Susan's Blog: Singapore's LARGEST Charcoal Grilled & Shabu Shabu

Friday, 13 September 2013

Singapore's LARGEST Charcoal Grilled & Shabu Shabu - Sakura Buffet

Date of visit: 18.08.2013

Sakura Charcoal Grill & Shabu Shabu is located at Marina Country Club.

If you are wondering where's Marina Country Club, it's at rear of Punggol where you can see Johor Bahru just the opposite of the shore.

Claims to be the largest charcoal grill and shabu shabu restaurant, Sakura caters for 600 pax!

Can cater for a fleet of army already, omg.

Was skeptical about it cos' the Sakura International Buffet at Tampines Safra and Downtown East did not impress me. Not sure where our guts came from, hubby and I went in despite of it looking almost empty at around 5.50pm.

There were yachts and speed boats at the piers.

And we were given a table near that refreshing sea view. It didn't matter, cos' later, our eyes, heart and souls forsake the scenery for food >.<

We were given a table enough for 4 pax. Table can't be any smaller as there's both hot pot and grill. Be it steamboat or whatever grill, I always prefer charcoal over electric pots/grills. I suppose many of you prefers the same too, right? So burning charcoals sets excitement ablaze lolxx...

You guys better appreciate the following photos, cos' it took me a long loooooooong time to snap them. Okay, not very long lah, about 10 mins? But it was long enough to drive me crazy as the more photos I took, the more anxious I became, just wanna to get done with the photos and take the food ASAP, couldn't tahan any longer, couldn't wait!!! Heehee.....

The place is so HUGE, I was actually taken by surprise. I thought huge restaurants are only found in China, so I found one in Singapore now! Missed out a few pics of some food counters but I had tried my best liao.

Hubby (in grey shirt) scooping dip sauces. Behind the dip sauce counter are various cooked food and shark's fin soup which I didn't take pics.

The variety of the condiments was almost "you name it, they have it".

There were 3 ice-cream fridges, but not sure if the flavours were repeated.

Sushi fridge, so much to chose from!

Close-up, looking neat and reasonably good.

Vegetable counters.

Salad bar with very fresh and huge prawns.

Fruit and jelly fridge.

Besides it was a fridge of desserts with yummy durian puffs, Japanese mochi, puddings and cakes which I didn't take pic, so sorry >.<

Yong Tau Fu counter with many trays of all sorts of meat/fish balls and different types of tofu.

Duck meat alone had more than 3 choices with different marinates.

Chicken got even more variety with different cuts and marinates.

Here's a fridge of mutton.

I missed out the beef counter. No pork here cos' this restaurant is halal certified.

Satay and ham rolls with pin head mushrooms, there were otah too, but not in this pic.

Beds of salmon.

Salmon skin taste heavenly after grilling to crisp.

Hot and cold drinks dispensers. There were soft drink dispensers too, but not in pic.

Part of our food greed. Notice the 2 little foil containers on the grill? Was grilling teriyaki salmon and garlic dou ~~meow~~ mao, damn nice you know!! We also took some butter head lettuce (top left corner) for wrapping of BBQ meat in Korean style :P~~~

Gotten 6 dip sauces, waahaahaa......

At this junction, my phone hor, connected itself to Malaysia line -___-|||

Eat until I burst.

By 6.30pm, all tables by the sea view were occupied. More and more tables were being occupied. Those who came in after 7pm were given tables farther away from the sea view. The restaurant was about half-filled by then. Half-filled meaning about 300 pax, that's a lot already, seriously!

Some lip smacking items we had tried were:

For grill - Mid chicken wings never disappoint, sinful but 眼前的幸福比减肥重要...... Salmon skin was very crispy with addictive saltish taste. Beef was great wrapped with butter head lettuce and dip with chilli sauce. Teriyaki salmon was the "Signature dish" here, almost every table was having it! So yummy that we had quite a few fillet of it.

For shabu shabu - The initial broth came bland. As usual, the taste improve gradually. Lost count of the types of vegs and mushrooms available, they were all very fresh. The hot pot was so satisfying with my favourite clams and mussels. Did not take any meat for shabu shabu as we had a lot for the grill.

For desserts - Must cater some stomach space for mini durian puffs. The durian fillings were rich and creamy, it's a shame to stop at one. Japanese mochi not bad too.

Overall - Le hubby and I ate until we could hardly move. Not able to try every item as the variety was too massive. Having sinful grill with not-so-oily shabu shabu was a great experience and sort of "balance" things up. We were extremely busy grilling and watching over the hot pot (and eating non-stop) but it was very enjoyable ^^ It's non aircon, but the ventilation was good with electric fans all over. Super value for money. Total bill was $64.20 for 2 pax with 7% GST, no service charge.

Here's the price list, take note that lunch is only available on weekend and public holiday.