Bamboo Basket

This place was great. The staff was super friendly and they are open late!
I got the Singapore noodles and my friend got the chicken friend rice. My dish was really flavorful and full of nicely sautéed veggies and the pork in it was tasty. The shrimp were small but the other proteins made up for it.

The problem with Bamboo Basket is that I remember when it used to be the Gourmet Buffet. I used to come in here at least once a week and it was always packed — it was just such good value for money and the food was alright too.
Well now the food is exactly the same, except it isn’t a buffet anymore and it’s gone up in price. Admittedly at lunchtime they’ve recently reduced the cost of it but considering that in the handful of times I’ve felt reminiscent enough to come here for lunch it’s never been busy, I can’t really say that it seemed to be a good idea to switch the restaurant up so much.
I think the real problem is that the food is exactly the same, although they’ve now added dim sum and some soups to the menu. They did at one point have a special little bar where a guy cooked food to order in hot water but I doubt that was sustainable with the reduction in clientèle.
If this place went back to a buffet, even at increased prices then I think it could be the success it once was at lunch times, but instead of going once a week, because of the increased cost and the decreased choice, I’ll stick to my three times a year visits for the time being.

Dim sum is delish and it deserves an upgrade to 4 stars for the true to the tastes as if it just popped out of a Chinese dim sum cart. However, the noodles and other dishes were at best… meh.
Shu Mai & shrimp dumplings were so good we had another round of the same. I’d come here solely for the dim sum and all the choices are widely displayed in the window. You can’t help but choose the visual menu over the printed one.
Calimari was tough, greasy, and required extra jaw muscles to chomp. The shrimp in chili sauce was more drowned in black bean sauce and had no spicy heat to it.
Downstairs is like a secret karaōke club with a full bar and private room. I can see some great drunkeness going off here. Ooohhh we’re halfway there… wooooohhhh living on a prayer…