Lemon Garden Cafe @ Shangri-la Hotel

Whenever there's a celebration in the family, the meal of choice is (sometimes) a buffet at a hotel as it provides a great ambience to eat and chit-chat in comfort.  It's a place where one can linger for long periods of time without feeling 'guilty' or perceived to be 'hoarding' the seats.

The buffet of choice this time was the Lemon Garden Cafe @ Shangri-la Hotel and it also happened to be our Merdeka Day holiday.  I wasn't the one who made the booking (nor the one who paid ^_*) but I was told it's a High Tea Buffet @ RM120 nett from 12pm - 3pm.

It was a public holiday and the place was running full, so taking photos of the place and food wasn't an easy task but I did manage a few.  The place was fully taken up until extra round tables (that fit 10) were set towards the back of the coffee house (and that was where we were).

If you're lucky enough to score some side tables, you'd be having your meal overlooking a beautiful surrounding of a garden pool with lush greenery and lovely orchids.

This was my fourth time here....and the reason was because this place was my ex-company's venue of choice for their Chinese New Year luncheon...every year!  But that was 5 years ago and I've never been back until now.

I guess people go for buffets because of the wide selection of food but if you're not a big-eater, just looking at the mind-boggling choices is already enough to make you full! :D  In the end, we'd probably just scraped the surface of like 10% of what was offered.

As with any hotel buffet there'll be hits and misses, there won't be a dish that'll make you go 'wow', that's really good, but there also won't be a dish that'll make you go 'oh no', that's horrible, most are what we'd call middle-of-the-road acceptable dishes (so minimal description should suffice...hehe!).

Let's start with one of my favourite sections in any buffet...the Seafood on Ice Section! ^o^

Raw Oysters...shucked and ready, fresh and juicy

Poached Prawns...firm and fresh

Cooked Mussels & Scallops 

Sliced clams, octopus, butterfish, tuna & salmon

My Plate #1 - the fresh seafood of oysters and poached prawns were the best things on this plate for me.

I had to borrow a space for the yabbies that made an appearance later when I got my mother-in-law her plate of fresh seafood ;)


Lots of sushi....I didn't have any.


The Chinese Food Section featured some wok-fried prawns, roast duck, stir-fry broccoli, fried rice, belacan brinjal & ladies finger and lots more.  I also saw lots of fried & steamed dim sum items and sweet corn soup.


 My Plate #2 - I only had a piece of steamed fish from the Chinese section >.<


The Malay Food Section had so many curry dishes, it was insane.  I just took one photo of the Ayam Masak Lemak (chicken cooked with coconut & turmeric) as representation of the entire section....uh-uh, don't have stomach space for the abundant Malay food.


My Shared Plate #3 - I had one stick of chicken satay from this section! >_<


The Indian Food Section is represented by this sole pic of Tandoori Chicken...there were lots more I couldn't remember or wasn't interested....none for me from this Indian section as well.


At the Western Food Section, I noticed the Braised Beef Brisket with grilled peppers and what looked like some kind of peppercorn sauce initially but I think they were juniper berries.


Also the Paper-Wrapped Baked Red Grouper with grilled tomatoes & peppers and a lovely fruit salsa accompaniment (which I enjoyed very much).


My Plate #4 - braised beef brisket, baked red grouper, some cold cuts, baked potatoes & grilled tomato.


My Shared Bowl #5 of mushroom soup


The Cold Cuts Section


The Salad Bar


And even more salad.....+ rojak


From the Noodle Section, my Bowl #6 of Soup Noodles (don't know why I ate this simple noodle, I must have been delirious after looking at too much food, but, heh, at least the dried shrimp sambal accompaniment was really good).

I also saw a Pizza & Bread Section.  Tasked with helping my mother-in-law get her food, taking photos (I gave up after a while) and feeding myself, I'm sure I missed out some sections! ^_^


Finally, the Dessert Section with creme brulee, cupcakes, ice cream, sorbets, ice kacang, macarons, chocolate fountain, fresh-cut fruits and the list goes on.


....and lots of cakes...


.....and panna cotta.


My Shared Plate #7 - Mango Panna Cotta, Chocolate Cake, Mini Lemon Tart, Fresh Strawberry, Durian Cake and a very apt (Merdeka Day) Chocolate Cupcake with our national flag.


Some Ice Cream & Sorbet (that didn't belong to me)


My Plate #8 - just fresh fruits....cheap stuff but the only thing I could stomach seconds....haha! :D


My Shared Plate #9 - more fresh fruits...and no, the grapes weren't part of the fresh fruits, I 'stole' it from the chocolate fountain! O_o

I'd say the only thing missing from this buffet was a selection of chilled juices...there was none :(  There wasn't a self-service Coffee & Tea Section either...you had to order your coffee or tea from the servers.


My Mug #10 - Coffee (not a cup but a mug).....and I had two! ^.^

My Personal Opinion

The enormous and wide array of food here will make many happy!  Hey, if you can down a dozen oysters and some of those seafood on ice, you'd probably get your money's worth back already....hehe...but I can't, of course!

So, in the end, did I eat my RM120 worth?  Probably not.  Even if I did (looking at the fact that I had 10 rounds), it sure didn't feel like it! ;D  I'd rather just have a small but expensive plate of food....like a piece of good wagyu!!  But that's besides the point.  You get to eat your food...slowly while enjoying a nice ambience, mingle, chat and linger for a good three hours or as long as you want...and that should be worth something, right? ^_*

Lemon Garden Cafe
Shangri-la Hotel

11 Jalan Sultan Ismail

50250 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2032 2388

#ewew cooks Roasted Capsicums.....and More!

After seeing phonghongbakes making roasted eggplant and peppers (the photo of which sent me drooling), I knew instantly I'd be making them.....and soon! ^_*

I love to eat roasted anything.....chicken, potatoes, meats, tomatoes, even lemons...and now Roasted Capsicums.  Roasting is also the best way (with the least amount of washing) if we don't want to have to clean up after a messy kitchen caused by splattering oil.

So, I got myself one each of green, red, yellow and (yes) purple capsicum which I saw at Aeon supermarket the other day.  I thought I'd buy the purple one (as a replacement) since I wasn't going to use eggplant.

Since I wanted only one of each colour, I had to pack them in different bags when I realised they came with different prices.  All this while, I haven't paid much attention to the prices...but now I know.  The green one (the most common) is the cheapest @ RM0.74/100g, the red one (also pretty common) @ RM0.99/100g, the yellow one (not as easily found in wet markets as the green and red ones) @ RM1.19/100 g and finally, the most expensive one, the purple one (which I hardly see) @ RM1.65/100g.

Deseed and cut the bell peppers in thick slices (the pic shows only half a capsicum each coz I realised very quickly that half was not enough and cut up the rest of it...haha!).  What a pretty and colourful sight! ;p

Place your cut capsicum slices onto a tray lined with baking paper.  Season with salt, freshly cracked black pepper and olive oil.  Roast in the oven at 200°C for 30 minutes until soft and charred.

My Roasted Capsicums are ready.  Taking a taste test, I was pleasantly blown away as to how good they were.  You can certainly eat this on its own as a salad if you want....but, of course, I didn't.

I made mashed potatoes....not with our local potatoes but with chat potatoes from Australia.  Boil the chat potatoes (these potatoes, you can leave the skin on) for 10 - 15 minutes or until soft (prick with a fork to test for softness).  Then, mash it (I used a small metal plate to press down on the potatoes).  The wider the surface area, the crispier the edges (especially the skins) will become when baked.  Season with salt, freshly cracked black pepper and olive oil.  Roast at 200°C for 30 minutes.

My Roasted Chat Potatoes are done...oops, that's a lot of potatoes.  But you know me better, I couln't stop here either.  I wanted to make Roast Chicken to go with it! ;)  I simply seasoned the chicken legs with salt, freshly cracked black pepper, light soy, chilli sauce, honey and olive oil (earlier)....and left it to marinade for 2 - 3 hours.  Roast at 200°C for 25 - 30 minutes.

And there you have it....my dish of Roasted 3Cs...Roasted Chicken, Chat Potatoes and Capsicums (now you know why I omitted the eggplant....otherwise I can't call my dish the Roasted 3Cs)...haha! :p

But the roasted potatoes and chicken were just a side show (this time) for the main event....and that's the Roasted Capsicums.

The Roasted Capsicums were soft and juicy.  They also had that smoky flavour (from the charring) and sweetness (from roasting)...yum! ^o^

They definitely taste a lot better than being stir-fried.  I don't know why I've never thought of roasting capsicums at home....and thanks to phonghongbakes, I do now (you bet I'll be making them again, for sure).

For a mere RM7.50, this is a very delicious and easy-to-make salad at home and it's good for 3 - 4 portions (if served with a main).  But there's no necessity to buy the expensive purple coloured one coz it loses its vibrant purple colour when cooked...which I found out later! >.<

Roasting peppers really bring out their sweetness...and I find the red ones to be the sweetest tasting after cooking and the green ones the least sweet.

I'd rather eat this salad than a packet of pre-washed greens anytime plus it's also great as a side dish to your main of say grilled steak, pan-fried fish or roast chicken.

And what's even better...this dish of Roasted Chicken, Chat Potatoes & Capsicums is ideal if you're cooking for two as you can squeeze all three components onto one baking tray (for convenience) since all three cook at the same temperature and take around the same time to cook.  Want a bite? ^.^

Revisit: Sakura Sushi (a la carte) @ Pandan Indah

Since our first visit (in April) to the place, we've been back to Sakura Sushi @ Pandan Indah many times (sometimes as frequent as weekly) for a mixture of sushi and a la carte items.

I've written a blog post about most of the sushi items (and some a la carte items) previously but I'll focus more on the a la carte menu items in this post.

Let's start with the Salmon Toro @ RM11.50 featuring 5 slices of perhaps not the best, but still decent, quality-wise for the price we paid.

The Ebi Gyoza @ RM7.50, a prawn and vegetable dumpling, was pan-seared beautifully to reveal a charred bottom.  The gyoza skin was nice and soft with a filling that was pleasant enough. 

I know I can't resist when I see Tempura Squid Head @ RM12.50 on the menu.  I did like the crunch of the tempura squid tentacles but they were a tad chewier than I thought they would be.

As for the Saba Shioyaki @ RM12.50, it was a more than decent-sized piece of simply grilled saba with salt that was still juicy and with loads of charred flavour.  Certainly value for money and I would not hesitate to order this again.

The Ebi Mentaiyaki @ RM10.50 were two (not very big) prawns generously loaded with mentai and a drizzle of Japanese mayo at the bottom.  We shouldn't expect the prawns to be big anyway (based on the price) but it still had a nice grilled flavour to it (especially so when you suck on the heads)! ;D

More mentai, please!  The Salmon Mentaiyaki @ RM14.50 was basically two pan-seared slices of salmon with a salty, rich mentai glaze on top.

The basket of Tempura Moriawase @ RM14.50 was filled with three tempura prawns and a slice each of eggplant, shiitake mushroom, sweet potato (yellow and orange) and onion served with the usual tempura dip. I liked that the tempura batter was light and crunchy.

Whenever I need something soupy, the Tempura Soba @ RM12.90 is an option (and I've had it with ramen too). Filled with two tempura prawns, fish cake and wakame seaweed with lots of chopped spring onions in a light broth that's more sweet than savoury (but nothing extra soy sauce can't help).

The Spider Maki @ RM12.50 featured 4 pcs of maki roll filled with soft shell crab (not a lot of it though), cucumber sticks and lettuce.  What I didn't like as much was that this inside-out maki, topped with tobiko, had a bit too much soy drizzled on the maki that made it rather salty (perhaps the sushi chef was just a tad too heavy-handed with the soy this time).

The Honey Sakura Ebi @ RM7.90 is made up of tiny baby shrimps that have been pre-fried, sprinkled with sesame seeds and glazed in honey.  It's simply an appetiser of sweet crunchy shrimps, served chilled with finely shredded cucumber, that makes for a nice snack (though I'd personally prefer it to be savoury rather than sweet).

During the course of my visits, I also had more sushi...some new ones (that I've not seen or tried before) and some old, everlasting favourites! ^o^

Although I featured the Japanese Potato Salad @ RM2.70 in my previous post, I just wanted to show you again how much I enjoyed the smooth potato mix with the thin, crunchy slivers of carrot, cucumber and (radish?). Usually one serving is not enough! ;)

I don't know what they call this....I'm just going to call it (some kind of) Maki Sushi @ RM2.70.  It's a maki roll that had been dipped in tempura flour and fried.  The torched mentai and mayo on top then flows down the sushi (like a volcano)...yum (my son's favourite).

I recently saw this on the conveyor belt too...some type of uramaki or "inside-out" maki roll.  This Salmon Uramaki @ RM2.70 is topped with salmon mentai with nori, thinly shredded cucumber and a wee bit of mayo inside.

My Personal Opinion

This sushi joint is now my preferred choice of cheap conveyor-belt sushi in my housing area which I can rely on for weekday dinners when I'm not in the mood to cook.

Since coming to Sakura Sushi, I've stopped visiting the other cheap conveyor-belt sushi in my neighbourhood, Sushi Mentai, altogether and that's because Sakura's sushi and a la carte items taste better, not because they offer cheaper sushi.  The owner is very friendly....and he always makes me feel welcome.  I sincerely hope that he will maintain his standards and not cut corners now that the business is flourishing (and doing better than Sushi Mentai).

Just one parting note...the taste equates the price we pay....and, if you remember that, you should do alright here! ^_*

Sakura Japanese Restaurant

69 Jalan Pandan Indah 4/3a

Pandan Indah

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 019-329 9998