Buffet At Ellenborough Market Cafe

We recently went to Ellenborough Market Cafe at the Merchant Court Hotel for high tea. They are quite famous for their buffets. I’ve quite enjoyed their buffet for many years, despite the crowd. But I somehow felt different during my latest visit. Maybe I was just being picky, or in a bad mood that day. But I was somewhat annoyed at their inability to manage the crowd. Afterall, they’ve been having this buffet for years. Surely you’d expect them to manage it well.

My gripe? The buffet table was just not being replenished quickly enough. They are out of so many damn things. Half the ingredients for making the ice kachang was out. So was the ice. I’m quite happy to not have red beans, but how do you make ice kachang if there is no ice?

There were long slow buffet lines. I think given the number of diners the Ellenborough Market Cafe can seat, the buffet tables are just not sufficient. In fact, they don’t seem to have enough staff either. For example, the buffet counters where they need a chef to serve up the mee siam or other “complicated food”, they seem to be sharing a single staff between two counters.

I can see the staff are working hard. They are running all over the place. But I suppose there just isn’t enough of them. In fact, I even think their kitchen is not busy enough. Or they just aren’t capable of dishing out food fast enough to satisfy the diners.

Perhaps, depending on your point of view, they are indeed managing the situation very well. Limit the rate at which diners can get their food, so that their costs are kept within control. Good for the restaurant. No good for the diner.