For my roommate, Pauline’s birthday, we found ourselves at tao in Sunway Giza which also fulfilled part of our food assignment. Remember this?
tao claims to be an Authentic Asian Cuisine. Their concept is an ‘All You Can Eat Ala-carte Buffet’. Lunch is RM42++ on weekdays and RM58++ on weekends while dinner on weekdays is RM58++ while on weekends, it's... I'm not sure of the price, please check the prices in the main site. On weekends, there are 2 sessions for dinner – 5.30pm to 8.00pm and 8.30pm to 11.00pm. There is also an early bird special on weekdays. You get 10% off if you have dinner before 7pm, if I recall correctly.
tao’s website can be found here while other reviews can be found at kampungboycitygal.com, vkeong.com and taufulou.com.
What they mean by ‘Ala-carte buffet’ is ordering food from a menu but you can order as much as you want. This guarantees that the food served is fresh and hot.
Besides the ala-carte which you order from the menu, there is also a buffet spread made of the cold cut section, the teppanyaki section, the salad section and the dessert section.
The cold cut section has raw oysters, cold cooked prawns and various types of sashimi fish and sushi. Besides that, there's also premixed dishes like jellyfish, seaweed, cold smoked duck and bamboo shoots.
The teppanyaki section has food on skewers as well cuts of meat and seafood which you can choose and request the cook to prepare for you. All you have to do is chuck everything into a bowl and clip on a numbered peg that they provide for you at the table. The same concept that places like Tenji in Solaris Mont Kiara apply.
The salad section has a salad bar where you can pick and mix your own vegetables. I completely forgot to take a photo of the section because I didn’t touch anything there.
The dessert section has ice-cream, a chocolate fountain, fruits, mochi, apple pie, cream puffs, cheese tarts and konyaku jelly. There are about 4 types of brandless ice cream but the green tea ice-cream was really good! The cream puffs, mochi and cheese tarts were alright. By the time I hit this section, I was too full; surprising considering I’m usually 80% dessert.
The chocolate fountain was quite the surprise. Usually the chocolate used in chocolate fountains are cheap and watery. This one froze when I poured it on my ice-cream. Surprising indeed!
As for the ala-carte menu, there are a few parts in it (I forgot to take a photo of it orz). If I recall correctly, there was a rice and noodle section, a temaki section, a seafood and poultry section and a vegetable section.
Here are a few items we ordered.
Actually, my table ordered. My job was to eat.
Sweet, yummy pumpkin croquette
A piece of the pumpkin croquette, a piece of tuna roll and an eaten cheese-baked salmon
I usually don’t eat salmon (as I’ve mentioned before in my previous entries) but this one was not fishy and it tasted good.
Unagi fried rice
The fried rice was fragrant! A lot of ‘wok hei’ (wok heat haha!)
Ham and cream cheese wantan roll
Interesting and the cream cheese tasted gooood!
Kani mayo inari
This was okay and only okay.
Baked scallops
We ordered 3 portions of these! They were fantastic!
Teppanyaki chicken
Only okay as well.
Edamame
Surprisingly, this was tasteless to me. It was either because my palette is weird or I had too much strong tasting food that it drowned my poor edamame’s taste.
Thai chicken
This was good! Full of spices!
Teppanyaki salmon
Another good one! Again, I don’t eat salmon AND garlic. But I ate this!
Deep fried shrimp and anchovies
Good snack food.
Deep fried chicken skewers
There was ham and a piece of leek (I think?) but overall it was good fried chicken!
Spicy stir-fried clams
Another okay dish.
The food we had trouble finishing
Although our parents always teach us not to be greedy and never waste, we never seem to apply it. *shakes fist at Wei Chee and Sing Tying* They went on an ordering spree before going to the toilet. Pauline and I sat at the table, waiting for them to return and gosh, the amount of food that landed on the table gave us a heart attack! We could only stare at each other in disbelief.
Lesson learned: Never let those two order as they wish. They’re dangerous and wasteful! >(
I would say tao is one of the best buffets I’ve been to. I love the ala-carte menu concept and the variety they offer. Food served piping hot and fresh from wherever it was cooking is definitely worth the RM58++ tab we paid. Service was prompt when we first arrived but slacked a little as the night progressed but it was still alright and acceptable. Our tea cups were being filled quite often and our food arrived within 10 minutes of ordering them.
Oh, before I forget. I forgot how their drinks work but we ordered one drink each and there was a free flow of refills throughout the night. Please remember to inquire on how their beverage section works. It’s by order in the menu.
Because the meal was on us, the birthday girl was in charge of the feedback form hehe! Watch out for their 'powderful' English.
Hopefully tao can keep up this standard. There will definitely be a revisit!- with the family perhaps?