After checking out from One Farrer Hotel and spending a whole day at Universal Studios Singapore with my husband, as well as my best friend and her husband, we routed back to One Farrer Hotel to have dinner at this restaurant! Having heard good reviews of this place, it was only a matter of time before we visited. Prices for their buffet dinner seem fairly reasonable, even more so with their promotional discount on the fourth diner.
I planned a little too much buffer time for our journey back here from Universal Studios Singapore, so we ended up arriving way before our actual reservation time. The staff were really nice to prepare a table for us despite the restaurant operating at almost maximum capacity (thank you!).
- Our order:
- Jia He dinner buffet for 4
- Spent: SGD$181
As indicated on the menu, some items can only be served once per table or once per person, whereas the rest of them are free-flow. The food was amazing! I found every dish superbly delectable and well-executed. If I had to pick my favourites, I’d probably go for the traditional roasted duck and the poached sea clams as I enjoyed those the most (:
We had a good time chatting and bonding over good food, plus the ambience of the restaurant was pretty relaxing and generally quiet. There weren’t many seats though due to the space constraints, and I could feel a gush of wind each time a wait staff hurried past our table. Nevertheless, I thought our group size was small enough for us to feel comfortable and at ease in this environment.
The only hiccup that evening occurred with our dessert order. We initially ordered a few different ones to try but were regretfully informed that some were sold out already. A little bummed, we changed our order to two servings of mango sago and two baskets of steamed custard buns. However, we only received one basket instead of two.
Giving the benefit of the doubt, we thought that maybe they were still in the midst of preparing the other basket, but after waiting for a long enough period, we finally enquired about the missing basket. Turns out they ran out of custard buns as well and that was their last basket. I felt that they could’ve at least informed us about it instead of keeping mum, were they hoping we wouldn’t notice?
My overall rating of the experience: 4 out of 5 stars. The food was definitely the highlight of this experience as just about everything we ordered tasted delicious with the right textures and balance of flavours. It was a joy to have good food and candid conversations with loved ones in a pleasant environment such as this. In addition, given the prices after the discount, I felt it was really value for money (: Unfortunately, there was a bit of a lapse in terms of service due to the unclear communication about our dessert order. It would’ve been helpful if they’d informed us what was available and what was not so that expectations could be better managed. With that said, we now know to either come for the first seating instead or just place orders for our dessert earlier before they run out. The food and value is ultimately still worth coming back for!
Dania Experiences 