Dazzling Festive Buffet @ Food Capital

Our pre-Christmas gathering this year was at Food Capital Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel. Visited on a weekday for dinner. Was seated in the insides of the place and just behind the roast meats counter.

all decked out

For the festivities, there's turkey and ham. Then, there are stollen, mince pies and log cakes too. Was disappointed as I discovered that there were no fresh oysters on that day. Bummer. But mood was lifted when I spied that there were baked oysters instead. Yay!

Made a beeline for that as soon as the freshly baked batch of oysters (looked like in trays of 30s or so) was brought out. Peak period are around 7 to 9pm where the yummy morsels were snapped up as soon as they were brought out. Some did not even have an opportunity to be plated onto its display on top of the salt bowl.

baked oysters with cheese

look at that!

Served piping hot, so be careful when biting into those creamy oysters cloaked with melted cheese. Lovely.

The Braised Bobby Veal Shank looked like a favourite since there were mainly bones left standing on its tray at about 7.30pm. I took some and it was pretty tender. Flavour was mild.

Braised Bobby Veal Shank (running out fast)

Typical of us, we will get some sashimi for some light bites before moving onto heavier meats. Food Capital just concluded their Japanese themed buffet recently but no worries, as everyone's favourite sashimi counter is still available.

Was informed that there isn't any salmon belly nor tuna left, so had to make do with just salmon and hamachi. Hmm, suggest to inform the staff that you'd like two servings (even if the portion is for 1 pax) as the staff that was manning the sashimi counter that day sliced it into pretty tiny pieces.

one portion each of salmon and hamachi (刺身)

Nevertheless, fish was fresh and firm so the sashimi was enjoyable. Next to the sashimi counter, is the tempura section. Oooh, how I liked the freshly fried ebi tempura (prawn tempura). So crunchy, still smoking hot and such firm and sweet prawns.

Ebi Tempura (海老天ぷら)

And, for something substantial and if you like soupy noodles, do try the Singapore Laksa. The version here is pretty good although it doesn't have any seahum (cockles). Quail egg is a good idea in a small bowl of laksa. My friends added the chicken meat or roast pork as additional toppings (加料).

Singapore Laksa live station

From the cold seafood counter, my favourite was the boiled prawns. So good. Firm, sweet meat.

enticing red

Lastly, I had a taste of turkey, roast beef and ham. As I was given the breast meat, and the outer sides of the ham, the meat were rather dry. The slice of beef was from a portion that was cooked to medium doneness.

traditional roast turkey

And then, finally, we moved on to dessert. First time trying the festive minced pies. Hmm, I will categorize it within the same category as fruit cake. Meaning, not my favourite. Hahaa!

minced pie

cakes

My friends liked the bread and butter pudding. For me, I like the traditional log cake for those crunchy crunchy things in it.

dessert platter for one 

For finale, finish off with affogato. One shot of espresso from the coffee machine and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream from the ice-cream conter.

affogato

Thankful for the friends who had gathered to spend time before the festivities.

Once again, thank you Gilbert for your help and JC who took time off to meet up with us.

Here's wishing everyone Happy Festivities and with many more good eats to come. Be healthy, be happy.

A short video of the Winter Wonderland display at the hotel lobby: