By Kiana Koh

Whoever came up with buffets was a genius.

 You pay a certain amount to eat all you can within the time limit.

Recently, a new buffet restaurant caught my attention; the Shaburi and Kintan Buffet at Jem. It just opened for business and there are always people there! 

My mum decided to bring me, as well as Travis, for a private birthday celebration. The place looks grand from the outside, and once you go closer, you will notice that the restaurant seems divided into 2, with the cashier and reception in the middle.

There are 2 different menus, for the 2 divided parts of the restaurant. The left side of the restaurant are for patrons who wants to have a barbeque buffet, whereas the right side of the restaurant are for those who wants a hotpot buffet. 

This is quite a cool concept because I have never seen a restaurant that does both barbeque and hotpot buffet! 

Both prices are different so do take note of that, and I am quite sure you are not allowed to switch to the barbeque buffet after you paid for the hotpot buffet and vice versa. 

 The hotpot buffet menu

The barbeque buffet menu

I felt like having something soupy, so we went for the hotpot buffet! Per person for the hotpot buffet was about SGD 29.90++

We were told we had to wait for about 30-40 minutes for a table seated for 3, so do make sure to call and reserve a table beforehand, and to come down at least half an hour before your reservation timing just in case.

When we were finally brought to our table and seated, one of the staff there began to explain how everything worked. 

Based on the package we chose, we could enjoy  different types of meat unlimited. The different packages will be explained to you at the counter/cashier!

We had to order what we wanted via the iPad provided there, and once we sent our orders in, we just have to wait a little while and our order will be delivered! We also chose a soup base, and my mum went for the chicken collagen soup, Travis decided to have the tonkotsu soup and I wanted to try their spicy miso soup.

 Spicy miso soup

While waiting, I decided to walk around to see what other food they had and I was quite pleasantly surprised! 

I stumbled upon the carbonara, with an Asian twist to it! Instead of using spaghetti, the chefs used udon instead, a type of thick wheat flour noodle.

It was really good and I had never expected that combination to taste that well!

The potato salad was also pretty scrumptious, and I had 2 small servings of it. I would eat more if I could, but I have to leave a lot of space for the premium meat later on!

My mum decided to have the package where we could enjoy 4 different types of unlimited premium meat, and the timing for our package was 90 minutes. So we had 1 hour and 30 minutes before we have to leave!

The 4 premium meat we could enjoy was the tasty beef, low fat pork, pork belly and special beef.

For starters, we ordered one tray each of the 4 meat offered!We actually could not differentiate which is which only until we tasted it because they taste distinct!

The meat were sliced thinly, but some had more fat. 

It only takes a few seconds for it to be cooked and the meat there is really premium. It is all fresh, and the meat is so tender! I really could not get enough of it!

There is also a drink bar and an ice cream machine! 

Yes, we definitely made full use of it!

The whole ambience of the place is very nice as well, the staff were well trained and super attentive!

Here are the hotpot buffet area. Those little black boxes are what will heat up and boil your broth, and is actually simple to use. Also, do take note that for 100 grams of food wastage, they charge SGD 10! So only take what you can eat. 

We LOVED this place! There does not seem to be any disadvantages of dining here, but maybe some people will not agree with the prices they charge. But do understand that every cent you pay for is worth it. The food are of superb quality, the staff are friendly and well trained, and the setting is perfect for friends, family, or lovers to dine in.