Chongqing Grilled Fish 重庆烤鱼 (Bugis)

It was interesting to find out that @cqgf.sg has a buffet menu, and if you are a big eater, this is a very good option to go for! The weekday lunch buffet cost just $28.80, with many grilled fish and side dishes that you can order.

Among all the variations of grilled fish we ordered, the 𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙯𝙝𝙤𝙪 𝙊𝙡𝙙 𝙎𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙂𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙁𝙞𝙨𝙝 was our favourite. The patin fish used was very meaty and really fresh, and we loved how flaky it was! It was cooked in a very fragrant chilli oil that isn't too spicy and yet very flavourful!

Among the many selections of side dishes that we enjoyed such as saliva chicken, seasoned black fungus as well as egg fried rice, the 𝙁𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙈𝙖𝙣 𝙏𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙈𝙞𝙡𝙠 was the perfect accompaniment to the grilled fish. It was crispy, fluffy and the sweet touch of the condensed milk gave a good break to the savoury meal we were having.

Can't wait to be back to have a feast with my friends here again!

The main star of the night is the signature Spicy Numbing Patin Fish 川味麻辣水果鱼($44). The mild spicy level is quite comfortable and the fish is very soft and flavourful. However, it is also quite salty and you definitely need some rice to go with it. The fish already comes with a number of sides such as scallops and clams, and we added on other sides such as mushroom platter, black fungus, thick vermicelli, frozen beancurd, Chinese cabbage and fried beancurd skin, which makes it a really hearty meal.

Overall, the food is on the saltier side and it does get a little jelak towards the end but I still enjoyed this on the whole!

For appetiser, we ordered Sliced Pork Belly with Spicy Garlic Sauce 蒜泥白肉 ($8.90) and the fragrant garlic sauce goes well with the thinly sliced pork belly.

They initially served this without lighting the fire below the pot, and we were wondering why the food was slightly cold. When we asked them to light it, the waitress never got back to us and we had to ask another. Took awhile for us to finally be able to start eating.

Mushrooms were super duper chewy, my jaws were quite tired after some time. The beansprouts were very raw so I didn’t really like it. Tastewise it was so-so I think. On the menu this was a speciality, but I thought there was nothing really amazing about it.

Service wasn’t very great in general. The waiting times for food was quite long, we already finished most of our previous dishes before this one even arrived.

It was quite packed on a weekday evening, but fortunately we made a reservation. Do note that if you make a reservation, all your guests have to be present before the restaurant allows you to be seated.

I went for their buffet which consists of mala grilled fish and a range of ala carte dishes.

For the mala grilled fish, I had sea bass in spicy fragrant flavor with medium spiciness level. I added quite a number of sides as this is a buffet😝. A side that I think you could give it a miss is the handmade noodles because it gets bloated and soggy easily.

For the ala carte dishes, I highly recommend their La Zi Ji and Stir-Fried Garlic Butter Lala!! We just couldn’t stop ourselves from getting more garlic butter Lala 🤤!

Though I feel their mala grilled fish isn’t the best, it was nonetheless a satisfying meal. I really love having mala grilled fish with great company!

The dish was aromatic, chicken cubes were very crispy - with each crunch it was just an explosion of delicious oil (trying not to think about h e a l t h). The mala spices was actually not too spicy or numbing, so it was easy to eat and finish.

The plate looked huge but there wasn’t many chicken cubes in the pile - it was quite fun going on a hunt for them!

$16 is a little expensive for how little meat there is in this dish. We used the Beyond 1-for-1 deal so that made it slightly more affordable.

Service wasn’t very great, we were served one dry pot dish where they had forgotten to put wax and light the fire - and they really took a long time to get back to us for this. The waiting times for food was quite long, we finished this chicken dish before our other dishes even arrived.

It was quite packed on a weekday evening, but fortunately we made a reservation. Do note that if you make a reservation, all your guests have to be present before the restaurant allows you to be seated.