Good food, magnificent view at RMS Portview

WHAT's steaming hot, absolutely delicious, a healthy choice of offerings and yet light on the pocket?

Try RMS Portview Seafood Restaurant's delightful steamboat buffet. And it is not just about food affair over here, for you will surely love the experience of dining while looking out to the twinkling night lights of Kampong Ayer on the other side of the river.

After a helping of the sumptuous food, step out of the cool air-conditioned comfort of the restaurant and take a breather at the sweeping balcony. Just breathe in the night breeze and relax amidst the pleasing tranquillity.

As the stars and moonlight envelop your gaze across the water, you might catch a glimpse of the water taxi shooting across the river with passengers onboard, or perhaps it could be a fisherman's boat cruising in the middle of the river.

Turn your head and let your eyes wander back into the restaurant where more treats await you.

RMS Portview Seafood Restaurant is part of the RMS group of restaurants of which the family members are the famous Fratini's — pizza and pasta speciality restaurant, Zaika — North Indian cuisine and RMS Diner — featuring snacks, burgers and sticks.

Over a relaxing steamboat dinner there recently, I had the chance to savour fresh seafood and other delectable ingredients that were cooked to an aromatic delight in steamboat pots, placed in the centre of our table, fried with noodles and rice by Chef Werapong from Thailand. That evening, he wowed us with his amazing skills at the wok.

Just tell the chef your desirable flavours and styles, then sit back and enjoy the live cooking show as chef Werapong prepare food to your liking. He will prepare the dishes using your chosen ingredients and spiced them up with a host of sauces and condiments such as fried garlic, cut chilli, pepper, salt, sugar and four different types of specialty sauces.

Waltzing through the buffet counter, I had a gala time picking ingredients from an array of seafood selections that ranges from fish slices to fish balls, squids, crabs, prawns, and crabsticks. There were also other items like Japanese tofu, black mushrooms, carrots, vegetables and eggs.

You can can either have them steamboat or let Chef Werapong concoct scrumptious dishes for you. I did both initially, taking a huge plate of ingredients to the two steamboat stoves, one was filled with boiling chicken soup while the other tom yam soup.

Fried noodles was top on my lists and with my plate laden with a wide selection of ingredients, I asked chef Werapong to prepare for me Mee Goreng, cooked with lots of chilli to satisfy my tastebud for a hot dish.

While waiting for the food to be ready, I nibbled on the irresistible deep fried spring rolls. These are also available as part of the buffet and they are spread on a bed of fried noodles.

When the fried noodles came, I quickly cleaned up my plate. The taste was exactly as I desired, simply sensational and spicy. Moreover, every bite was just heavenly so much so that after finishing a plate, I decided to go for a second round. However, the sight of the steaming steamboat pots made me realised that the time has come for me to savour the freshly cooked steamboat items.

Of the two steamboat soups available, I preferred the tom yam flavour which was light yet fragrant with herbs and juices that I could taste a hint of lemon grass, galangal, lime juice, fish sauce and tamarind.

Though the meal was indeed simple, yet it was very satisfying. In addition, it was accompanied by an affordable price tag, elegant setting and ambience, beautiful view and good service standard.Thus, RMS Portview Seafood Restaurant is indeed a good location to enjoy dinner. Besides the steamboat, there is also an ala carte menu where diners can order Asian dishes or even pizzas and pastas from RMS Fratini's outlet downstairs.

A private dining room that can sit 50 people is also available within the restaurant should patrons decide to celebrate a special occasion here.

So if you are thinking of having steamboat for dinner, just head over to RMS Portview Seafood Restaurant.

The Brunei Times