The Magic of Chongqing

The Magic of Chongqing (Score: 3.5 out of 5)

Today, Lynn and I wanted to do some good "healthy" steamboat yumminess. We saw The Magic of Chongqing as one of the 52 best buffets here in Singapore (52 Best Buffet in Singapore). So does it live up to the hype?

The first impression here is not so good. Tanglin Shopping Center just doesn't look old, it smells it as well. But good food cannot be deterred by looks alone, The Magic of Chongqing uses this ambiance quite well and fits the place like a hand with a perfect glove.

The Menu

Not a bad selection for a steamboat buffet. I had my eyes on the fish paste and prawns. There is a separate menu for dinner with more items but to be honest nothing did popped out to make me want to go for dinner service.

Our Orders:

(Fresh Prawns, Beef Balls, Beef Slices, Luncheon Meat, Taro, Sliced Seaweeds)

(Tao Kee, Shrimp Wanton, Vermicelli, Water Crest, Chicken with Mushroon Balls)

(The famous Fish Paste. We had 12 of these.)

Our combination soup: Ma-la Tang and Faithful Chicken Broth

I wont be explaining much on the steamboat items except for the prawns, fish paste and the soup. The prawns were surprisingly fresh. We only had 2 orders (4pcs in total) but that was more than enough for the two of us. Our neighbor I think had 30 pcs in total :). Fresh prawns = happy customers.

The fish paste was definitely handmade. I'd be surprised if someone said otherwise. The ala carte price for this is SGD 6.00 per plate. 

The chicken soup was tasty but nothing special. We should have tried the preserved sour vegetable in chicken broth instead. The ma-la tang soup though was very rich and I personally liked it. You can order this in 3 strengths: Mild, Standard, and Extra Spicy. The picture may look like its the extra spicy but in fact its just the mild (and this was already quite spicy for us).  Consider yourselves warned.

Our soup base with everything on it.

Fried bread roll, Egg coated glutinous square "Tikoy", Water chestnut jelly

Each person in the buffet, are given a single order of the following: Xiao long bao, meat and chives dumplings, and the dessert items (Fried bread roll, Egg coated glutinous square "Tikoy", Water chestnut jelly). The only item worth mentioning here is the Fried bread roll. If I had a choice, I'd trade the xiao long bao and dumplings and the two other desserts with a few more fried rolls. 

Price and Value

All-in-all the bill amounted to SGD 65.70. We should have passed on the "peas" in the table = SGD 3.00 and the 2 Sprites = SGD 5.00 but all in all no regrets. We had a good, hearty, and filling steamboat buffet which was the goal for today.

Rating:

Food - 3.5

Ambiance - 3

Value - 3.5

Service - 4

Overall 3.5 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

Yes! Definitely a good steamboat deal.

Restaurant details:

Official Website: http://www.chinesefeasts.com.sg/

Address: 19 Tanglin Road, #04-06/07 Tanglin Shopping Centre, Singapore 247909 

Tel no: +65 6734 9789
Reservation Required.