Coca Restaurant Seafood Steamboat Buffet Review

12 Jun, 2008 Stumble it!

Last weekend, I was invited by Coca to their restaurant for a steamboat buffet dinner for 2 adults worth RM78++ per pax. In return, I will write a review for them. It was the first time I was personally invited by a Marketing Manager to do a review on a restaurant. So, how could I reject the invitation? To be honest, it was an honor and who wouldn’t want a free buffet lol. Although this can be considered a paid (via free food) restaurant review, I will not be biased. If it’s good, then it’s good and vice versa.

The restaurant is clean, well designed and I immediately felt welcomed once I entered it. The very nice and polite staff immediately ushered me to my seat and I finally met Andrea, the Marketing Manager. She presented me with the menu and we immediately got down to business, ordering the food!

I thought that having a steamboat would be quite hot, so I had a fresh coconut while Siang Leng had her favorite iced lemon tea. The coconut was really fresh and well-ripe, just nice to be enjoyed.

Coca uses electric steamboat which I feel is better than using the conventional cooking gas. Sitting next to a gas tank while having steamboat isn’t exactly very nice lol. And it’s not that messy too! For the soup base, we chose a dual of Chicken and Tomyam Soup.

These are only some of the ingredients you could choose from. Coca has their very own fish balls with different flavors that taste a lot better than they look. Honestly I was a bit skeptical when I saw the fish balls. But, they were packed with flavor and certainly does not taste like the usual fish balls you get from the market or any normal steamboat restaurants.

There was a particular type of fish ball I didn’t like, which was the one on the lower left. Because they were pretty much tasteless. Good thing about the flower crabs and tiger prawns though, extremely fresh with sweet and firm meat. It’s hard to find steamboat buffet restaurants that actually serve fresh seafood. And for the price you paid, you can be sure of the seafood’s freshness and quality.

A view of the seafood and vegetables we have taken. The oval shaped plate actually contains Fish Glue, which is basically fish paste made from fresh Tenggiri fish. It is a specialty of Coca and we were highly recommended to try it.

The fish glue sticks to the plate. So, the pieces are easier released from the plate by pouring hot soup over them constantly. They tasted good, and had nice bouncy texture.

Besides steamboat, ala carte Thai dishes can also be ordered. Some of the more expensive food like shark fin soup, scallops, cod fish and live crabs can only be ordered once while the others are unlimited. Coca Stuffed Prawns were one of the recommended appetizers. The prawn meats were removed, made into paste and stuffed into the prawns followed by deep frying them. The prawns were as big as my hand and totally satisfying! Looking at it alone already made me crave for it again lol. Definitely a must try from the appetizer menu.

Second appetizer to come was Pandan Chicken. The Pandan Chicken I have had in the past are either too salty or the meat is tough. Coca’s chef did a great job on preparing very delicious Pandan Chicken. The meat is soft and tender and tasted just nice. Another must try in my opinion, simply for its reputation as a Thai food.

Mango Salad was pretty normal.. The portion was huge and since we are not really a big fan, we didn’t finish it.

Cod Fish Steamed in Thai Style was the next dish. It was sour and spicy due to the cooking style. Cod fish is an expensive fish because of its soft tender meat. Like other seafood we had, it was very fresh also and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Any steamed fish must be finished fast before they become cold. Else they will be chewy and lose the bouncy texture and taste.

Each diner is entitle to a small pot of Shark Fin Soup. Yes, a small pot and not a bowl. It was packed with real chunky shark fin crab meat and mushroom. If you ordered this in any Chinese restaurant it would easily cost RM20-30 per bowl. So, go figure how much it costs for a small pot. We didn’t have two orders even though we were entitled for it because the portion was huge. We wanted to save space for other foods as well.

After shark fin soup is another expensive dish: Scallops Stir Fry with Asparagus. I thought scallops are supposed to be thin and small but wow I was so wrong. Look at them, they are thick!

Green Curry Beef was good too, cooked using really tender meats. Not overly spicy and just spot on. Another thing worth mentioning is that the Green Curry Beef is cooked using yoghurt instead of the usual coconut milk. Definitely a healthier choice!

Coca Special Curry Live Crab. It’s a pity this dish turned out to be a disappointment because I had really high expectations. The gravy is overly salty and it didn’t really taste like curry..

If you’re fan of raw oysters then you will be delighted to know that Coca also serve raw oysters in their buffet. The oysters were really fresh and you better be quick to get them. They were gone within minutes after being refilled, lol.

Then it was time for dessert. Thai Cendol, Ice Cream Fruit Cocktails, Coconut Jelly With Red Bean, Mango with Glutinous Rice are only a few among the vast selection of desserts to choose from. One of the things I like about Coca’s buffet is that the dishes and desserts are prepared upon order. So, they are always fresh and warm when arrived. Steamed Tapioca with Coconut Milk was one of the desserts we had. Coca did a really good job in transforming something so normal and cheap into something really delicious. At first glance they look nothing special but it was so good we finished the whole plate!

Fresh Mango with Glutinous Rice and topped with Coconut Milk was good too! I have always had funny feeling about this dessert.. Honestly eating rice together with mango is quite weird don’t you think? I’m glad my funny feeling is cleared lol.

Shaved ice made from coconut milk is what makes the Thai Cendol special. Other than that it was pretty normal tasting. Maybe because it was heavily overshadowed by the two awesome desserts we had before it. We didn’t eat the rest of the desserts at the dessert counter because we were already too stuffed to eat anymore. So, just to show the other things available for the buffet.

In conclusion it was a very great and satisfying buffet for us. And the foods I have shown are only part of what the dinner buffet has to offer. There are many other things to order like venison (deer), Thai Seafood Fried Rice, Tiger Prawns, Deep Fried Mussel, Mango Pulut with Durian.. etc. There’s just sooooo many choices! This would benefit group of diners the most.. The two of us can only eat so much lol. Other than the curry live crab which really disappointed us, the rests were great especially the shark fin soup and the fresh seafoods. This is definitely one of the better buffets I have been to. IMO, you are actually paying a single price for two types of buffet so it’s very worth it. FYI, Coca’s dinner buffet is available at the following branches:

COCA Subang Parade
Lot G28, Level G, Subang Parade
5, Jalan SS16/1 Subang Jaya 47500 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03 5632 8766 Fax: 03 5632 8767

COCA 1 Utama
Lot G38 & F40, 1 Utama Shopping Centre
1, Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama 47800 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03 7727 3180 Fax: 03 7728 2151

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Technorati Tags: restaurant review, Coca, seafood, Thai food, shark fin soup, dessert, buffet, dinner buffet

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