There's no other way to say it, I'm afraid, but this place is now a far cry from what it used to be.
I shan't name names, but if you have been familiar with the hype that once surrounded a seafood buffet place in Joo Chiat about two (or three) years ago, then you may know which place it is I mean.
We didn't read the online reviews prior to making our way there.
On hindsight maybe we should have.
But there are times when we try not to make any pre-judgment of our meals or of restaurants- better to experience it first hand- and this was one of them.
Hence, our complete surprise at what we saw.
You see, where once their place occupied a full double storey shophouse, now not only was it just the upper floor, the dining area had been relegated to just half the width of that floor.
Never mind that, they'd crammed four heavy square tables into the small space, which from the looks of it would only have been feasible for large groups of five or six instead of separate groups of three or four.
My companion had to squeeze through the narrow gap between our table and the table next to ours.
The aesthetics were completely different.
Gone were the visual perks of old days- no more live prawns swimming in pretty tanks beside you whilst you ate. Also, no more the bright lights and the aesthetics (heaps of ice below your seabass and mussels) that traditionally make up the impression of a fresh seafood buffet.
All that was now gone.
Now it was just unlimited servings of seafood, and you got what you got in clear plastic trays brought to you by a lone server from the freezers and chillers located downstairs.
To be honest, it was both a little shocking and a little sad.
So much so that my dining companion thought of making a complaint, cancel the reservation and make a run for it, but then we figured that since we were already here, since the boss had come up to welcome us, and since we are the sorts to be more about the food than whether we could catch our own d*** prawn, we might as well stay and give our dinner a shot.
So we rolled up our sleeves and dug in.
Having readjusted our expectations, taking away the branding hype and the expectation of what a hotpot buffet is supposed to be, it turned out to be not so bad.
The server brought everything up in pretty much record speed. Drinks were in a jug at the side and they had the ice and everything.
The food included clams, prawns, crabs, snow crab legs, and little baby lobsters that we call xiao long xia.
After some thought I decided it best to toss all the clams into the soup. After further thought I decided that half the prawns should follow suit, and then, after that still, went the lettuce, the broccoli (for fun), the mushrooms, and the hotpot balls.
We dropped the scallops in for a quick cook shabu shabu style and then had them with the dipping sauces, which, by the way, this place did have- even though all their sauces were kept in the chiller and were only brought out for customers when you asked for them.
I didn't know how to eat the snow crab legs but my companion did.
So into the pot they went to simmer, and after a while my companion worked the pliers and I concentrated on eating the flesh of the legs very, very carefully.
The crab legs were a little skinny...
Something like that.
Besides the seafood hotpot, there was also a selection of cooked food which we could order from the menu, so we did just that.
The oyster omelet was considerably large, and although not as chewy as the ones we have at the hawker stalls, had a fair number of oysters tucked inside.
The sotong was just sotong (if there was something remarkable about it I don't remember now).
But the best of the cooked food had to be the chicken wings, which we found crispy and tasty, and which we of course made it more fun by eating them with our hands.
All in all it was a memorable dinner.
Sometimes a questionable experience can be made better if you adjust your expectations.
Yes, it wasn't a dinner that- if given a deliberate choice- I would come first hand, but as all things go, memories are what they are and I'm glad to have made it a shiok shiok experience, ending the meal with a wonderful pot of umami-rich soup (yes, finally!) and three big scoops of raspberry ripple ice cream.