Gone are the various types of meat and a couple of local dishes being stuffed into heated trays for patrons' takings. Replacing them are mains being cooked and served piping hot upon selection and indication to the service staff that one is ready for the main course. I totally love this change. While now one can only get one main dish unlike last time, it is a dish lovingly and specially cooked for the one who ordered it. And it is obvious more efforts are put into preparing of these dishes. Main dishes should be freshly cooked and served hot, with exception to Japanese sushi, sashimi somen and such, and picking or scooping mildly warm meats or vegetables cooked in various ways, fried rice and those usual suspects just does not work for me. This place had once changed the spread when I commented about the lack of variety in the mains section. This time, they exceed my expectations to provide more than just variety.
Variety is definitely there when it comes to choosing the mains. I opt for the vegetarian dish: Choux Gnocchi. Infused with the woody aroma of truffle, paired with the light, flavourful cream sauce, the chewy but not overly so dumplings taste exceptional. Even my companion, a meat eater, sings praises of this dish.
I only try a bit of the sea bass, and I can say it is a fish well-done—no fishy smell and nicely cooked to achieve a bit of grilled meat flavour while retaining the moisture and pliable texture.
Clockwise from top: butter, bread, potato salad, chuka hotate, smoked salmon with smoked trout underneath, jellyfish, foie gras terrine. Chicken salad in the centre.
The hors d'oeuvres were good last time due to the feature of pretty exotic dishes. Now, they are excellent because of the sheer variety of appetizers, with more seafood used. Staples are smoked salmon, potato salad, garden greens, hams, fresh sliced red tomatoes, maki rolls, salmon terrine, rillettes and salads that have beef, which I did not touch. These dishes do fine to cater to different palates, but what steal the show are the seasonal ones. Crab salad made with real, flavourful crab meat, and put out in generous portions, chuka hotate, jellyfish—yes, it's the kind most enjoy at wedding banquets, fresh, huge whole prawns, chicken salad—the combination of pickled capsicums and roasted sliced chicken simply works and foie gras terrine, which is a real decadent treat—the chocolate sponge may not be match made in heaven with the foie gras, but the duck liver is so insanely flavourful, without the oiliness, that I have no problem finishing two large slabs of them. The appetizers here are more than enough to create a happy belly.
Some of the breads score points from the herbs added into them. There are namely two kinds of bread I will like: warm, freshly baked artisan breads and those with unique tastes that complement the dough well. And the bread I had tried belongs to the latter. Would have been better if they are served warm, but since this is a buffet, it is hard to nit-pick on this.
The additional Pacific Oysters ordered meet our expectations also, being fresh and clean in taste. And there is a nice touch of wrapping the lemon in muslin cloth so the fingers will not be drenched in lemon juice, and seeds will not be scattered all over the oysters.
Desserts are still as good and impressive. As seen in one of the photos below, my desserts of the day are Citrus shooter, where the mildly tangy citrus custard complements the rich cream very well, berry cake and Strawberry Champagne—champagne jelly and strawberry custard, the great pairing of tastes.
Service is as good as ever, and one of the managers even remembers us. The interior of the restaurant is very grand as I had mentioned before.
Last time, I had written that this restaurant is worth a try. Now, I will say this restaurant is a must try, especially when the lunch experience costs $54++ only.
Update: There are several changes to the menu, including the shrinking of the selection of the free-flow of appetizers. Mains are very different too. Yes, no more gnocchi that I love. It’s replacement is hardly noteworthy for me to even remember what it is. Hope things will go back to how it was soon.
My Thoughts: Nice!
Nearest car park: St Regis Hotel's car park
Nearest MRT: Orchard
The St Regis Hotel
Lobby Level
29 Tanglin Road
Singapore
Contact No: 65066860
