Juniper
When it comes to deals on group buying sites, I’ve come to the conclusion it’s much better to purchase dining deals because I don’t get the hard-sell talk after the service has been rendered. I just eat and go, the waitress won’t come to my table and try to persuade me to purchase a package.
The Groupon deal for the local & international dinner buffet at Halia, Sime Darby Convention Centre seemed like a really good deal as it was RM43 per person, about RM10 cheaper than the hotel buffets. SDCC is a good location as I don’t need to pay for parking, yay! However, RM43 per person isn’t even as good as what they offered for the same buffet on Groupon last year when it was RM33 per person or RM60 for 2 persons (for weekday buffet). Still RM43 is still reasonable for the amount of food Halia offers. SDCC is convenient for most people as it’s just a stone’s throw from Bangsar and less than 10 minutes away from Section 16, PJ.
The restaurant has an indoor and outdoor area but there’s no seating outdoors. There are a few stalls outside with teppanyaki, Arabian roast lamb, Turkish pan-fried fish stuffed in focaccia bread served with lime mayonnaise and salads, Swedish meat balls and a few more. I particularly liked the teppanyaki as it had prawns, clams and squid, had two helpings of that but at the 2nd helping, I felt it was getting rather oily. For seafood lovers, there’s smoked salmon, oysters and crabsticks. It’s so easy to be a glutton at a buffet, there were diners who had their plates piled high and I wondered how they could possibly go back for seconds when their first plate was already that full.
The whole Arabian Roast lamb looked so tempting, chunks of it was on briyani rice but one can’t have to much of it as it is very filling.
I had quite a few sticks of satay, excellent both in terms of quantity and quality, almost matching Kajang standards. I wish I had room for a few more sticks but my stomach wouldn’t oblige! Juicy and succulent, one of my favourite choices from this buffet.
The butter prawns were big but they were a bit tough and chewy. A bit troublesome separating the flesh from the shells so too much effort to eat them. There was also chicken tandoori with naan bread, mee rebus (didn’t try either as they’d be too filling) and an assortment of dim sums which was average.
Choice of desserts was amazing. If you have a sweet tooth, this is the buffet to sink your teeth into. They had some incredibly delicious lemon mousse cakes and Red Velvet on the night I was there. It was great being able to customise my “ais kacang” as there are certain ingredients I don’t want in mine such as red beans and sweet corn. Diners can help themselves to tea (Lipton tea bags) and there’s a coffee machine so you can have a latte after the heavy meal.
Overall, this was a more than satisfying buffet dinner and I am just watching out for the next offer to dine there again. It was well worth RM43 per person. The best thing is not having to fork out any parking charges. Love this location and the restaurant serves such quality food.
Nice dessert there ^^