Mister Wu Buffet 21/06/19

Met up with a friend for a buffet dinner at Mister Wu.
Buffet details:
1) $29 per pax (Min 2 pax)
2) Limited to first 20 pax
3) Weekdays: 1830H - 2130H Saturdays: 1130H - 1430H & 1830H - 2130H

Mister Wu Dim Sum Buffet Menu

The exterior of the shop and the entire street that the shop was on (Nankin Street) was beautiful and tranquil. 

Shop entrance

Entering the shop at 1830H sharp, I was quite surprised to see that I was the first customer, considering how the buffet was advertised to be limited to the first 20pax of the day. The interior of the shop was really dark, with little candlelights placed on each table (My friend told me that his GF said the place looked like a typical dating restaurant). Anyhow, the dim sum buffet came with a tea buffet as well and this must have been one of the highlights of this buffet. Their tea menu was extremely extensive with a selection of at least 20 different teas, my friend and I tried at least 6 of them, one of our favourites being The Jade Monkey. The tea is served in a normal sized cup, helping you keep the tea somewhat warm until you want to drink it which is when you then pour it into your individual tea cup.

Moving on to the food, upon our first order, my friend and I were warned that we were ordering quite a lot of la mian / rice dishes which we readily acknowledged, foolishly assuming that we could easily polish off all the food. Bear in mind that this was after I had just finished off a double scoop of cookie dough (Speculoos + Chocolate chip) with a additional topping of vanilla soft serve from The DOHKIE...

What I ate right before the buffet :)

As the appetisers of drunken chicken, jellyfish, stripper salad and etc. came, things were going quite well. Special mention goes to the drunken chicken which was thoroughly soaked in the Shaoxing wine and was extremely flavourful as well as the pi dan tofu which had a multitude of flavours, playing with one's tastebuds.

Drunken Chicken

(From left to right) Jellyfish salad, Pi Dan Tofu, Stripper Salad

However, the dishes kept coming out with plates upon plates of various dim sum dishes. My first regret was not ensuring that we ordered only 1 piece of each dim sum per pax to try out first. Disappointing dishes like the beancurd skin roll, and the Kong Bak Bau (Braised Pork Bun) came in 2 plates such that there were 4 servings of each. 

First round of dishes...

The beancurd skin roll like a bulk of their dim sum dishes was far too oily while the braised pork was very flat both in taste and texture. The meat could certainly have afforded to be more tender while the fat provided little to no saving grace to the meat overall, not melting as one with the meat. Other dishes which I felt could have been improved includes the ping pong wanton (Though my friend liked it) as it was slightly too oily for me and the crispy lava bun as the bun layer was far too thick and the salted egg yolk filling was scant. 

Ping Pong Wanton (2 Plates: 4 pieces)

The fried japanese oysters were unique but was also too oily for me and the abalone siew mai and prawn dumpling with tobiko (Flying fish roe) were honestly just average as well (Both the abalone and tobiko did little to elevate the flavours of the respective dim sum dishes in my opinion)

Fried Japanese Oyster

Abalone Siew Mai

Prawn Dumpling (Har Gao) with tobiko (Flying fish roe)

This brings me to my second regret, which was to not see the serving size of their dishes. When the rice / la mian dishes were brought over, I kind of knew we were doomed as their portion sizes were the same as their ala carte portions so 1 serving of la mian would pretty much be what one would be eating for a satisfying lunch / dinner. In all the rice / la mian dishes, at least half a ramen egg would be provided as well and this was really delicious though it fills you up quickly. I was surprised to have been able to finish the bulk of both la mian though we were guilty in not being able to finish all of the rice.

At this point, I think I must share about the 2 service staff attending to us that night. The first was a young lady who was really kind and promptly attended to our requests without any hesitation and the other was a slightly older fatherly-looking man who was kind and considerate as well but slightly too considerate to the point that he kept on stressing over the course of the entire meal that we were not allowed to order anymore food until we finished everything on the plate. As somebody who hates wasting food, I totally understand the male's service staff POV. However, as a customer, I felt that it was ridiculous to not be entitled to order more food in a buffet. While it may have been my fault for not polishing up every last grain of rice, I think the restaurant could also improve by reducing their portion sizes for dishes with a lot of carbohydrates when serving to customers who were paying for the buffet... especially since the main purpose of a buffet is to typically try a wider variety of food and not to just fill up one's stomach.

Overall, the buffet had many notable dishes including the truffled carrot cake (Strong truffle aroma and flavour), XO sauce cheong fan (Could not exactly taste the XO sauce but loved the texture of the rice roll), truffle shroom la mian (Really strong truffle flavour and sweet sauce coating the noodles), braised pork rice (Thick layers of pork) and the hibiki seafood la mian (Broth was strong and had a slight 'burn' when going down your throat; perhaps due to the Hibiki whiskey?). The desserts were also a highlight of this buffet, their red bean rice cake, sakura and melon crystal balls all being really good to pair with some warm tea. 

Crispy Lava Bun

Sakura Crystal Ball

Melon Crystal Ball

About the tea again, the tea played a very quintessential role in this buffet as it helps to cleanse one's palate of all the oil from the dishes and somewhat reset one's appetite to keep on going, just don't overuse it or you may find yourself in pain at the end of the buffet :)

I do not mind going back to the buffet though certainly ordering a lot less in future. It is extremely value-for-money for the quality and variety of dishes and tea offered. Would recommend for family gatherings and get-togethers with friends!

Tips:
1) Do not be stupid and eat some cookie dough before going for a buffet like I did
2) Order only 1 piece of each dim sum first!
3) La mian / rice dishes are NORMAL SIZE SERVINGS, do NOT over order
4) Save space for the desserts and variety of tea!

Price: 5.5/10

Taste: 8.5/10

Overall: 7/10

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