In December 2020, we came to Renaissance Hotel Johor Bahru to dine in for their lunch buffet with my family before the end of the year. That time, it was actually a time for the family to dine in outside after almost 9 months of just staying at home due to the MCO and CMCO protocols from the government.

Few weeks down the road, sad to say that the hotel has to follow the "No Dine-In Order" due to the rising cases of Covid19 infection in Johor and other parts of Malaysia. After almost three months, I am so delighted that dining is again allowed with a strict implementation of SOPs on the ground.

My family decided to visit this hotel again to take their buffet after staying at home for almost 3 months since January 2021 due to Movement Control Order 2.0 (MCO2.0) in Malaysia. This will be our official first buffet dinner together as a family for the year 2021.

Jom with me as I share with you my dining experience here in conjunction with my #JomtaraletsSupportLocal campaign stories. 

Before we entered the cafe, we need to undergo the process of checking temperatures, making sure that we wear masks, and sanitizing our hands before entering the lobby area. They have available free masks in case you need to change yours.

At their café, the staff assisted us to get to our reserved table. They provided us with disposable plastic gloves that we need to use when taking the food to ensure that the hygiene of the dishes is not compromised throughout the entire buffet session.

THE BUFFET SESSION

They have displayed quite a good variety of cockles (clams), prawns, soft shell steamer clams, roasted lambs, satay (grilled on the spot), chicken rice set with roasted chicken, fish salt and pepper, peppered chicken, mixed vegetables, mushroom soup, dim sums, chicken and beef satay, local cuisines, and of course their dessert section where they displayed a variety of moist chocolate cakes, chocolate fountain, and fruits including fruit cocktails for you to enjoy with.

What I love the most during that session was their roasted lamb.  The lamb has a strong flavor and aroma and I can say it's a bit "gamey". The red meat has a very clean and almost sweet-like flavor. It was easy to chew. It was not dry and every bite was sensational on my palate. 

I love mixing it with their version of Primavera Pasta. The combination to me was awesome, The pasta wasn’t overcooked and the savory taste of the pasta mixing it with lambs gives a nice combination in my mouth. Woahhhh, my taste buds are really enjoying it.

You may ask me what is Primavera Pasta. This Pasta is actually an American dish that was believed to be invented in the 1970s. The pasta is usually mixed with tomatoes, tomato paste, broccoli, carrots, onion, zucchini, green or red bell pepper, garlic, bay leaves, olive oil, basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, and a bit of sugar to bring out a sweetish after taste.

I would also like to give good credits to their stir-fried cockles with a bit of sauce. Luckily, they didn't make this set too spicy. I took this set twice because I found it good. I enjoyed opening the cockle shells and eating the flesh. I think this set wasn’t overdone. It's really flavoury in my mouth.

I also had the chance to try out their sushi and maki rolls and I found their wasabi to be good. It wasn’t that strong. It was okay on my tastebuds (especially at my nose). Anyway, just a tip when having a buffet, sushi’s are actually tempting but bear in mind that every roll is really heavy so you may get easily full if you eat a lot of this—you must control your intake on this set so that you can try other dishes too.

Anyway, going back to my buffet experience, there is this one dish that really captured my attention. I was intrigued with their dish called Chicken Hunter sprinkled with green pepper. I don’t know why is it called to be like this that's why I went online and found that this is actually an Italian dish.

Chicken Hunter is actually called “Chicken Cacciatore”. It is a chicken braised in a tomato-based sauce and often added with wild mushrooms.  It is called such because the word “Cacciatore” (in Italian) means Hunter.

In terms of taste, I would say that this has something similar to a Filipino dish called “Chicken Afritada”. The taste is a bit similar as it is sweetish and it has a savory aftertaste. Similar to Chicken Afritada, this is also braised chicken cooked in tomato-based but for Filipinos, this dish is mixed with green peas and topped with pepper to make it more appetizing.

Of course, the buffet also serves local cuisines such as Curry Daging (this one is very spicy), ayam masak merah (spicy), and some mixed vegetables to make the whole buffet more interesting with a variety of dishes to look upon too.

When it comes to their satay (both chicken and beef), I would say that the way it was marinated was superb. It was not dry and every slice is nice in my palates. Usually, locals here mixed this satay with a creamy peanuts sauce but for me, I am already satisfied just eating the satay as it is without any sauce. I love the taste and the aroma of this fabulous street food in Malaysia.

As we end up our buffet, I would also give credit to the way they presented their dessert table. It was full of stories. Every corner is really busy. There are a lot of choices that we can have. They have fresh fruits, quite a good number of chocolate slices, fruit cocktails, jellies, and also coffee if you are a coffee lover.  

Overall, I would say that our dining experience here was really superb. It never failed our expectations. It was a recommended buffet for everyone as we continue to support our local businesses.

 DISCLAIMER

Reviews given were based on honest feedback. The featured café and the hotel may also have better dishes which may even better according to your preferences.

For dine-in and other transactions amid to the SOPs due to CMCO status of Johor, please seek updates from their Restaurant Management for further assistance.