slosh down the pepper!

Where did the sizzle go?

It was a post birthday celebration for J at (Toa Payoh) Sizzler's yesterday. Of Sizzler, I have always had a good impression of it despite only having done two visits. I remembered the huge-serving main courses, tasty soup with crispy croutons, wide selection of fresh salad and fruits. Prior to the meet up, I was already thinking of forgoing the main course and just hit the salad bar. Even Tempest the meat lover agrees. Anything with a "buffet" simply brightens him up. Thus, he was a little disappointed when he was not invited to the dinner.

I quickly moved to take a glance at the salad bar within minutes of arriving. It was a pretty small corner, loaded with a pretty decent selection of pasta salads, potato salads, fruit salads, fresh salads, three types of soups, spaghetti with 2 types of pasta sauces, Cajun potatoes, nachos, fresh papayas and watermelons, jellies, and an ice cream dispenser. Somehow, these stuffs no longer look as appetizing as they did before a few years back. They looked kind of gooey and messy, probably the result of too much salad cream. The clam chowder I had was too thick with starch and had a lot of crumbly bits, but few clams.

In consideration that the main courses might be huge, J had decided to order 2 main courses and 2 additional salad bar buffets since each main course already comes with one. J and me shared the ribeye with scallop sauce while S and G ordered the grilled chicken and dory. Both dishes weren't as good as it looks on the menu. And surprisingly small for the price we are paying. There were less than 10 strips of beef on the hotplate. It didn't taste as sweet or as well marbled, as a ribeye should be. One point commendable though, they laid capsicums beneath the beef, preventing the hotplate to heat up the meat quickly so that the beef remains tender and juicy. This was something that Phins and Chicago's sometimes neglected. I forgot to ask the other two about their chicken and fish. No complaints or praises, so I assumed it's average. The fries looked soft and thin (something like Burger King's but less crispy), unlike any of the western foods served at major cafes or restaurants. All in all, they need to improve at least on the presentation of the food. It should look generous, colorful and huge! Just like those served in Botak Jones, Changing Appetites, Billy Bombers or Buckaroo's!

For the amount and quality of food I get per dollar spent, I'll give 2.5 stars (out of 5). Maybe 3 stars if you are very hungry and willing to chomp on the salad bar.

---------

Maybe our appetites have become smaller; we no longer gorge indulgently at the buffet spread. Instead, we concentrated on updating each other with snippets of our lives till date. As expected, I didn't get the job at G's company; they have decided to hire a more experienced staff. G went to Hokkaido for her honeymoon and brought back lots of foods for us (partners included) :-) S is still looking for a job, and so is J whose contract would be ending soon.

The meet-up was short and sweet, a little less than 2 hours in total.

posted by slingwoof @ 2/25/2008 10:14:00 PM