Sandbank - Eat, Drink, Plunge

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If you've heard about The Bank at Shenton Way, you will be delighted to know that they've got a sister outlet at East Coast Park! Sandbank - where you eat and drink while the children take a plunge. 

Plunge? Oh yes, they've got a 15m outdoor plunge pool, separated into two. One for the bigger children [deeper pool] and the other for the younger ones. I had such a hard time tearing my children out of the water. Even french fries and apple juice briberies couldn't get them to stop. Our appeals to go for a shower was met with two resounding "NO"s. Ewan eventually left with me because he needed to pee while Faye was removed by force. *haha* No children were hurt in the process. The marketing idea to this dining-cum-plunge concept is fantastic! Parents get to indulge in a quiet meal at the Sandbank, sea breeze blowing in their hair, while their little ones play to their hearts' content. 

Halt.  

Not for our young family. The children are only one and three years old. They need parental supervision at all times especially in the waters. That meant, only one of us is able to enjoy the quiet-meal-at-sandbank-sea-breeze-blowing-in-hair experience. *woops* However, the little ones had a splashing good time. Food is obviously secondary to them. The water play is the biggest draw.

There is a public shower room next to Sandbank. Cold water, standing showers [cubicle and outdoorsy kinds] and a push tap system. I think it takes a lot of skill to wash suds off active kids while try to push the tap many times over to get running water. Motherhood had changed me. I never thought I could manage situations like these in the past.

Reviews are very personal. Firstly, our experiences are different even though we can be there at the same time and place. Secondly, our tastebuds are different. My dining experience at Sandbank this morning was unfortunately not the finest. As an ex-hotelier, I am pretty particular about service standards and procedures. Operationally, there can be several challenges but not something a restaurant cannot handle if given proper training and practice.

Sandbank rolled out a new breakfast concept over weekends for a month now. They serve a good spread of buffet breakfast from Nasi Lemak to Breakfast Cereals. I was delighted to find that they even have an egg station cooked a-la-minute! It takes a little imagination, not a lot, to believe that you are having your breakfast at a beach-front resort. Ewan was thrilled to see the cereal containers and went two rounds at it. 

Alas. Those cereals. They were the start to my critics.

CEREAL

When Ewan was halfway through his first bowl of cereal, I noticed an ant on the outside of the bowl. I shoved it away thinking it must have crawled in from the table. I am not anal about that one ant. He wiped that bowl out and went for a second serving. He took a few spoonfuls and I noticed another ant. This time, in the bowl. Took the bowl from him and inspected. Sadly, there were four ants crawling out from the cereal. I wonder how many ants had he downed in his course of breakfast. The servers were swift with their response to my findings and changed the cereal canisters to a fresh batch. I hope no one else had ants for breakfast!

UTENSILS

Table settings are basic. Regrettably, Sandbank didn't think ahead to place utensils and serviettes on the table. A common practice at buffets is: Take Plate, Queue, Take Food, Table. That's what we did. Only to find that there were no spoons or serviettes at the table which were placed at a common area where we were expected to pick up. Well, it isn't a big deal and we aren't royalties to start with. However, like I first mentioned, I feel that table settings are basic.

I believe the reason behind this is the fact that they've priced the menu at a nett rate. There is no service charge so please help yourselves to the water, serviettes and utensils. Yet, we are still being served by the waiters. They cleared our plates so that our tables do not get too cluttered. Unfortunately, our server cleared our utensils as well. So, we had to pick up new utensils for subsequent rounds. 

FOOD

Promising at first sight and truly, deserve some raving reviews for the quality of their food. The curry that went with the prata received a thumbs up from my husband. The baked beans and bacon were really well made and those plates of Egg Benedicts we ordered. They were really yummy! My only gripe is the food doesn't get replenished fast enough. I heard there were chicken wings and fried fish to go with the Nasi Lemak? Unfortunately, I only had ikan bills and hash browns to go with my Nasi. They must be really good to be snapped off so quickly! Tells a lot doesn't it? That, or everyone is terribly hungry.

PRICE

Adult: S$19 Nett

Child: S$9.50 Nett [4 to 12 years old] | FOC for children below 4 years old

The breakfast buffet line is opened from 0830 to 1200 hours and each seating is two hours. We were not counting but coincidentally, we stayed at Sandbank for two hours and it is just nice for a family to eat leisurely including some time for water play. 

Will we return despite all that's been mentioned? Even though the daddy shared that the water in the plunge pool left a smell on his shirt when he got splashed? We won't rule it out totally and will return with friends if we were invited to for a gathering. We've had a couple of lunches at Sandbank before and weren't disappointed by them. The tables were set with basic utensils for lunch and dinners *nods nods* and I must add, I was impressed at my first visit to Sandbank when they first opened. Besides the plunge pools as an enticement for the kids, the three TV screens airing football and tennis in the main dining hall is a big lure to Mr Yang, my husband.

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