Before I proceed on, let me first thank Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) for housing me yet again this year for their Ramadan Buffet.
Last years buffet was simply amazing that I talked waves of praise about it to my friends. The question this year is if BCCK could actually equal last year’s standard, or did they dip a wee bit.
Well, before I proceed on, let me stress that taste is always subjective and that this is MY OPINION, and I have already relayed what I said in this post to a representative in BCCK. Golden rule of blogging; Tell what’s wrong directly to the organizers. Don’t bitch about it on your blog first, and then go tell the organizers.
Anyway, this year we were allowed in the Great Hall of BCCK earlier and so the shots I have this year are better. A huge thank you to the management for considering our request last year.
Now, here’s a few things about this year’s food. The signature whole roast lamb remains the best in town as I know, and the tender meat of the lamb prepared by BCCK remains unmatched. However, this year there is a slight black pepper sauce missing from the selection, but I was told it may make a re-appearance in coming days.
If you have followed my blog for a while, and read my food reviews, you’d know that I favour local dishes a lot. This year BCCK opted to serve some amazing Sambal Udang Petai and Ayam Pansuh. I highly recommended both dishes with the Ayam Pansuh surprisingly close to the one you get in the kampung, if not one of the best commercially made I’ve tasted so far.
Also in my plate was the Mee Hoon Siam, which not only looked glowing, but was evenly well mixed, spurring my taste buds to smile upon having it in my mouth.
Heading on to the sambal section was a bit of a disappointment because there was no freshly sliced mango this year. The sambal variety was also somewhat limited despite the presence of Fried Tempoyak and Cincaluk. While the Fried Tempoyak should be given full points for tasting simply perfect, the cincaluk could have been better. The Jeruk Kedondong is also worth a mention as I decided to take seconds.
Although I am a fan of Mussels, but the BCCK Mussel Au Gratin was a little off my taste buds. Others at my table loved its cheezy-ness though.
Done with the mussels, I decided to head to the stalls to get Shawarma and Fried Kueh Tiaw. The Shawarna lived up to my expectations as being one of BCCK’s signature dishes, and the Fried Kueh Teow surprised not only me, but the rest as it was delicious and made with fresh prawns. BCCK was indeed generous with the portion of prawns they gave in the Fried Kueh Teow, which is a huge plus point.
On a downside, BCCK faltered terribly in their Szechuan Soup. I’m not sure what went wrong, but it was too salty to even be a soup. This came as a surprise considering the previous soups I had at BCCK during their Chinese New Year buffet were perfect. However, a huge kudos to BCCK for making the Szechuan Soup uber perfect the next day when I brought my family for dinner.
With my tummy already almost filled up, I squeezed in a bowl of Cendol, and a cup of Sirap Bandung which were both delightful.
Conclusively, the BCCK buffet this year seems a little bit less glorious if compared to last year. But then again, I do think it’s a little unfair to judge the whole buffet this year based on their first day performance because the BCCK I know always improves.
Regardless, the one gem that BCCK exceeds beyond other buffets in town is the fact that they always try their best to make you feel like a king, and the comfort and space they have is by far unrivalled in Kuching city.