[Media Invite] Bountiful Spring Reunion - 20 January to 09 February @ Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel

With Lunar New Year just round the corner, let me show you what Food Capital under the helm of Executive Chef Jackie Zhang, together with his dedicated culinary team, has prepared for us.

But first thing first, there's an "Early Bird Discount" for Lunar New Year Eve Reunion Buffet Dinner and Fa Cai Yu Sheng Takeaway. Enjoy 20% off when you reserve by 5 January 2020. Hurry!

Fa Cai Yu Sheng

Let's start the year right by having a platter of this auspicious dish. Salmon or Abalone? Your choice.

mega sized Yu Sheng

huat ah!

Enjoy Lunar New Year Festive Buffet early, from 20 Jan onwards right till 9 Feb 2020. Available for both lunch and dinner at $68++/$88++ respectively.

Lunar New Year Eve Reunion Buffet happens on the 24 Jan 2020. Dinner: $98++/ $138++ (includes free flow of bubbly, house wines, soft drinks and juices).

Indulge in bountiful treasures pen cai, lap mei fried rice with seaweed crumb, stir-fried prawns with chili and curry leaves, yam paste with gingko nuts, dumpling with osmanthus honey and more.

festive decoration

pen cai (盆菜)

And I'd take a glass of M Wine red with the savoury flavourful food. Let's start with the salad aka the Yu Sheng. Traditional flavours and not too sweet. Lovely crunchy crackers in it.

Fa Cai Yu Sheng (发财鱼生)

M Wine Red

Next up, one could enjoy the cold seafood section from the buffet. And, the de-facto for me? Oysters, of course! Juicy, plump succulent oysters...so yummy!

plump, juicy oysters

One could pair it with a variety of sauces, ranging from sweet spicy to a bit spicier. Nothing too overpowering and the highlight, was indeed the lovely flavourful oysters. So satisfying.

fresh oysters and spicy sauces

After which, let's nourish our body and soul with a bowl of hot ginseng chicken soup. Boiled with seawhelk, chicken and bamboo pith, the soup had a slight bitterness to it that's attributed from the ginseng. Flavourful and felt awakened after that bowl.

ginseng chicken soup

Then, we moved on to the main highlight that was the pen cai. Noticeably, the ingredients for the pen cai included prawns, sea cucumber, abalones, roast pork, roast chicken, dried oysters, dried scallops, mushrooms, black moss (fa cai) and vegetables.

sea cucumbers

Here's a portion of the bountiful treasures of the pen cai. Flavourful plate with many treasures indeed.

bountiful treasures of pen cai

For the chili prawns with curry leaves, its pretty much localized flavours and with the prawn texture remained slightly crunchy.

chili prawn with curry leaves

To usher in the Year of the Rat, the fish has been transformed into a "Squirrel" 松鼠. I shall not comment on whether it is cute or not, but the fish was superb! Thought it was squirrel fish at first (in keeping with the theme) but Chef revealed that they used grouper as its meat was more suitable for this dish. Don't miss this dish if you see it!

"松鼠" 石斑鱼 (sweet and sour squirrel shaped grouped fish)

sweet and sour fish with pine nuts

Oh, if you still have stomach space (dessert space is separate, of course), I'd recommend the roast pork. I don't know how they did it, but the skin crackling was real good. Roast pork and yellow mustard combo ftw!

roast pork, char siew and roast duck

Another dish that's synonymous with Lunar New Year would be the lap mei rice. Or, is this a Cantonese tradition? Not so sure but my sis cooks this for us when we are in hometown for CNY.

Lap Mei Fried Rice with Seaweed (臘味炒饭)

End the meal with Lunar New Year dessert such as steamed nian gao, osmanthus jelly, yam paste and gingko nuts and many more. My favourite dessert was the carp shaped mango jelly. Refreshing after a heavy buffet meal.

steamed nian gao (蒸年糕)

mango carp jelly

pomelo sago in coconut milk in cute egg shell

yam paste with gingko nuts

Lunar New Year cookies

Thank you Gilbert for the invite and Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel for hosting the dinner. Special thanks to Chef Jackie and team for the delicious food.

Here's wishing everyone, an Auspicious and Prosperous Lunar New Year! Huat ahh!

Food Capital

Address: G/F Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, 392 Havelock Rd, 169663
Website: http://www.celebrateatgcw.com/cny2020
Contact: 6233 1100
Email: dining.gcw@millenniumhotels.com
Business Hours:
Daily: 6.30am to 10.30pm

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:

[Media Invite] Winter Wonderland @ Grand Copthorne Waterfront

Be mesmerized by this year's Christmas decorations as Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel has specially flown in replica of famous trains in Switzerland like the Bernina Express and the Rhaetian Railway. A first in Singapore.

Walk into the lobby and one could view an elevated platform of snowy alps with railway tracks running through it, complete with gingerbread houses (non-edible!) and a Christmas tree perched atop the white mountain.

Winter Wonderland

gingerbread house

look, there's Santa!

all onboard~

It was pretty fun (possibly therapeutic) watching the train moving on its track before it disappears out of view and then back again. Love the tiny fir trees decorating the snowy mountain.

Food Capital - Dazzling Festive Buffet

Executive Chef, David Toh and his dedicated culinary team have prepared a dazzling array of festive delights to tantalize our taste buds.

Honey Baked Ham

Bone-in Gammon Ham

I love love the bone-in Gammon Ham. This is one of the item that I look forward to, during Christmas feasting. Succulent, moist and so yummy. Leftovers, makes a darn good sandwich.

Baked Australian Lamb Rack

My goodness, the baked Australian lamb rack was so delicious. Pinkish meat, baked to tender perfection, tasted of natural flavours and non gamey. Delightful chew. Paired well with delicious, juicy red wine.

Roast Beef Sirloin with Mixed Spices

Thick slab of medium cooked roast beef. Topped with red wine jus reduction. What a meaty galore! This would rank at the top 3 choices of meat from this festive buffet.

Traditional Marinated Whole Turkey

I tried the Baked Cordon Bleu Turkey which has portobello mushroom, turkey breast and wrapped in puff pastry. If I didn't look at the menu, one might not know that there's turkey meat in there.

And, it is an absolute must to try the dessert.

Panettone

Traditional Valrhona Alpaco 66& Chocolate Log Cake

I adore the Valrhona Chocolate Log Cake. The crunchy bits were so satisfying. The green tea pound cake makes a good pair with hot coffee. Rich and buttery.

Green Tea Pound Cake

Strawberry Mousse with Earl Grey Cremeux Log Cake

Rich Christmas Fruit Cake

For buffet price info, please refer to Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel website: http://www.celebrateatgcw.com/xmas2018


Thank you Gilbert for the invite and Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel for hosting.