A taste of Cinnamon

Yeah. Ok. I admit it. I've been slacking. Why? Because recently I've gotten addicted to Red Alert 3. On a sidenote, fans of RTS (real time strategy) and lovers of the past Red Alerts in general should give this game a try.

One Saturday evening after watching Quantum of Solace (yes the latest James Bond flick) at 1-U, it was decided that we would have dinner at Cinnamon (at One World Hotel).

And so, I present...the pictures!

So we walked in at around 6.45 p.m. although the sign outside clearly said that the buffet would start at 7. Why? Because we noticed there were customers already dining inside. Maybe we should have gone in at 6.30 instead...hmmm?

As usual I had a go at the oysters first. No complaints from me here as they were fresh and adequately sized. Somehow no other place has oysters bigger than Jogoya though. However Wei Siong got the short end of the stick here as he picked out a spoilt one. Lack of quality control? Tsk tsk...not very encouraging for a five star hotel.

Next up, sashimi and boiled prawns. I would say that the sashimi here were good. Good, which means nothing exceptional compared to other (similar) places. The prawns on the other hand deserve special mention for their size (but don't expect king prawns) and their freshness (very crunchy).

Next round consisted purely of Japanese style appetizers. Pictured here (clockwise from upper left) are scallops, jellyfish, anchovies, shrimp, kimchi and salmon skin. I especially enjoyed the scallops and the (crispy) salmon skin but I wouldn't say that they were exceptional.

Moving on I threw together a plate of keropok (crackers), a slice of roast lamb, a slice of pizza (I think it was Magarita, not sure of the spelling), some olives, nachos, cream cheese and a bun. This was when I found out that nachos actually goes very well with cream cheese. Lip smackingly good if I do say so myself. The rest of the food? Average.

Braised peanuts! I love this dish. Yes I know it's cheap and can be found easily outside (canned) but hey I enjoyed this dish very much. Tasty, tender peanuts soaked through with delicious marinade, what's not to like?

Following Wei Siong's recommendation I went over to the Indian food corner and grabbed myself this plate of loot. Minus that plate of dim sum which came from the Chinese food corner. The papadum had gone soft due to exposure to air. Should really store those in an air tight container. On the other hand those small round fried things (which are actually various types of vadai) were delicious! And they went very well with the coconut chutney. Dim sum was forgettable.

Here's something interesting. Instead of serving the usual ice cream, Cinnamon decided to serve up this cute lil' ice cream cakes instead. Strawberry, mint and chocolate all in one for a pretty tasty cake. However the mint tends to overwhelm all the other flavours. Also you don't get to choose your favourite ice cream flavour since all the cakes are the same. Innovative but I would have prefered the old way.

Fruits. Essential for a balanced diet. Need I say more?

Pardon the mess. The cakes tend to disintegrate easily. And yes those two chocolate piles are the cakes. They taste great. Full of chocolate flavour. Might be a bit too rich for some people though. The rest of the stuff were just ok.

What's not to like about making your own mixed ice concoction? Unfortunately the ice wasn't as fine as I'd have liked it to be.

I ended the meal with pengat pisang, which is a traditional Malay dessert. Now I'm no expert but I certainly found this version to be delicious, full of sago and nicely caramelised bananas. Authenticity wise, I'm stumped.

And thus ends my review. There were some misses here and there but overall I would say "I'll be back" (when I get more money because the bill comes up to around RM99 nett per person...YIKES!)