Despite $1Mil Loss Due To Pandemic, Restaurant Offers $39.80 Buffet With Peking Duck, Abalone

Following the success of their affordable all-you-can-eat a la carte buffet, Cantonese restaurant Happy Joy Restaurant has upgraded its menu to offer an even wider spread.

The old-school establishment at Hotel Royal in Newton will launch its souped-up menu featuring “over 40 dishes”, including signature items like Peking Duck, Deep-Fried Soon Hock Fish, Thai Sauce Whole Abalone, Braised Shark’s Fin Soup with Crab Meat, and Steamed Rice with Wax Meat – which are all regulars’ favourites.

The spread also features appetisers, boiled soup of the day, zi char main courses, and dessert. The new additions are: German Pork Knuckles, Duck Meat with Plum Sauce, Sambal Fried Long Beans, Fried Tofu with Thai Sauce, and Braised Beancurd.

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  1 of 4Available daily for lunch and dinner

  At $39.80 per adult and $19.90 per child daily, the upgraded buffet, which will be launched this Sunday, March 13, is pretty competitively priced. A similar a la carte buffet at Tunglok Signatures at Clarke Quay Central is $38.80 and $48.80 for lunch and dinner respectively. Happy Joy’s current buffet, which offers around 35 dishes instead of 40, costs $36.80.

  To sweeten the deal, if you come in a group of four, one person dines free.

  The buffet is available for both lunch and dinner, with a minimum of three pax to dine.

  The 300-seat restaurant accepts walk-ins, though reservations are recommended.

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  2 of 4Only one order of signature dishes allowed per table

  There are some limitations though. Each table is only allowed to order one serving of each of the more opulent seven signature dishes. The majority of the dishes come in “adjusted portions”, depending on the number of diners (for example, you don’t get a whole Peking duck if there are only three of you). Meanwhile, the other dishes such as Poached Fresh Prawns and Coffee Pork Ribs are free-flow. And while there is no dining time limit, be prepared to wait as food is cooked a la minute upon order to ensure freshness.

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  3 of 4Suffered almost $1 million in losses since pandemic

  Happy Joy started out as a neighbourhood restaurant in Bukit Merah Central in 1986 and boasts a loyal following. It launched the buffet promo in 2020 to attract more customers following a dearth of tourists and events due to the pandemic, and it has been a mainstay ever since.

  Despite rising food costs and “losses of almost $1 million” over the past two years, Happy Joy is adamant about not raising prices too much, says second-generation owner Tommy Leo.

  “Traditional restaurants like us are rare and it’s really hard to survive due to the dine-in restrictions and lack of events. We are losing a lot of money, but my parents want to push on because they poured their blood, sweat, and tears into the business,” Tommy tells 8days.sg.

  “We were still doing okay, but recently because of the rise in Omicron cases, a lot of people don’t dare to go out, so it’s quite quiet now.”

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  4 of 4The details

  The new buffet is available from Mar 13. Happy Joy Restaurant is at 36 Newton Rd, #02-01, Hotel Royal, S307964. Tel: 6251 8135, 6254 8587.

  Open daily from 11.30am-2.15pm, 6pm-9.15pm. More info via Facebook or website.

  Photos: Happy Joy Restaurant