So… I had an entry where I shared suggestions on last minute gifts suggestions. Now.. here’s my suggestions on where to eat! For those who have yet to make any reservations this Christmas Eve / Christmas / New Year Eve / New Year. All of you “last minute queens”!
For the buffet lovers: Those who love variety at one easy price.
1. The “Festive season must eat festive food” person.
We all know such a person. The super enthusiastic person who worships Christmas. The person who HAS to eat “Christmas food” during the festive seasons. Ham and a turkey is a must in the holiday meal!
Park Hotel Clarke Quay.
I visited Park Hotel Clarke Quay in late November and sampled their Christmas menu.
Ham, Turkey, Prime Rib. All of the holiday essentials are covered in Park Hotel’s buffet. Not only that, they have a healthy selection of seafood.
Yours truly paid LOADS of attention to this section.
Intercontinental Hotel Groups Christmas specials.
Personally, I find it a lil bit confusing when I attend tastings that are hosted by more than one hotel. I can’t remember what item I ate was from which hotel in the end!
Thankfully, the majority of what I ate in this tasting was super delish.
Perhaps it was the bubbly that got me confused?
The Roast Turkey offered was tender and juicy. I always had the impression that turkey meat was extremely dry and I was pleasantly surprised by this.
I loved the Honey and Pineapple Glazed Ham from Azur, Crowne Plaza Hotel! I loved the sensation of both the acidity and sweetness from both the pineapple and ham.
While this ain’t “Christmassy”, I really enjoyed the Claypot Rice and Stewed Duck dishes from Intercontintal Hotel.
Desserts are always a delight at buffets. I stuffed my face silly. LOG CAKE! Macaroons! OMG. Do try the buffets from IHG but if you’ll have to pick one, I’ll recommend Crowne Plaza!
2. “I want buffet but Christmas menus are too mainstream” person.
Those who scoff at Christmas menus but yet want to pig out at a buffet.
Sunday Brunch at Bar and Billiard Room.
If you are feeling rich and would like to impress a date, Bar and Billiard is the way to go.
Not only do they serve the freshest seafood with a good variety…
With yummy meat…
WITH A FOIE GRAS STATION! *hyperventilates*
With free flow of champagne!
Living the taitai life. For S$198++ per person, I think it is definitely worthwhile for special occasions or hosting someone. Best if you are eating on the company’s expenses. *coughs*
3. No buffets, no Christmas menus. I am forced to eat out on this terrible packed holiday and I feel as festive as the Christmas Grinch.
21 on Rajah.
Not my first time there, I visited 21 on Rajah recently to sample their menu after they’ve changed chefs. I thought that their Communal Dining Menu was rather interesting. Perfect to share amongst close friends and a variety of various dishes to suit the majority.
I really liked the Salmon Gravalax as I felt that it was really light and simple to start of as an appetizer. The Salmon while a tad salty tasted really well with the Mayonnaise and Bread!
The Beef Cheek with Paella was my favourite dish. I thought the beef cheeks was really tender and juicy and coupled with the Paella was a super satisfying meal! It did remind me of a very malay dish though! I thought this dish was a complete meal by itself!
I loved their Mango Savarin and Dark Chocolate Fondant! The Mango Savarin was light, simple and not overwhelming where else the Dark Chocolate Fondant was a delight! Any molten lava cake WITH icecream was a winner in my opinion!
For the alcoholics, they have a Sangria Buffet where you can mix your very own concoction. I believe even the Christmas Grinch will feel happier with a few glasses of alcohol!
4. I wanna get my hands dirty!
For those who scoff at chichi restaurants and prefer to get their hands dirty and tackle a claw or two, you’ll definitely have to try Melben Signature and Uncle Leong’s.
Mellben Signature at BestWay Building
I am an avid patron of Mellben Seafood and have visited them quite frequently and when I was invited by Maybelline to try out the BestWay Building branch, I was quite intrigued to find out what makes it different from the AMK branch.
For one, the queue is much shorter at BestWay. I’m guessing because of the location, there is not much of a natural crowd due to it being in the CBD area. I’ll only highlight the dishes that I really enjoyed and I feel are must-orders!
One does NOT go to Mellben without ordering it’s Crab Beehoon! I am a huge fan of the Crab Beehoon. The sweetness of the milky buttery soup coupled with the thick beehoon and the sweetness of the meat is a sensory overload. I can’t get enough of this dish and truth to be told, I’ll be happy with just this dish. The c(hubby) and I always share this dish between the both of us. SHIOKADOO!
I personally felt that if this scallop dish was a bit spicier, it would have been perfect!
CHILLI CRAB! Mellben is known for it’s chilli crab and this outlet is no exception. The mantous coupled with the spicy chilli crab sauce were shiokadoo! The crab meat was fresh and I was craving for seconds..
I thought that the salad prawns were something refreshing after the heavy chilli crab dish. Super QQ!
Overall, a great experience! Definitely will return back to Mellben 🙂
Uncle Leong Seafood at Punggol
As a future Punggol resident, I was excited to try out Uncle Leong Seafood. Much love to BFF for bringing me as her +1.
Uncle Leong Seafood is located at Tebing Lane. A bit hard to get to, it is best to travel there via private transport.
I really enjoyed the Fortune Chicken. They were rather generous with the usage of herbs and the result was a very flavourful dish.
The mini wok beancurd was a very simple but yet pleasing dish. Beancurd with a generous amount of sauce with minced meat, definitely a favourite with the families.
We tried the Shimmering Sand Crab Delight which reminded me a bit of butter crab although this had more “texture”. The sauce was a bit watery for my liking, would have preferred that it was a tad thicker. But it was still rather enjoyable. I didn’t really fancy the white pepper crab and gave it a miss after trying a bit of the sauce. Acquired taste, I guess?
We ended the meal with the refreshing honey sea coconut. I do think that Uncle Leong Seafood has huge potential. Looking forward to trying their Chilli Crab next time!
I hope you had fun reading this!
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