COCA Restaurant Tasting Session 2022
391 Orchard Road
#04-23 Ngee Ann City
5 Stadium Walk
#02-01 Leisure Park Kallang
3 Temasek Boulevard
#02-440 Suntec City
Opening Hours:
Daily: 11:30am - 3pm, 6pm - 10:30pm
https://coca.com.sg/
This was an invited media review. I did not pay for the meal during the free hosted tasting session, but I did pay the standard price during subsequent visits.
Attended with representatives from Jennifer Yeo Lifestyle, Chubby Botak Koala, msginginly, and Purple Taste.
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| Hot Pot Flat Lay |
Popular Thai-Chinese Steamboat Buffet
(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 7
Ambience & Setting: 8
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 6
Value for Money: 7
Budget about SGD $53++ per person.
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Founded way back in 1957, along the Soi Dejo road of Bangkok, Thailand, COCA Restaurant is a Thai hot pot / steamboat restaurant franchise that has since gone international. COCA Restaurant first opened its doors in Singapore in 1987, and now, over 2 decades later, is still holding its place as the premier high-end Thai steamboat / hot pot restaurant.
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| COCA Restaurant Signage |
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| COCA Restaurant Exterior |
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| COCA Restaurant Interior |
Ambience at COCA Restaurant is modern fancy, with a classy up-market feel. The warm lights, comfortable cushioned chairs, and wide tables, are great for long lingering meals with a full steamboat buffet spread. Background chatter and staff movement lend a bustling atmosphere. The well-ventilated environment means you don't leave with lingering odours, making for a pleasant dining experience.
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| Decor |
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| Seating |
Service at COCA Restaurant is friendly and discreet, though it's sometimes difficult to attract the staff's attention as there aren't many of them. Staff accord each table personalised attention, and appear relatively knowledgeable on the menu. They carry out requests efficiently, and clean up quickly when diners leave. That said, you'll have to call them to top up drinks and clear empty plates throughout the meal.
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| Service Counter |
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| COCA Restaurant Hot Pot Buffet Prices |
Food at COCA Restaurant is Thai Chinese steamboat hot pot buffet, tasty and filling. The menu has an extensive range, and ingredients are fresh and premium. The buffet style means you can call unlimited portion servings from your chosen range (but note the penalties for food wastage), with the most affordable already good value. There is a time limit of 100 minutes for dining. Prices are reasonable, starting from SGD $53++ per person.
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| Hot Pot Flat Lay |
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| Us |
The Drinks & Dessert Package (SGD $8 Per Person Set) comes with unlimited refills of your chosen beverage, along with the house dessert of the day, which was fantastic during our visit. I chose the iced lemongrass beverage, which was refreshing with herbal sweet floral flavour.
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| Drinks & Dessert Package (SGD $8 Per Person Set) |
Create your own dipping sauce from the wide variety of base ingredients available. So many possibilities!
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| Sauce Counter |
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| DIY Sauce |
During this visit, we sampled their signature Soup Base Hua Diao Chicken Soup, and their new Soup Base Laksa. Loved the sweet herbal savoury boozy flavour of the Soup Base Hua Diao Chicken Soup, enhanced with Shaoxing rice wine, red dates, spring onions, wolfberries / goji berries, and ginger; carrying a milky white colour. The Soup Base Laksa is more straightforward spicy savoury salty, and less milky in taste, with the laksa leaves with chili lending a pronounced flavour, while the dried tofu bean curd puffs within soak up the gravy; carrying a fiery red orange colour. Pretty good!
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| Soup Base Hua Diao Chicken Soup & Soup Base Laksa |
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| Soup Base Hua Diao Chicken Soup & Soup Base Laksa |
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| Pouring In Shaoxing Rice Wine |
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| Tasting Soup Base Hua Diao Chicken Soup |
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| Cooking |
Staff marinated then flambéed pieces of chicken at the table, then placed it into the hot pot broth. Beyond creating exciting anticipation, this gave the Soup Base Hua Diao Chicken Soup its distinctive flavour.
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| Flambé Marinated Chicken In Hua Diao Wine & Herbs |
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| Flambé Marinated Chicken In Hua Diao Wine & Herbs |
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| Flambé |
Loved the variety of fresh vegetables in the buffet selection. Particularly loved the King Oyster Mushroom with its chewy tender texture and vegetal earthy savoury flavour, the soft Spinach with vegetal sweet flavour, and the crisp Tang O / Garland Chrysanthemum with its vegetal bitter herbal sweet flavour. Good!
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| Vegetables - King Oyster Mushroom, Cabbage, Spinach, Tang O, Bean Curd Skin |
The range of fresh meats from the buffet selection is above average in quality. Most are thinly sliced to enable quick cooking. Among them, I loved the tender succulent Beef for its fresh meaty savoury sweet flavour, and the chunky chewy Chicken which picked up the herbal sweet savoury notes of the broth. The soft Luncheon Meat / Spam held meaty salty savoury flavour, and I feel it's better with spicy broths. Good!
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| Meat Beef |
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| Meat Chicken |
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| Meat Pork |
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| Meat Luncheon Meat / Spam |
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| Meat Lamb |
Excited by the fresh seafood in the buffet selection. The prawns were a stand-out, juicy and succulent with bright meaty sweet savoury flavour, while the tender Mackerel Fish absorbed the broth to gain meaty sweet savoury salty flavour. The interesting Jellyfish was crunchy and picked up the spicy savoury salty notes of the laksa decently. Good!
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| Seafood Prawns |
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| Seafood Oysters |
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| Seafood Mackerel Fish |
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| Seafood Jellyfish |
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| Seafood Flower Crab |
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| Seafood Fish Maw |
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| Seafood Fish Ball With Roe |
The specials were hit and miss, but by and large, decent enough. Of note was the Shrimp Paste, whose sweet savoury salty flavour was delicious enough that we ordered 3 rounds of it. The Noodles Thai Mama goes great with steamboat, and dunking it with their house sauces made it so tasty. Good!
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| Special Stuffed Bean Curd Skin |
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| Special Shrimp Wanton |
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| Special Shrimp Paste |
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| Special Fish Ravioli |
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| Special Fish Glue |
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| Noodles Thai Mama |
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| Noodles Green Spirulina |
The Drinks & Dessert Package (SGD $8 Per Person Set) features the Dessert Coconut Ice Cream With Gula Melaka Sago to finish off the meal. Loved the premium, creamy smooth coconut ice cream and its earthy floral sweet milky flavours. The rich gula melaka / palm sugar coated the springy tapioca sago balls with deep floral sweet earthy flavour, really addictive. Excellent, so yummy. Highly recommended!
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| Dessert Coconut Ice Cream With Gula Melaka Sago (SGD $8 Per Person Set) |
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| Dessert Coconut Ice Cream With Gula Melaka Sago |
Couldn't be happier dining at COCA Restaurant, with its fancy ambience, discreet service, and tasty Thai Chinese steamboat food, at relatively reasonable prices. Am looking forward to our next visit to COCA Restaurant!
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CONVERSATION