Together for Christmas @ Oscar's (Conrad Centennial Singapore)

The group has decided on buffet for this year's Christmas gathering, so we descended on to Oscar's at Conrad Hotel.

Now that buffet is back in full swing, let's see how's the experience compared to before. Was there for Festive Brunch and most of us got the $108++ per adult and $54++ per child, with free flow Soft Drinks, Chilled Juices, Coffee and Tea. A few in the group went for the $148++ per person with free flow Rosé Sparkling Wine, House Wines, Gin & Tonic, Draft Beer and Soft Drinks.

Buffet timing is 12:30–3:30pm (Last order at 3:15pm). However, there was no staff at the front even at 12.20pm. Is this the norm? Not sure.

entrance to Oscar's

let's talk a tour

Classic Western Mains

roast turkey

Local Seafood Station

Local Flavours

Compound Salad

Sashimi Counter

Assortment of sushi

The Ice Bar

Drinkers of Change (partnership with Little Ripples)

Dessert

Dessert

eat, drink and make merry

dessert

The oysters looked good and what's more, there's Japan oysters and there's USA oysters. Let's do a taste test!

starter plate

Japan oyster

The visuals for the oyster from Japan looked better. Smooth, plump and mild flavours. Very little muscle (that scallop like thingy) hence, it glided off smoothly from its shell.

USA oyster

The visuals for the USA oyster seemed a tad fierce, no? But it packed bold flavours. Loved this in terms of flavours but texture wise, preferred the ones from Japan. It has strong and big muscle, so it was a bit of a hassle to dig out the flesh in comparison.

The Foie Gras Live Station have two Chefs at least, one to setup the base plating and another to place components onto the plate. They made it pretty.

Pan-Seared Foie Gras and Raukal Smoked Duck

The gingerbread crisp added a touch of Christmas magic to the plate. Preferred a thicker slice of foie gras, but otherwise, it was lovely.

plate of classic western mains

Hmm, what type of buffet eater are you? I noticed my style is to gather everything onto one plate because am lazy to go round and round so many times. Of course, I wouldn't mix hot and cold food together. I have friends who did individual plates separately for most of the items...

Gammon Ham

Turkey with Roasted Pumpkin – Cranberries Sauce and Gravy

One could not go wrong with Gammon ham. Texture was lovely, flavours was as expected. The turkey (Chef gave me center breast meat) was not and flavours mainly from the sauce.

skinny asparagus for the vegetables

chicken satay from the Grill Station

Chicken satay was nice as well as the Sambal Tumis Sotong Bakar. But the sambal not spicy, so that was a surprise. 

The biggest letdown was the Grilled BBQ Lobster. The meat was mushy. For the beef yakiniku, it depends. One piece was very well done hence it was tough, but another was nice as it was grilled just nice.

Grilled BBQ Lobster

Ended up eating dessert earlier, as the foods didn't seem to excite.

Yule Logs Galore (front to back); Matcha, Chocolate, Cassis

small bites

best of 3; Chocolate/Hazelnut Yule Log

Seemed like there were multiple tables who were celebrating their loved ones/friend's birthday, and we did one for Tiara too. Sorry, but it was too funny! Hahahaa!

All in all, it was a joyous get-together with foodie friends. We have stuck around each other for like, 7 years now. Cheers and here's to good health, good food and good company!

Was I a good buffet eater? Definitely, no. Hahaa, it's called ageism.

Oscar's

Address: 2 Temasek Blvd, Singapore 038982

Website: https://eatdrinkhilton.com/oscars/

Oscar's Weekend Brunch @ Conrad Centennial Singapore

Hence and Tracy jio'ed us for a buffet on Boxing Day and we readily agreed. Loved this impromptu gang! They are known to have frequented Conrad, and for me, it'll mark my first time there.

decor

festive dining

There are 3 different pricing tiers for the buffet; $98++, $128++ and $158++. The $98++ package is the basic option with no alcoholic drinks.

Weekend Brunch Beverage List

There are 4 items which can be ordered through staff and served to the table, while the rest of the buffet items are served from the buffet counters. 

For BBQ, one needs to bring along the black pegs on the table when you want to order and once the food is ready, it will be served to your table.

take this along, when you want to order from BBQ counter

We were seated right in-front of the drinks counter, and my choice of drinks for that day, seemed to be just G&T.

Beefeater and Gordon's Pink Gin

Beefeater24 Gin

citrus and strawberry

As usual, started with oysters from the Ice Bar. How much oysters can we eat? Not much apparently... hahaa! Happy with 3.

Canadian Oysters - a dozen

Decided to try some festive items from the Carving Board; Turkey, Honey Glazed Ham, Ribeye and Cranberry Foie Gras Bread Stuffing. For vegetables, opted for some brussels sprouts.

from Carving Board

Cranberry Foie Gras Bread Stuffing

Turkey was nicely tender, ham was a nice if you get the inside piece and the rib-eye was nicely pink in the center. The bread stuffing was fluffy but unable to detect the foie gras.

Tracy's nicely plated ribeye

Hence helped us to order the Foie Gras-Egg Wild Mushroom Truffle Toast. There's spinach somewhere in there as well. Egg was perfectly poached and the bread was chewy.

Foie Gras-Egg Wild Mushroom Truffle Toast

perfectly poached egg

Loved the smokey smell from the BBQ items. Lamb chop and stuffed chicken wings were on the menu that day. Was surprised to see the size of the stuffed wings to be about the same as the lamb chop!

BBQ Lamb Chop

BBQ Stuffed Chicken Wing

Only managed one slice of the lamb and half portion of the chicken wings. Why? Because am feeling full~ Full from the love of my foodie gang.

Let's toast to that, cheers! And, I prefer the taste of the Juniper inspired classic gin with elderflower syrup than the first one.

Beefeater Gin - Juniper inspired Classic London Gin with elderflower syrup

lovely drink

And, because Hence and Tracy are regulars to this place, we got to enjoy the privilege extended from the kitchen by Chef. With off-menu item suddenly appearing at our table!

Fried Cod fish fillet, served with asparagus and brussel sprouts (off-menu)

Who doesn't like Cod Fish? Served hot, sweet and flaky, with mild fragrance from curry leaves and not spicy unless you purposely bite onto the bird eye chili... and that's a different story which Ivan, could tell you from his blog.

Fried Chicken, Bacon and Egg

Mala-spiced buttermilk fried chicken tasted more western than oriental. It was nice to have a light spicy kick when having the well-fried chicken. The bacon and egg were more fiery than the chicken per se. Quite shioks, but cant't have too much of this, especially after all the richness from the Foie Gras-Egg Wild Mushroom Truffle Toast.

But, I can have another drink to balance out, somewhat. But I made a request for a different garnish from the first two. Staff explained that strawberry fits Gordon's Pink Gin the best but will try their best to accommodate.

Ok, I admit. The drink with strawberry garnish was the prettiest. But was kinda hoping for the bartender to be more bold in styling the G&T.

Gordon's Pink Gin - with lemon and elderflower syrup

If you need to have carbs, there's the signature Lobster Laksa as well as Dan Dan Noodles. The laksa sauce was evidently very lemak! I didn't try any of the noodles because simply, too stuffed by now.

Lobster Laksa

Classic Dan Dan Noodles

Plus, Hence and Tracy insisted that we keep some tummy space for dessert. So off to our last course. Finale, with sweets.

black coffee with a side of milk

I returned with an unassuming plate of 3 items; Yule Log (2 types) and a praline. Ooh, the Yule Log choco version was so good with the crispy thing inside. Highly recommend. The praline looks like the pill from the Matrix (no, there wasn't any blue coloured praline..). This was good too with raspberry / cherry taste.

Yule Log (white), Yule Log (chocolate) and Praline

cakes and tarts - sacher, cheesecake (front), pecan and hazelnut tarts (back)

All the cakes and tarts were good. But there is one dessert that is highly recommended by Hence and Ivan.

must eat

Overall experience at Oscar's was good. Staff are pro-active in clearing the plates. The Chefs at the buffet counters were friendly and default portion was just nice for a taste. 

And, age is catching up on us and buffet will be that rare occassion. But hey, this life is worth celebrating once in a while, so cheers to our friendship and camaraderie!

Brunch date with Elle, Ivan, Tracy and Hence. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Oscar's

Address: Conrad Centennial, 2 Temasek Blvd, Singapore 038982

Website: https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/sincici-conrad-centennial-singapore/dining/

Contact: 6432 7481

Business Hours:

Daily 7:00am - 10:30pm