Seafood & Japanese Seafood Buffet Dinner @ Evergreen Laurel Hotel, Penang

Café Laurel in Evergreen Hotel had underwent a revitalization and re-open on 1st September, featuring a wholly new decoration a brighter and modernized environment. The cafe is expected to handle 230 guests at maximum capacity.

Compared to our previous two visits during High Tea and Dinner, more assortment of dishes are available during this round of visit. The significant improvement would be the action counters, where the chefs prepare the food on the spot; and the continuous supply of lobsters at the seafood corner! Furthermore, all kitchens is Evergreen Hotel is certified Halal as well, even the tough Sushi and Sashimi section is certified halal too! 

Currently Evergreen Hotel is doing Café Laurel Re-opening promotion by offering buy 2 Free 1 for Seafood & Japanese Buffet Dinner for RM 118 nett. Promotion valid till 30 September but the management may extend till 30 October 2015.

Remarks: Thanks to Evergreen Laurel Hotel for extending the invitation

The buffet is segmented into a few corners - salad, appetizers, main courses, Japanese, noodles, desserts; and action counters - wok, Portuguese grill seafood, grill seafood, tempura.

Main courses

The main dishees offered are circling around seafood - chilli crabs, fried prawns, clams, fried salmons, squid. If you are here, chilli crab is something you should not miss out. The chilli sauce has a acceptable yet great level of spiciness with natural sweetness 

Three vegetarian dishes are offered to cater for those looking for a fibre diet to offset the high iodine and protein seafood dinner. The chat potatoes are well prepared with a redolent of garlic scent.

The fried bee hoon and fried rice are not that impressive but it would be a great choice to complement the heavy dishes.

Japanese section

The cafe offers fresh sashimi and sushi to its guests by having them ship to the hotel kitchen every morning. The sashimi is not stringy and does not emit the typical fishy smell. Moreover, there is no water accumulation on the tray where the sashimi is served.

Meanwhile, the sushi is not really toward our liking. The sushi rice seem loosely bounded and the sushi vinegar tasted sharp. We were then made understood that the sushi is more altered to Taiwanese style, while the sharp sushi vinegar taste was due to a different brand sushi vinegar being used for Halal certification compliance. Thus the chef has to tweak the preparation process creatively to add the usual luster and aroma emit by the conventional sushi. 

The grated ginger is indeed top-notch as the taste is alike explosion upon consumption, effectively neutralises your taste buds and prepare you for the next sashimi.

Seafood