J65 Buffet JEN Hotel Tanglin Singapore

J65 is an international buffet tucked in Hotel Jen, a hotel located in the Tanglin district near Orchard road along Cuscaden Road. J65 offers an international buffet selection right in the heart of downtown orchard Singapore. Also, the restaurant offers all-day hotel buffet spots an international selection of delectable food choices. Lets check out Jen at Tanglin with a lunch dine-in today.

Additionally, this hotel JEN is not to be confused with Hotel Jen’s Orchard gateway, which is its sister hotel of the same name. On the table here are a selection of fresh seafood on ice, local staples (such as chicken rice and noodles), sushi selections, grill, to homemade curries.

Moreover, the restaurant is huge and offers a mix of tabled and booth-style seating. The general ambience at Jen is chill, decked with wood paneling with seating spanning over two tiered floors in the vast hotel lobby area.

Also, the food areas are located on the upper tiers, with the seating areas, comprising of a mix of short and long tables are great for groups. Also, the seating area are flanked by high ceilings and a floor to ceiling glass façade on the dining far end. It does give the dining area a feeling of vastness, adding to the dining atmosphere.

A curated international section

Moreover, the buffet selection is an international spread. Food are logically laid out in square sectors. The highlight are their sushi and seafood selections. Here, you can find large Japanese staple Sushi platters served in the displayed in bento-like containers.

There is a good variety for your choosing. Additionally, fresh prawns and a small selection of shellfish, such as calms and mussels also served on beds of ice. Disappointingly, there are no crayfish lobster, oysters or crab offered on lunch buffets. But you do get them on dinner and weekends, but of course at a higher price point.

Try the chef’s corner

Furthermore, there is a small Indian section comprising of a couple of curry pots. Also, if freshly cooked food is your fancy, you be delighted to know that there is a dedicated counter manned by a chef dishing out chicken rice, char siew and char kuay teow cooked to your fancy.

Moreover, I personally found this section one of the highlights of the buffet you should go for here. Also, for the noodle section, you can individually choose your mix of noodle before passing them over to the kitchen staff to cook for you at a style of your liking.

In addition, topping up on desserts, do try their Choc mousse honeydew pudding. Additionally, these are served in tiny cups and stored in self-help chillers in the dessert section.

Similarly, you can also find drinks and salads are served on beds of crushed chilled ice. Selections includes fruits punches and various mixes. There is also a small section of fresh fruits, though I wished the variety was larger.

Fruits

Drinks on ice

Local delights

Tad like a mini Shangri-la buffet lite

Come to think about it, the J65 Buffet at JEN Hotel is tad like a mini offering of Shangri-la’s The Line offerings. Also, this is also considering that Shangri-la is the parent company of Jen Hotels, where they could shared similar food supply chain offerings. Of course, you only get the best cuts and offerings at the Shangri-la branch.

However, while executed well, I found there is nothing much unique about the buffet. It is pretty much a run-of-a-mill hotel buffet sticking to a tried and tested recipe. Also, I found the selection tad similar to those offered on our visit to Beach Road kitchen at South Beach, but not quite up there in terms of quality.

Furthermore, restaurant service is reasonably good, particular on off-peak days. Empty plates are promptly cleared from your table after leaving for more food. Food is replenished reasonably quickly.

Moreover, at times the restaurant runs several good discount deals, particularly credit card deals where 1-1 offers are not uncommon. Hence, it pays to check whether any banks you have credit or debit cards with, particular have any on-going offers.

All in all, Jen positions itself in a pretty interesting buffet market segment. It sits above the budget offers but sits in the more affordable price range ($68/pax++ for adults) below premium offers such as the those offered by it bigger Shangri-La parent. But with it comes a set of compromises in terms of variety, at the expense of a more wallet-friendly price.

Verdict:

Must Go! | Actually pretty Good | Worth Trying | Shortlist Optionally | Should Avoid

J65 Buffet JEN Hotel Locality Map
JEN Hotel Singapore Tanglin by Shangri-La
1A Cuscaden Rd,
Level 1 Hotel Jen,
Singapore 249716
Opening Hours: 6:30am–11pm