Rasa sayang, hey!,
Rasa sayang sayang hey,
Hey lihat nona jauh,
Rasa sayang sayang hey!
Rasa = Feeling
Sayang = Love
Rasa Sayang = Feeling of Love, of course
When we talk about food, our mind will unconsciously comparing the prices from one to another, especially when it comes to non-hawker food. Have you ever think about how much you love your food or how your food loves you? How much do you know about the cleanliness and safety of food that you put into your mouth? How much effort does the chef put in to your food to ensure you eat safely and healthily? These questions have been rolling in my mind, and finally, yesterday, my doubts were cleared when we dined at Spice Market Cafe, Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa.
Myself, together with another few Penang floggers, were among the lucky few whom were invited to a scrumptious brunch at Spice Market Cafe at Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa Penang. I pulled along baby as my company as there is Buy One Get One FREE Sunday Brunch Buffet now, only RM80++!!
Waiting outside the garden and camwhoring. That's lots of love we're spreading in the garden, very much of rasa sayang.
Peeps of the interior of Spice Market Cafe. Spacious and cozy. Seating capacity is 250 people. There is also outdoor seating if you prefer to enjoy a lush of greenery while having your meal.
At the entrance of the restaurant locates Spice Boutique. You can purchase some exotic spices here. I bet the foreigners will be excited to see this.
Our table. For the floggers. If it wasn't by invitation, we would never be able to dine here as it's already fully book. Hereby we would like to thank Gourmet Garden for the arrangement.
Spices as table deco.
Ice carving. It looks to me like an ice pear...
Every week throughout the month of August there is different theme applied for the buffet. It was chicken during our visit. So you will find a lot of dishes cooked with chicken in the selections. There are a total of 6 sections by type of cuisine - Indian, Western, Asian, Seafood/Japanese, Dessert and Juice counter. The very first counter on your right when you enter from the entrance is the Indian corner.
Indian corner. The taste is different from our local Indian food because they do not use coconut milk but yogurt instead. A lot of spices like saffron, coriander, cinnamon, cumin, and tamarind are used, that's why the taste is superb.
The chef showed us how the Naan was made.
Finished product! Garlic cheese Naan. Very very delicious.
My personal chef at home. He was indeed enjoying every moment there talking to the chefs.
Sushi corner. There were 3 types of sushi for the day: salmon, prawn, and tuna. Makizushi available too, ingredients were fresh. Yummy yummy~
Again baby was having a great time picking the food for me while I carried on with my mission to shoot the photos of food.
Tadaa~ I love the Chuka Kurage very much.
Next to the Sushi counter is te Seafood counter. Yabbies, prawns, scallops and mussels!! Very fresh and chewy.
See my seafood platter?
Check out the Appetizers and entrees too. Bread, cold cuts, salads, and cheese. Yes, cheese!! My favorite.
Cheese!!
Next is the Western corner. Macaroni cheese bake, fish fritters, potatoes, deep fried brinjals and herb roasted chicken.
Asian delights. Cooking method used was stir-frying, shallow frying, and deep frying.
The noodle station is also a part of the Asian counter, you can pick your own type of noodle and vegetables. The chef will prepare it for you. Besides that we're also lucky enough to see the live demonstration of pulling Ramen.
See the Ramen demonstration in the below video clip.
At the other end of the Asian corner, you can also see live cooking of the chefs.
And a variety of soups to suit your taste buds.
While eating we were entertained by a Clown. He's so funny that everyone was laughing nonstop when he made the cartoon figures out of balloon for us. See the Pink Panther and Doraemon?
Dessert corner. I would suggest that you keep some space of your stomach for the cakes and desserts. They are perfectly displayed, not just the look, but also the taste. See how many types of dessert you can get there! This corner really gives the wow-factor.
This is a mini macaron on top of a chocolate brownie. I asked the chef if they have plan to include macaron as one of the desserts in future, and he said 'Yes, can consider.'
For continental choice of dessert, you can have the ice kacang. There are varieties of condiments for the topping.
I could not resist the Chocolate Fondue!! Slurrp.... I already started eating dessert before main course...
I ordered a Pancake with ice-cream. Looks tempting huh.
Besides dessert and cakes, you can have some tropical fruits too. Balance diet is important, don't be too overwhelmed by the meat and sugar. =)
Another interesting demonstration is the Candy floss making. Many children were happily running around with candy floss.
Besides food and beverage, I really like the Sugar art display at the dessert counter. They are all cartoon characters, handmade by the Pastry Chef Zuwairi. Tell you something, he's the one who made the annual birthday cakes for our Penang Governor! Thumbs up~
Last but not least, the Juice counter. Here you can get all sorts of fruit juices to compliment your meal.
Remember to ask for a cup of coffee. I've never expected it could taste that good until I drank it during my last visit. Usually I'll get another cup to mix in a scoop of coffee ice-cream.
Oh yes, about my doubts on the food preparation, processing and management of the restaurants in Shangri-La Rasa Sayang, Executive Sous Chef, Chef Lim and his chefs had answered in details. Now you will understand why the food price is at higher range compare to the others (many people like to compare with other hotels' buffet). The food preparation is based on Shangri-La Food Safety Management System (SFSMS) which is a system designed to provide safe and legal food to both internal and external customers by tracing the movement of all food through establishment from the point of delivery to customers' table. SFSMS is based on HACCP, where food quality is controlled through analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw materials to consumption of the finished product.
Sounds complicated? To me, these are really important things to us as a consumer, because the quality of food should be there to ensure we have a safe meal. If you've had food poisoning before, you'd probably know how scary it is. So you see, they really 'sayang' the customers because they care about your health.
Now that they are certified with ISO 180001 OHSAS the dining environment is also very safe as hazards are reduced to its minimum.
Another thing that I like about Spice Market is their concern and effort given to the customers. You'll find children's plate too. I think I've never seen other buffet outlets doing this. Very caring.
The brunch buffet went really well for 3 hours and we learned a lot about the food processing industry. Credit goes to the 3 chefs who hosted us throughout the session - from left: Chef Karthiresan, Executive Sous Chef LC Lim, and Chef Zuwairi.
And also Gourmet Garden for the invitation. Thanks Gill and Jason!
Thanks to the other co-organisers and co-sponsors of the event:
Vinstella Jewellery and Round U
After the brunch, we were fortunate to have once in a blue moon chance to tour around Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa (hurrah!!) and we even had a chance to visit the Chi, The Spa at Shangri-La and Feringgi Grill.
**Updated post on Chi, The Spa at Shangri-La!
Announcement:
Since you've read the whole article, please do me a favor.. need your support to vote for this post as my competition entry to win a Spa treat at Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa. Thank you very much!
Step 1: Click LIKE on http://www.facebook.com/gourmetgarden.com.my
Step 2: Click LIKE on https://www.facebook.com/gourmetgarden.com.my/posts/110952059006995
My Rank: 4.5/5
Address:
Spice Market Cafe
Batu Feringgi Beach, 11100 Penang, Malaysia
Tel: (60 4) 888 8888
Hours:
Open Daily : 7am - 11pm
Breakfast Buffet : 7am-10.30am
Dinner Buffet : 6.30pm-10.30pm
Location:
Garden Wing, Lobby Level
Dress Code:
Smart casual
Smoking Policy:
Spice Market Café has separate smoking and non-smoking areas.
Website: http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/penang/rasasayangresort/dining/restaurant/spicemarketcafe
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