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the lunch menu
This was my first time here and I was quite shocked by the size of the restaurant. Walking in you see an open-style kitchen with counters for the buffet, and proceed further there is many tables for guests. For today’s lunch I decided to visit my friend D who was working in the area….
Lunch at Congress is straight-forward. You can choose the salad or noodle buffet ($105 each), have both for an extra $35, or have either plus one from the main courses list for an extra $35.
Seeing it was my first time here, I went for the salad and noodle buffet to sample as much as I can. Meal began with a heart-warming soup – there was a Chinese pork-based soup, and cream of pumpkin. Both were simple, light and tasty. Bread rolls were pretty good too, I particularly like the black sesame roll =).
Cream of pumpkin soup
Next was the salad bar where there was a variety of salad leaves for you to pick from, including butter lettuce, mesclun mix, romaine lettuce etc etc.
For toppings you can expect the regular salad-bar items, e.g. corn, chick peas, kidney beans, diced chicken, diced ham, artichokes, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and heart of palms. There were several dressings for you to choose from, before you end up at the salad bowl where two chefs were at your disposal to help you mix everything up nicely! Oh yes, and don’t forget to help yourself to one of those crunchy thin breadsticks…!
The noodle station was our next stop, with four soup bases and an abundance of vegetables, seafood, meats and noodles for you to pick from. Between us we sampled the clear Japanese mushroom broth, Pork bone soup and the relatively light laksa soup bases. Simple but hearty and filling! (Note: ramen noodles in laksa broth makes a very yummy bowl of noodles.)
Laksa with ramen, tofu puffs, mushrooms, fishballs and Chinese fishcakes.
my bad attempt to make Japanese Oden but didn't taste good at all!
After these I was very satisfied indeed, but I couldn’t help to wonder if I should have went for one of the main courses? Tandoori cod fish had caught my eye but decided against it since chefs here were Chinese…. For the fantastic harbour view, relaxed atmosphere (we sat chatting until 3pm!) and the flexibility of combining ‘set lunches’, this is definitely a place I will return to!
ML
