Ramadan Buffet 2011: The Lounge, GTower Hotel KL

A Celebration of Rustic Local ‘Kampung’ Favourites at The Lounge, GTower

For diners looking to break their fast with home cooked comfort food & local delicacies for the fasting month, both The Lounge and The Club at GTower will be offering a local cuisine buffet spread featuring traditional ‘kampung’ delicacies from across the Peninsular.

With recipes direct from each Chef’s hometown, the buka puasa spread features a gamut of local favourites changing daily ranging from savouries like nasi minyak, kerabu pucuk paku, rendang daging to sweets like pengat pisang and an assortment of local kuihs.

When I was there to sample the fare last week, no lamb was in sight. Needless to say I was crushed. However, I found out that the whole grilled lamb goes on rotational basis so do enquire when you make your bookings if you’re a lamb lover like me.
Other than the grilled lamb, I was told that the lamb chops here are the bomb!

Anyhow, I soothed my distress of a “lamb-less” buffet by attacking the Roast Chicken instead.

It doesn’t quite cut it, but some mutton satays saved the day. 

It was the hot dishes next, and the medley of Malay dishes here were pretty good.

A noteworthy dish in particular was the grilled barramundi in banana leaf. For a start, I’m delighted that it’s not stingrays or some boring grilled fish AGAIN (Yes, I had a bit too many stingrays & mackerels from all the Ramadan buffets I have been sampling).
Moreover, fillets means minus the bones & better absorption of spices as the spices thoroughly coated the whole fillet.
I enjoyed this very much;  the mild spices didn’t overwhelm the fresh, sweet barramundi flesh & the fillets remained moist despite being grilled. Since GTower’s kitchen has the policy of “Farm to Table“, and based on my previous dining experience at Tanzini’s, I’m guessing that the barramundi came directly from their fresh water fish farm. Thumbs up for quality!

Another fish dish – in curry this time.

Obligatory greens.

Fresh bouncy, good-sized prawns.

Not that common but there’s Balitong!
Balitong (that’s what I usually call it in Hokkien back in Penang) is a type of sea snails found in the muddy coastal river mouth in Malaysia and is known as ‘ siput sedut ‘in the Malay language.

Obligatory carbs next. Fried flat rice noodles (Char Kuey Teow).
Too bad it wasn’t Penang style. This is the Malay version of fried kuey teow.

The rice vermicelli (bee hoon) fared better. That’s probably cos I like my “bee hoon” light & minus much grease. I much preferred this style too, which is not seasoned with soy sauce.

This was a total miss. Not sure what happened but it was rubbery & tough.

Fried Chicken in Lengkuas (Galangal). Tender & flavoursome.

Serena loaded up on the meats – more flamed grilled satay please!

Beef curry creamy coconut milk. No complains here.

The noodles station featured Johor Laksa that evening.

As with any other Malay fare-centric buffets, the ubiquitous “Ulams” (raw salads) and sambals (chilli paste)  lined a whole table at the spread.

Western salads & cold cuts for the “ang-moh” at heart. 

The breads were lovely. I remembered some from the bread basket that was served before my meals at Tanzini.

Since there’s bread, I think there was soups as well. I must have missed that out. Oops.  

Anyhow, here’s my favourite section (other than LAMB – yea, I’m still sore about the missing lamb.)

Desserts!

Bubur Chacha.

Chendol.

The desserts here were a mix of hits & misses. Yes I know, desserts at buffet are normally subpar but I can assure you most of the western repertoire of cakes/puddings & Malay local kuih here were very well made.

This is some french fruit dessert. (Good).

The Carrot cake was a bit dry but somehow I didn’t mind. It still tasted fine & it wasn’t as oily.

Puddings.

Opera Cake. A bit dry.

Cream puffs. The outer puffs were dry but the cream fillings were fine.

Coconut Jelly. This was very nice; refreshing & not too sweet.

Some blueberry tart/cake (can’t remember). Decent enough.

This is a must for mango lovers! It has a very nice mango flavour to it.

The Tiramisu. Obviously not too authentic, but still nice if you don’t expect too much.

Cheese & Chocolate. Good.

Next, the assortment of traditional Malay sweets.

I sampled most of them, and as you can see from the pictures, all were very skilfully made & they did taste as good as they look. Very balanced ratio of coconut milk, sugar & flour were used in the recipes.

Cute little pies & tarts!

Fresh fruits!

Interior & ambiance shots:

This buffet spread is priced at RM80++/pax.

** For bookings in excess of 50 pax, The Lounge will open a private dining room on Mezzanine Floor complete with complimentary AV system.

Enquiries and reservations: GTower’s Festive Counter at +603-2168 1919 ext 7032.

The Lounge,
Ground Floor, GTower
199 Jalan Tun Razak

Special Ramadhan Dining Deal for CIMB and Direct Access credit card holders

Discount alert:
From 1 to 31 August 2011, CIMB and Direct Access credit card holders benefit from an exclusive Ramadhan promotion – ‘4 Dine, Pay for 3’ deal. Throughout Ramadhan, diners need only charge to their CIMB or Direct Access credit card in order to access this Ramadhan dining promotion for any of the buka puasa offerings in GTower: The Lounge, The Club and Tanzini.

All pictures are: