Triple 3 @ Orchard Mandarin

It took me more than one stare to decipher the triple threes in chinese.

Triple Three at Meritus Mandarin has been relocated to the fifth floor, on the same level as Coffee and Crust and Chatterbox Chicken Rice.

Frivolities aside, I was looking forward to Triple 3 after Fen raved about it previously.

Window seats. I was repeatedly reminded not to exceed the 15 minute "grace period" or risk my seat being given away.



Fairly packed for a weekend.



Seafood (Mussels, Prawns, Shellfish)

A major surprise that oysters were obviously missing from the seafood spread. Fresh seafood nonetheless.

Cured meats (Roast beef, Smoked Salmon)

The selection of cured meats were normal.



Sashimi (Salmon, Tuna, Yellow Tail)

The chefs were kept busy throughout slicing sashimi from slabs of raw fish. Freshness is key for these sinewy slices.

Sushi selection

Oiishii is barely suffice for Triple 3's range of sushi. For one, the variety is immense; california rolls, apple sushi rolls topped with bonita flakes, cucumber maki, salmon maki..and the list rolls on) Soft pearls of hand mould rice with a long sliver of raw meat. Visually, it already pleases. Perhaps the best sushi around in the international buffets I've attempted thusfar.



Takopachi

The chef was nice enough to dress them up before serving them. Unlike the usual doughy ones I'm used to, these had a chewy outer layer plumped with air. Upon prying open, there's the prized octopus tentacle peeping out.

Fried Chicken Wings

Normal.

Gratin Escargot (Mushroom with Hollandaise, Spinach and Gruyere Cheese)

Crumbly tart bases with escargots. Both did not leave too huge an impression.

Deep Fried Baby Capers

Sourish vegetable bulbs, almost like pickles.



A double take on the takopachi!



Nasi Campur Station

Lamb Rendang

Decent with the right punch.

Egg Curry

Simply delightful with spicy curry and my favourite orange yolk egg!

Coconut Rice

Fragrant grains!

Overall, I felt the attempt on Malay cuisine was rather weak, the dishes were more touch and go rather than well simmered dishes you'd find in hawker centers.



Papadum

The first batch was petite-sized, dense and crunchy, the batches thereafter were much larger, with less bite.

Achar, Sayur Loden

Decent attempts here.



Red Snapper in Tomato Sauce with Capers

The slight fishy taste put me off, ordinary at best.

Grilled Vegetables

I've yet to taste a bad grilled zucchini and Triple 3 doesn't either.

Gratinated Cauliflower

Baked cauliflower with cheese, anything cheese always works for me.

Spring Chicken

I'm speculating that the chicken used comes from the same batch that Chatterbox uses, firm and succulent kampung chicken. Different from the usual tender chicken.

Lamb Stew

Normal lamb stew without the gamey-ness.




Breadrolls (Cinnamon and raisin, walnut, pinenut)

Soft upon touch, these baked babies are major absolute no-nos in buffets but, I succumbed to temptation. Cinnamon and raisin rocked the bread basket with faint hints of spices and plump raisins. The nut breads had a lovely smokey fragrance about it. You guessed it right, I could not possibly stop at one portion of these..not even two.

Cream of Chicken

This, justifies the "cream" in the soup. Milky, creamy...probably peppered with MSG yet I'm loving it!



Cheese Selection

Relatively mild tasting cheeses were up for taste apart from blue cheese.



Honey Balsamic Dressing and Salad

Tangy salad that whetted the appetite further!

Pomelo Shrimp Salad

Bitter pomelo strips with crystalised baby shrimps.

Smoked Duck Breast with Jelly Fish Salad

Somehow the flavours clashed for me, better off eating them separately.

Green Apple Raisin Salad

Suits the healthnut in me to a T.



Spicy Chicken Chorizo, Veal Sausage with Pommery Mustard, Herb Chilli, Tartare Sauce

Both are close to my favourite Pan Pacific sausages, flavourful they are! Of the two, I favoured Spicy Chicken more for the added punch.



Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce and Salted Baby Tomatoes

Tender cut of lamb with the juiciest of tomatoes. These are caressed with salt crystals and grilled..the spurting of juices was a pure addiction in itself.

Roast Chicken with Black Truffle Sauce

Sadly, this was just the kind of chicken I did not like, way too soft. Truffle was obviously missing from the sauce.



Aglio Olio

Kudos to the pasta chef...a pasta well greased! Oodles of greasy well cooked spaghetti tossed in simple dashes of chilli flakes and garlic...my greatest regret was ever letting the fork stop and not joining the queue for another!



Alfredo

Equally delish, the same milky aftertaste as the chicken soup. Pasta once again well cooked, I'm quite anal about pasta being undercooked or worse still, over cooked. Capturing the right doneness is critical and I'd say Kudos to the chef. Of the two, my heart still goes to Aglio Olio.




Teppanyaki (Vegetables, Dory Filet, Prawns, Beef)

The hottest live station with neverending queues. The chef is literally tossing and stir frying non-stop to the very last minute.

Although just garlic, the teppanyaki items had enough wok hei without compromising the succulence. Juicy melt in the mouth beef cubes were especially good. The prawns were slightly artificial, unfortunately.



Cold Soba

Ordinary.

Dimsum of the day

Both siewmai and prawn dumpling were slightly better than instant dimsum.

Chawanmushi

Wobbly smooth! Just mushrooms but this was well done.



Tempura (Prawns, Brinjal, Pumpkin)

Light crispy batter made me disregard "No fried food policy at buffets".



Fragrant Garlic Rice

Oh. Me. Oh. My. Mamma Mia.

Healthy was definitely not part of the equation with this dish. Grains of delight! Spoon after spoon, stopping is never easy.



Assorted Seafood with Chilli Crab Sauce

Two thumbs up for this! The best showcase of a local dish at a buffet so far, the closest you can find to our famous Chilli crabs.



Seasonal Vegetables
Mini Baby Cabbage with Braised Mushroom

It confuses me to no end when vegetables are too "old" for cooking much less consumption. These greens tasted like they're wilted and too hard to chew, even!

Roasted Duck with Herbal Sauce

Not much of an impression.



Dumpling Noodle

Somewhat bland with noodles just blanched and ingredients thrown in.



Dry Bak Chor Mee (Spinach Noodle)

A better take with the noodles. It looked better than it tasted with the spicy shrimp paste chilli sauce.

The range of desserts is wide yet the notable mentions are just a handful. It still pricks me when quantity superceeds quality. More so when you poke your spoon in most excitedly only to be met with a baffled expression which most of the time belongs to dessert shooters.



Coconut Brulee

Nicely torched sugar top with custard so smooth, you could drink it if you like. I lost count of the helpings along the way.

Strawberry Cheesecake

Decent cheesecake, at last.



Icecreams are always hard to resist, even more so when they're home-made.



Icecream (Red Bean, Saffron, Rum & Vanilla, Black Sesame, Orange, Raspberry, Green Tea)

The best since potong days. My favourite flavours are Black Sesame and Red Bean! Adore how the black sesame is pounded and blended in nicely with the icecream..every bite has rough bits of black sesame! Awesome love. Three huge scoops could not satiate the craze.

Red Bean and Saffron Pistachio were not meant for lunch but we nabbed a scoop each anyhow.

Triple 3's kitchen exceeds expectations with simple fry ups like garlic rice, aglio olio pasta...basic ingredients that puts the chef's skills to test. Time no enough was all I felt despite the 3 hour duration for buffet. I ended up missing seconds of particular favourites and fruits. A first in fact.

Triple 3's one of those places I would not mind going back for seconds!

Pictures taken with Nikon D5000.

$51++ (Lunch)
12-3pm

Triple 3
Orchard Mandarin