The breakfast buffet at the Silver Shell Café was so extensive that it spilled over into the adjoining restaurants. Not everything was good, but we especially enjoyed the Asian food.
Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort and Spa, Singapore serves its daily breakfast buffet at the Silver Shell Café, its all-day dining restaurant. We felt the breakfast buffet wasn’t bad. We especially enjoyed the appam made to order and shamelessly snagged the French toast every time a batch came off the griddle. The chicken broth noodles and otah (otak otak) fish cake weren’t bad either. That’s just a small sample of the buffet which sprawls across not just the Silver Shell Café but also the connecting 8 Noodles and Casserole restaurants. The variety of food outstrips every other hotel breakfast we’ve reviewed and includes an extensive selection of Malay and Indian food, a height-appropriate children’s section, and even a baby zone. There’s also a gluten-free section, though we must say it didn’t look particularly inviting and not because it was gluten-free. We’d come earlier rather than later for breakfast — it tends to get busy after 9am, though there’s the option of eating at the Rasa business lounge on the sixth floor.
We review anonymously and pay for everything. All opinions expressed here are our own and all information is correct as of our last stay or visit and subject to change without notice.
The American breakfast items gave us little reason to come back for second helpings. The live station for eggs made to order offered a dish of sous vide egg with beef bolognaise with Hollandaise sauce on an English muffin — a riff on eggs Benedict. This did not work in any way for us. Despite the precision and tight temperature control of the sous vide cooking technique, the egg yolk was somehow set instead of runny and its whites were set instead of runny. If the intention was to imitate a poached egg, our answer is no. The creamy Hollandaise sauce also did not pair well with the tomato-based beef bolognaise sauce. And the English muffin desperately needed a longer toasting. We also ordered an omelette but were still disappointed to discover how tight-fisted the cooks had been with the fillings of cheese, peppers, mushrooms, and onions. The other egg options on the buffet line-up weren’t great either: the scrambled eggs were creamy and soft but tasted intensely dairy while the frittata was drying out.
Away from the eggs, the vegetable gratin was nicely gooey, especially near the top where the melted cheese lay. The pork sausages were also decent — not as juicy as we would have liked, but not dry either. The skin on the chicken sausages with cheese however was dry and taut; while the cheese filling was suitably gooey, we struggled to get all excited over processed food. Two types of bacon were also available: soft and crispy. We’d go with crispy, even if it could have been more so — at least we didn’t think it was hard when it should have been soft bacon. The sautéed cherry tomatoes also felt like they could have used a bit more softening on the stove. On the other hand, the hash browns tasted a little burnt inside, on top of not being crispy outside either. We didn’t bother with the baked beans either which seemed to have come straight out of a can.
The Chinese food section spanned not just the Silver Shell Café but also the 8 Noodles restaurant which hosted a live noodle soup station. Here, we could assemble our own bowl from the assortment of noodles, vegetables, and seafood for blanching into chicken broth. Not only was the broth tasty, the noodles turned out al dente, the shrimp fresh, and the fish cakes and fish balls springy. If that wasn’t enough, there was a plate of Cantonese roasted chicken, though it sometimes felt like it had been out for a while.
The vegetable fried rice with egg was tasty, though a little hard. The sautéed vegetables however seemed like they could have used a tastier stock and the steamed sweet potatoes were just that. Both the plain and sweetcorn congee also seemed to suffer from a lack of flavour. This was little improved by the deep-fried youtiao (Chinese crullers) and butterfly buns which were hard and tough. The dim sum selection wasn’t great either, like most other hotel breakfast buffets: dumpling skins were thick and flavours tasted a little processed. We also felt the lotus paste in the bao here could have been more viscous, though the glutinous rice with chicken wasn’t bad.
Together with a platter of kimchi, there was a small selection of Japanese dishes next to the dim sum section. These were confined to miso soup, Japanese pickles, natto, Japanese rice, and cold green tea soba noodles with a soy dipping sauce.
We were impressed by how extensive the Malay food section was, occupying half of the Casserole restaurant. The lamb rendang was especially good here, the tender meat streaked with enough fat to melt in the mouth. The vegetables in the lontong gravy had also been stewed until tender. The sweet and sour mee siam wasn’t bad either.
There was also a green-hued pandan rice which we found a little hard; its pandan flavours were also quite faint. We would pair this with the chewy and spicy otah (otak otak) fish cake, rather than the dry deep-fried chicken. The halal chicken sausages unfortunately got a thumbs-down from us: not only did it taste a little processed, its skin was dry and leathery.
The Indian food section was also quite extensive, occupying the other half of the Casserole restaurant. The highlight here was the live station whipping up appam pancakes from fermented rice batter and coconut milk, topped with a drizzle of butter, shredded dried coconut, and red sugar. Idiyappam (also known as putu mayam) — a vermicelli-like version of appam — was also available. The live station also made decent roti prata and thin crispy dosa pancakes which paired well with the vegetable and chicken curries and potato masala on the buffet line-up. Sambar was also available to pair with fluffy white idli rice cakes. For something dry and deep-fried, there were baskets of crispy and well-seasoned potato samosas and spring rolls. Deep-fried vada fritters were also available along with an assortment of chutneys.
Few hotel breakfast buffets go as far as this one to cater to different age groups and dietary restrictions. For younger guests, there was a height-appropriate children’s section and even a baby zone. The Malay food section included items explicitly labelled as halal and vegetarian items were also clearly flagged. There was also a special gluten-free section in the Casserole restaurant — easy to miss — though we must say it didn’t look particularly inviting and not because it was gluten-free. The grilled chicken here turned out to be dry; the natural flavours of the salmon were also obliterated by the tomato sauce it had been cooked in.
The bakery section wasn’t especially impressive except for one item: the French toast. Thick, moist, and fluffy with just the right amount of egg, this was one of the best we’ve tasted — perfect for mopping up maple syrup. We shamelessly snagged some each time a batch came off the griddle. The pancakes could have been fluffier but weren’t bad overall — the chocolate chip version was particularly generous with the chocolate.
The waffles however weren’t great: all soft and no crisp on its crust. We’d skip the pastry as well. The croissants, pains au chocolat, Danish pastries, and Portuguese egg tarts were a little stale. We were also perplexed by the muffins which melted in our mouths into mush. Even the donuts were a little dubious: they were wet on the outside, the powdered sugar dissolving into a thin sheen on its mushy skin.
Level 3 at Dine on 3, Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort and Spa, 101 Siloso Road, Sentosa, 098970, Singapore
(65) 6371 1966
