Oh, hello there BUFFET. The real soul of eat-all-you-can buffets does not really exist here in Europe. There are buffets everywhere but they are not eat-all-you-can, a concept Europeans are not particularly enamoured about, with different reasons ranging from no audience, different food culture, costs, local eating mindset to healthy living.
I also have my beef with buffet because how much can you really eat? It is like licensing ourselves to simply overeat. Truthfully? I do not think I would quickly go to an eat-all-you-can buffet restaurant unless someone dragged me there, like family, in Singapore.
Sakura Eat-All-You-Can and the reluctant waitstaff
My mother was adamant that we go to Sakura Eat All You Can. She had good memories of this chain restaurant in Singapore so we went to their branch in Orchard where they last went to but the building was under renovation. SisterJ was quick to search another branch nearby and so we ended up at this Sakura branch located in the middle of a park in the busy metropolis. I have no idea what the name of the park is and the street address. All I know is that it was in the centre.
We were just right on time because the restaurant is closing in less than an hour. My mom claimed that the restaurant gives a discount to senior citizens but the wait staff explained that they only grant this to Singaporean national senior citizens. My strongly opinionated mother argued that they have been dining at Sakura and always get the discount. The female wait staff eventually gave in, albeit reluctantly with a long chin that could fall down the ground any minute. I don’t know why she was particularly giving us a hard time, at first she did not want to accommodate us saying they are about to close. I had to point out to her that we have approximately 45 minutes to eat before they close. She had nothing to counteract but give us that long depressing chin.
Nonetheless, this wait staff is the most unconvincing ever who tried to disapprove us but totally failed in the bitching department. She needs more training I guess. I mean helloooo, if she comes up with an excuse, it better be air tight. Maybe she just had a bad day and wants to go home early?
We tried not to let this wait staff’s surly attitude get the better of us. So off we went attacking the buffet.
The usual overeating syndrome *sigh*
After the meal I suffered the usual overeating syndrome. It happens to me all the time and makes me always swear NEVER AGAIN. But then it happens again afterwards, again and again, haha. Oh well. Read here the same experience at Lau Pa Sat Festival and it was not even an eat-all-you-can buffet.
So I am having pain on my sides and a hard time breathing. Can you as well relate and have similar symptoms when plagued with overeating? My body is rejecting the food. I now really believe that I have a much smaller stomach compared to every one else because why is it that women half my size can devour a horse and they do not even exhibit a bit of a discomfort? I do not, or rather, cannot even eat a proper 3 meals a day (breakfast-lunch-dinner) because it would be too much for my body to handle. I know, life is unfair because I love food.
My mom thought I was just over-reacting so they kept teasing me until I told them that I AM REALLY IN PAIN, DAMNIT. I said I need time and a little bit of movement. So my mom ordered SisterJ and Myrrh to walk me around the park, like a dog on a leash haha, albeit slowly =)
The food at Sakura is quite good and I would recommend this to everyone. But I do not think I would quickly come back, nor to any buffet eat-all-you-can restaurant anyway.
4 stars out of 5 for the food. The coffee though was bad. My dad did not even want to touch it.
The Taxi Situation in Singapore
We actually arrived here at the restaurant in a taxi, and for all I know taxis can be quite confusing to foreigners and visitors.
There are rigid rules surrounding the taxi world in this small country, such as you can only hail a cab, well actually queue up for a cab at drop off and pick up locations. So when flagging down a taxi along what seems to be a normal road you might suffer the risk of going unnoticed, even if you hike up or flip your skirt sideways or stand in the middle of the road, the taxi cab will not stop for you.
In Singapore, they have designated taxi stops to load and offload passengers. This stop is most of the times a bus stop as well.
Another confusing rule are the surcharges during certain hours depending on where you were picked up and where you will be dropped off. If within the city centre chances are you pay a much higher surcharge(s). Think along peak hours, public holidays, weekends and core centre areas. And if you take the limousine taxi like the one we had (see picture above), we also had to pay an extra surcharge. Ugh, so many surcharges eh? Beware.
Read this article from CNN about the taxi situation: Why hailing a Singapore taxi is about to get easier
Be rest assured though that these are not some kind of modus operandi. They are what I call legal rip-offs =)
And oh by the way, the cabs charge extra for luggage as well. About S$5 each. Oh yes, I completely understand, a luggage is a passenger as well, just not a breathing one.
Travel Period: August 2013
Destination: Singapore, Singapore
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Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)