Kiseki - A Japanese Buffet Restaurant

My birthday celebration this year was so closely tied to food. Just the birthday weekend alone, We went for American brunch, steamboat and lastly, BUFFET!

We went Kiseki 2 years back but during that time, the restaurant was located at Heeren. Food selection was so-so and we didn't really rate it high at that time. 2 years later, we came across Kiseki again, but this time located at Orchard Central instead. We decided to give it a try once again.

Frankly, I prefer Kiseki to be located at Orchard Central than at Heeren. Situated at 8th floor, the full-length windows of the mall allow full sunlight into the restaurant, giving it a bright and cozy ambience. The moment we were brought to our seats, I immediately explored the food selection.

I was pretty glad that they improved over the years as there are more choices of food than before. First few which I came across,were Deep Fried Food section, where all the tempuras were.

Next, I made a turn and there were the Cooked Food section. Here's where the hotpot, chawanmushi, udon, noodles and rice would be. This is also the section that could fill up your stomach really fast, thus, I only took some of them so I could still have room for others!

Next up was the Seafood section. I know many seafood lovers might roar at me but being one who isn't exactly a seafood lover, I kinda skipped this section...but they looks good!

Last but not the least, I finally stepped into my favourite section, Sashimi! Regardless what they have, salmon sashimi is one selection they can't possibly be missing from a Japanese Buffet! I believe I ate at least close to 30 (or more) slices of salmon sashimi, hehe!

Though I did not plan to eat a lot of desserts during the buffet since I'm accustomed to my low calorie diet (5 months and on-going!), some desserts look really delicious to refrain from eating. :P

These dessert mixers look really intriguing so I couldn't help myself but to take some of them back to my table. Naturally, I didn't eat all of them but shared with my family, especially my little girl!

Well, Kiseki is quite a pleasant place for dining overall. Food selection has greatly increased over the years compared to the time when it was still located at Heeren. The restaurant is also very spacious, giving customers a comfortable space to dine. Price is reasonable too for lunch which is priced at $24++. I wouldn't mind patronising Kiseki again, when my craving for salmon sashimi kicks in.

Kiseki's Address:
Orchard Central, #08-01/02/03
181 Orchard Road
Tel: (65) 6736 1216

Rating: 3.2/5

Chiso Zanmai @ The Central ~ A Japanese Buffet

Back in June, I was browsing through all the various food sites looking for an affordable buffet restaurant as requested by my dearest for his birthday treat (he rejected my suggestion for Melt the World Cafe!) and stumbled onto this restaurant - Chiso Zanmai.

Maybe I had not been going downtown for so long, I honestly didn't know there was this restaurant situated within The Central. Based on what I've read from its website, it stated that it is the cheapest Japanese buffet from Osaka. After showing photos from the site to him, we made up our mind to go there for his birthday treat (finally!).

Chiso Zanmai is located on the 2nd floor of The Central, and customers are required to take an escalator to the actual main entrance. As we drove there and got to the restaurant from the other end, we went in through their 2nd floor rear entrance instead, hahaha...

Chiso Zanmai has a really nice decor - simple, minimalist and spacious. The buffet spread is being displayed in a linear way so anyone can hardly miss any single selection.

The very first and favourite dish I love from Chiso Zanmai is their hotpot soup! It is so tasty, and full of seafood within!

Usually, people might have patronised cold cuts first followed by the main dishes but somehow, I always like to do it the other way round. Other finishing most of the main dishes lined up on the opposite of cold cuts, I made my way to scan them through briefly before I started digging.

Frankly, I am not exactly a lover of cold cuts so I only took a few which I believed I could take and they tasted really good! On the bottom right of the photo above, it was a cold dish comprised of broccoli, mushroom and cooked salmon. Though the salmon was cooked, it was served fresh and cold. Odd perhaps, but yet delicious enough.

Last but not the least, dessert section could never be a section to miss, not matter which buffet restaurant you go! Their buffet section has all the usual desserts and pastries, but what made me pay more attention had to be the black tart placed alongside the rest.

From what I read on their food tag, this is called 'Seaweed tart'. With its look so black but yet captivating, I felt like eating it too. But poor me, I couldn't have a piece of it at all since it's made of seaweed. *shrucks*

Given its price and food selection, I'll say that Chiso Zanmai is a very affordable buffet restaurant for those who feel that going for buffet means spending a bomb. What disappointed us was the lack of sashimi (they don't serve sashimi at all) and cooked food was a bit less than warm. Overall, Zanmai gave me an affordable price for a buffet lunch, a cozy dining experience and a decent food spread.

With $19.90++ per pax (not inclusive of drinks) on a weekend afternoon, what more can you ask?