Princess Terrace Authentic Penang Food
Princess Terrace Cafe’s cosy and nostalgic ambience transports one from the hustle and bustle of the city to a cultural food haven, living up to the reputation as one of the best buffet restaurants in Singapore. It is located in Copthorne King’s Hotel – a Millennium Hotel & Resorts property – along the touristy Havelock Road.
The restaurant serves predominantly Peranakan cuisine, but has also included several famous Penang street food items in its menu as well. It received Singapore Tatler’s Best Restaurants Award in 2019/2020.
Princess Terrace Buffet Price
- Buffet Lunch (12pm to 2:30pm)
- Adult: $50.00++ per person
- Child: $25.00++ per person
- Buffet Dinner (6pm to 10pm)
- Adult: $50.00++ per person
- Child: $25.00++ per person
Princess Terrace Menu
Below are Princess Terrace’s buffet menu items:
Soup of the Day
- Too Thor Thng
Show Kitchen Concept
- Penang Hokkien Mee
- Penang Assam Laksa
- Kway Teow Thng
- Ark Thui Mee Sua
- Penang Curry Mee
- Penang Char Kway Teow
- Penang Fried Carrot Cake
- Lor Bah with Sweet Chilli Sauce
- Homemade Durian Bang Chang Kueh
- Penang Popiah with Sliced Prawn
- Kueh Pie Tee with Prawn Meat
- Rojak
- Cuttlefish and Kang Kong
Main Dishes
- Assam Pedas Prawn
- Fish Otah-Otah in Banana Leaf
- Stir-fried Sotong with Petai
- Kong Bak Pau
- Braised Pork Trotter with Black Vinegar & Dried Chilli
- Grilled Pork Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce
- Ayam Kapitan with Nasi Kunyit in Banana Leaf
- Belachan Chicken Wing
- Braised Broccoli with Mushroom
- Crispy Fried Mee Sua
- Nasi Lemak in Banana Leaf
- Chee Cheong Fun with Chilli Sweet Sauce
- Wok-fried Porridge
Dessert
- Homemade Fine Beancurd
- See Ko Tng
- Bubur Hitam / Bubur Cha Cha
- Assorted Nonya Kueh
- Apom Bokwa served with Banana Sauce
- Assorted Ice Cream
- Assorted Cut Fresh Fruit
- Ice Kachang
- Chendol
Princess Terrace Review
Princess Terrace is located on level 1 of Copthorne King’s Hotel. The hotel is situated along Havelock Road (River Valley area) and surrounded by Furama Riverfront Hotel, Republic Hotel, Hotel Miramar, Fourpoints by Sheraton at Riverview, and The Warehouse Hotel. One can reach the hotel by public bus and drop off outside Hotel Mirarmar, or walk from Outram Park, Chinatown, Clark Quay or Fort Canning MRT stations for about 20 minutes. The hotel has about 80 carpark spaces on street level, with sheltered spaces at the back of the hotel and open-air spaces in front of the hotel entrance.
On the day of our visit, it was drizzling and we had to walk past the unsheltered open-air carpark to reach the hotel’s main entrance. As the rain was pretty light, we were able to reach the entrance without getting drenched. It might be different if there was a heavy shower.
We were in time for our reservation at 6:30pm and proceeded straight to the restaurant on the right of the lobby. We informed the restaurant manager of our Eatigo reservation and were then ushered to our seats immediately. There were no other diners at the restaurant and we were their first guests for the day’s dinner.
As we got seated, the manager informed us that we could use the order chits on the table to place our orders with her for the main dishes and dessert. For the Show Kitchen Concept items, we could proceed to place our orders individually with the 4 chefs at the open kitchen section. The chefs will then prepare the dishes to order. Subsequently, the other server came to offer us drinking water as well as getting our preference on the beverages we would like to have. We requested for a coffee and tea each, which were complimentary.
After which, we went through the order chit and decided to order a little of each dish to try as many of their dishes as possible. We ordered the following for soup and main dishes:
- Too Thor Thng
- Assam Pedas Prawn
- Fish Otah-Otah
- Kong Bak Pau
- Braised Pork Trotter
- Grilled Pork Satay
- Belachan Chicken Wing
We handed the order chit to the server and then proceed to the open kitchen to check out their menu written on the glass windows. We had cravings for several items and went straight for them:
- Penang Assam Laksa
- Penang Char Kway Teow
- Lor Bah
- Kueh Pie Tee
After waiting for a few minutes at the open kitchen, the server had already filled our tables with the main dishes and beverages we ordered earlier. She came over to us and volunteered to deliver the open kitchen items to us when they are ready. We thanked her for her kind gesture and went back to our table to start digging into our dinner.
The Too Thor Thng was peppery and similar to the Singapore rendition of Bak Kut Teh, with the only difference that it uses pig stomach instead of pork ribs to make the soup. The Braised Pork Trotter, Balachan Chicken Wing and Kong Bak Pau tasted like what we have in Singapore but theirs were served using fresh ingredients and hot. Their Fish Otah-Otah was served in Penang-style and with large chunks of fish in the otah paste. The Assam Pedas Prawns came with two large fresh prawns in spicy, sour and savory sauce. The only pity was they they did not devein the prawns.
The highlight of the main dishes was their Grilled Pork Satay. They were flavourful, tender and served hot. The spicy peanut sauce, cucumber and onion that accompanied the satays complemented the meat very well. We ordered 10 sticks for our first helping and another 8 sticks later on. We were disappointed though for our second helping as the meat was hard and appeared to be overcooked. It was hard to bite the meat off the skewers! We suspect that the satays may have been cooked the second time for reheating purpose, or that the chef may have overlooked the cooking time as more guests have arrived by this time.
As for the four dishes we ordered from Show Kitchen Concept, they possessed the authentic Penang flavour (one of us grew up in Penang and can attest to that). The Penang Char Kway Teow came with Lap Cheong (Chinese sausage), beansprout, fresh prawns and scrambled egg sitr-fried cooked to perfection with a smoky taste. It is a must-try at Princess Terrace. The Kueh Pie Tee was served in a crispy skin filled with juicy shredded turnip similar to the fillings in popiahs. It is also highly recommended to try, second only to those at Hotel Jen in Singapore.
The Penang Assam Laksa was above average but nothing much to shout about. It also lacks the prawn paste that is usually served with Assam Laksa in Penang. Their Lor Bah (known as Ngoh Hiang 五香 in Singapore) is more subdued. While the items tasted fine, the sauce was rather bland and flavourless.
Though we had only 11 items off its menu so far, we were rather bloated by this time. We advise diners to pace well between dishes and be more selective on your visit. Nonetheless, in order to provide a more complete review of their menu, we ordered Assorted Nonya Kueh, Bubur Cha Cha, Apom Bokwa with Banana Sauce, and Chendol for dessert.
Their Chendol is a must-have, Bubur Cha Cha and Nonya Kuehs are good-to-haves, and Apom Bokwa can be skipped. The Apom Bokwa is like Min Chiang Kueh with a slimy Banana topping. While its taste was fine, it had a rather funny texture.
After finishing the desserts, we finally came to the end of our meal. We were so full that it we felt a little unwell. That said, we had an enjoyable evening and dinner at Princess Terrace. It was one of the best experiences we have had at buffets in awhile. The service staffs were very friendly, helpful and efficient. The two of them kept peering over 10 or so occupied tables in the restaurant to clear empty plates and to refill the drinking water.
The food was generally great but with some minor improvements needed. We understand they are not a Michelin starred restaurant and have adjusted our expectations accordingly. The environment and atmosphere at the restaurant was relaxing and chilling. It is good for friends to gather and have good chats over a meal.
In all, we rate their food quality a 4/5, their service a 5/5, their environment a 4/5, and their value-for-money a 4.5/5 (considering that we had a 50% off our Eatigo reservation). We highly recommend their buffet to anyone seeking to try Peranakan or Malaysian cuisine in Singapore.
