Cafe BLD, Renaissance Hotel, Johor Bahru

Cafe BLD is an excellent, excellent restaurant. It offers an à la carte menu. The a la carte menu consists of Western standards such as Fish and Chips, steak, pizza etc. There are also local favourites such as Nasi Goreng, Penang Fried Noodles etc.

What Cafe BLD is most famous for is its buffets. Its lunch and dinner buffets feature live cooking stations where your order is prepared right in front of you, a la minute. Food has never been fresher. Because the cooking stations are live and open, diners can enjoy a visual as well as interactive experience. The experience is visual as diners participate viscerally, vicariously though the act of watching the food being prepared in front of them. The food prepartion takes on an interactive dimension for diners can communicate to the chef how they like their food to be prepared. You can choose to have salad, teppanyaki, noodles prepared right in front of you.

Other interesting stations of note in this buffet are the sushi bar, the fresh seafood bar, the roast beef station, satay, dim sum, pop corn machine, ice cream bar, chocolate fountain, candy floss machine and fire-oven baked pizza. Because they were baked in a fire oven, the pizzas here take on a crispy crust and a certain, very appealing smoky flavour. The variety and quality of food served up during their buffets definitely rivals that of 5-star hotels in cosmopolitan capital cities.

The first in Johor Bahru to introduce an open concept kitchen, the buffets are extremely popular with locals as well as Singaporeans who travel across the causeway. Though the restaurant is very, very busy, the staff always remain unflappable. I am simply amazed by their service. They are always composed. They work briskly and efficiently. For a mass-market buffet, they found it in them to drop by and give personalised attention and see how you are doing. For that alone, this restaurant stands head and shoulders above all buffets in major capital cities.

I tried a couple of their à la carte dishes.

The sirloin steak is thick, generous and satisfying. I requested it to be done ‘medium’ and the chef had it done just right.

The salmon filet is also very thick and generous. The salmon skin was seared to thin crispness. Of note is the presentation. Simply adorned with fiery red baby tomatoes, the presentation was simple and striking.

Recommended side dishes to go with these main courses are the Spinach à la Creme and the Mashed Truffle Potago. Of particular note is the Mashed Truffle Potato- I can never get enough of the distinctive flavour of truffle. That makes it a clear winner in my eyes.

Thanks to its originality, vast variety, unsurpassed service and off-the-chart value, Cafe BLD is definitely a place worth spending your money on.