Vienna International Seafood & Teppanyaki Buffet @ United Square, Singapore

Vienna International Seafood & Teppanyaki Buffet @ United Square was the first buffet I had in Singapore. It was recommended by a colleague of mine, who mentioned their spread of seafood was worthy of the $38.80/adult.
Among some notable seafoods available were the rare Spanner crab, slipper lobster, fresh oyster, crayfish, sashimi and abalone. The seafood buffet is highly soughted and is almost guaranteed to be fully booked during the weekends. And the fact that we only got a table at the outdoor seating area even when we made our booking one week in advance says a lot for its popularity.

On to the food. First, some starters that looked like scallop, shaped like a scallop but not a scallop – it was not even close to seafood! I could say I was tricked lol. I don’t know exactly what it was but it was like a chewy dough with sweet, gritty fillings.

Luckily the cheese baked scallop used real scallops and was really delicious.

Boiled crayfish – fresh but pretty tasteless. This was the second time I had crayfish and both times the crayfish was tasteless. Are they supposed to be like that, or its a problem with the quality of crayfish? Quite disappointed lo.

A particular section at the buffet served small cups and plates seafood mixed with fruits like these. While they look big on photo, the portion was actually very small – so small you could finish it in one mouthful if you wanted to. Majority of them are quite refreshing and tasty, especially the one with shrimp and fruits.

Slices of abalone served with drizzle of mayo and tomatoe.

Seafood Chawanmushi topped with a big prawn.

The oysters were fresh and clean, juicy and tasted a little sweet.

At Vienna, you won’t go wrong with the cheese baked seafood. While I found the boiled seafood especially prawns to be disappointingly tasteless, the cheese baked ones were delicious.

Cheese baked slipper lobster, already halved and all I had to do was dig in and enjoy with my spoon.

Sadly, the highly anticipated Spanner crab didn’t live up to my expectation. At first look you wouldn’t imagined it as a crab, it looked more like a ladybug due to it’s curled-up-like-a-ball shape and the short limbs lol.
Anyway, the Spanner crabs are imported from Australia, has a tough red shell and its flesh felt slightly tougher than the normal crabs. Taste wise, it was pretty tasteless (again, sigh), which was the main reason I felt it was a let down.

The slipper lobsters look huge but the amount of flesh you could ‘harvest’ from each is quite little actually. Hmm, they didn’t taste so great for me as well. I felt the boiled prawns were much better and appealed to me more, especially when the shelling effort is taken into consideration lol.

It might seem that all the seafood I mentioned was tasteless but it’s only limited to those which were boiled. The cooked ones were good and I liked the oats prawns a lot.

I should also mention that each person was treated to a complimentary mini Buddha Jumps Over The Wall. The soup was full of ingredients and tasted pretty awesome. I wished I could had seconds.
Besides that I also tried something rather exotic, which was crocodile soup. The soup itself was prepared in a way it was quite similar to Bak Kut Teh, thick and herby. It was my first time trying crocodile meat. It had a chicken like texture but very very heaty. I had only a few bites and I could feel a small burning sensation at my throat. I decided to stop after that.

This was the seafood spread, with a teppanyaki section at the back. For the teppanyaki, a variety of meat is displayed for customers to choose. After choosing, simply place your table’s clip along with the meat and it will be delivered to you when it’s done. The steaks were not bad at all.
If you do dine at Vienna, one thing you gotta be quick is to grab the bird nest egg tarts before they finish. It was one of the hottest items and I didn’t get to try any even though I waited for it for really looooong. Such a pity.

Overall, I think Vienna Seafood and Teppanyaki Buffet is not bad lah for its price. Dollar to dollar, I doubt we could get a seafood buffet like this in Malaysia for RM38.80. But if you ask me if I would return, I am going to be honest and say no. I am not saying Vienna is bad, just that there are so many buffets out there to be discovered. I am sure many of you feel the same.

Vienna International Seafood and Teppanyaki Buffet Restaurant
101, Thomson Road #B1-01
United Square, Singapore 307591
Tel: 6254 6686 / 6253 1696
Business Hours: 11:30AM – 3:00PM (Lunch), 5.30PM – 10:00PM (Dinner)

Lunch
Mon – Fri $29.80++ (Adult), $18.00++(Child)
Sat, Sun & Public Holiday $31.80 (Adult), $18.80 (Child)

Dinner
Mon – Thurs $36.80++ (Adult), $20.00++ (Child)
Fri, Sat, SUn, Eve & Public Holiday $38.80 (Adult), $20.80 (Child)