompanying salad and miso soup were good. Lots of dressing for the salad and there's clams in the miso soup!

salad

miso soup

mixed in the runny yolk

The Premium Buta Don uses chestnut pork loin and its texture was nicely tender. Overall, the dish was leaning towards the sweeter side. Hence, requested for the shichimi to balance the taste up a little.

We also shared a side dish of deep fried squid. It came rather late and we had actually forgotten about it. Nevertheless, the dish may looked oily (it was) but the taste was rather good. Crisp on the outside and superbly tender and flavourful on its inside.

Ikageso Karaage @$10

We had a lovely service crew attending to us that day, and she was cheerful and helpful. Attended to our queries and requests, and has adequate knowledge of the menu plus comes by often to check on us. Thank you.

Ka-EN Grill and Sushi Bar

Address: 15 Stamford Rd, #01-82 Arcade @ The Capitol Kempinski, Singapore 178906

Website: https://restaurant.momos.io/ka-en-grill-sushi-bar-dd9a8

Contact: 6284 3788

Business Hours:

Mon-Thu: 11am–4pm, 5–10pm

Fri:  11am–4pm, 5pm–12am

Sat: 11am–12am

Sun: 11am–10pm