(An Attempt To) Buffet @ Seasonal Tastes | The Westin Singapore

You know how we get to meet lots of people during the course of our work or hobbies/ECAs, and then some may connect that tad further for subsequent activities. That's how it is with most of my activities groups at the moment. It all started from food (most, even my work buddies groups previously where we bonded over Friday night dinners after a stressful week of work) and then more food. Hahaha!

Always thankful for the invitation to join different friends' group and this time, we're going to try Seasonal Tastes at The Westin Singapore. Was first to arrive, and ahead of the dinner buffet start time.

The buffet is at Level 32 where the hotel lobby is located, and had time to watch the sceneries while waiting for Ziqing to arrive.

relaxing at the lounge

let's stare into space

tall ceilings and reminiscence of a library 

Then, it was time to feast. Let's go for a tour of the available sections for the buffet.

cheese counter

rojak corner

As you walk to your designated table, one would be walking past the cheese/bread/pastries section and at its opposite, you'll see the Make-It-Yourself rojak section. First thought that invaded my mind then was "Nice, but would require some work to make a plate." I think my introvert inner was showing, as I worried for a bit if it'll be a rather self-conscious moment standing there attempting to make a plate of mixed fruits rojak while diners are waiting in line thinking what's the hold up. Hahaha!

cold seafood section

fresh oysters

What do you usually start with at the buffet? For me, it's always the cold seafood and specifically, probably just the prawns and oysters.

prawns and oysters

white wine

Thanks to Ziqing, we got to enjoy a glass of white wine with the seafood. And since we had wine on the table, let's go get some cheese to munch.

of cold cuts, cheeses and crackers

It was nice to have conversations while we work our way through the food. Staff was clearing off the empty plates pretty efficiently too.

Pasta Station

One of the highlight of the buffet, would be the lobster pasta. So we got ourselves a plate. Or rather, Ziqing got herself a plate and I just wanted to try half a lobster. She wanted cream sauce so we went with that. 

Lobster Pasta with cream sauce

Hmm, thought the sauce was rather mild and lobster meat was easily extracted from its shell. Pasta was al-dente and lovely.

Let's go get some meat. I like how the staff at the roasted meat counter would ask us what's the preferred portions that we would like to have. I'd be like "2 pieces each for the duck, roast pork and char siew."

Roasted Beef Striploin

chicken, roasted duck, pork (roast pork and char siew)

meat haul

roasted beef striploin

Beef striploin was good. It has a good chew and natural flavours. The roasted duck, roast pork and char siew were nice too. No complaints. The only complaint, was my stomach space was getting maxed out too soon.

If you are craving for some flavours of across the causeway, there's black Hokkien mee and herbal bak kut teh available as part of the buffet.

KL Hokkien Mee

Herbal Bak Kut Teh

What's my verdict after trying out these two dishes? Overall, nice flavours. Though, the bak kut teh could do with stronger herbal flavours and the Hokkien mee could do with a more savoury and less sweet flavour profile.

luscious thick strand

Lastly, I tried the Singapore laksa to see how it compares across all the Singapore laksa amongst the many hotel buffets. It came loaded with plenty of ingredients, flavourful broth (though can be more spicy) and overall pretty good. Nice to eat, especially after a few glasses of wine.

Singapore Laksa

And of course, we need to get dessert. Never leave without ending with some sweets. Got myself an ambitious bowl of gelato + sorbet. Got all the available flavours that night and thus, ended with 4 scoops. Nice!

all flavours; gelato - gula melaka, vanilla and lychee (bottom) and mango sorbet

But of course, don't forget the cakes. A bit of something. I had a taste of cheesecake, raspberry and chocolate. I enjoyed the small bites of cakes with a cup of coffee. Coffee was nice.

petite cakes

An enjoyable evening with Darren, Jeff, Jennifer and Ziqing. Thank you for the random jio!

Seasonal Tastes

Address: Level 32, 12 Marina View, Asia Square Tower 2, Singapore, 018961

Website: https://www.seasonaltastessingapore.com/

Contact: 69226968

Nozomi @ Star Vista

After work dinner with Eric and Wendy, and Japanese cuisine it was! They had dined there before, so my turn to try, I guess? Hahaha! We were on the waitlist as it was Thursday and the place was busy. It took about 20 minutes before we got a table.

menu

 

I had the Salmon Trio and Ikura Don, while Eric had the Unagi Don and Wendy chose the Scallop Truffle pasta.

Salmon Trio Ikura Don @$24

The don came with their signature red sushi rice. The vinegared rice was rather mild and loved the overall oily mouthfeel of the fatty salmon especially the aburi'd ones. Came with wakame clear soup which was tasty.

Complimentary iced water is available upon request.

Unagi Kabayaki Don @$24

The rice bowls at Nozomi was kind of on the smaller side of things. 

Scallops Truffle Linguine @$36

The overall taste was rather mild for the pasta. Loved the scallops. We were enjoying our talks and dinner until we finally noticed that we were the only diners left in the shop at 930pm. Thank you to the staff who waited patiently for us.

Thank you Eric and Wendy for the dinner treat!

Nozomi

Address: 1 Vista Exchange Green, #02-20 The Star Vista, Singapore 138617

Website: https://www.nozomi.sg/

Contact: +65 9759 3622

Business Hours:

Mon: 11:30 AM–2:30 PM, 5:00–9:00 PM

Tue - Fri: 11:30 AM–2:30 PM, 5:00–9:30 PM

Sat: 11:30 AM–9:30 PM

Sun: 11:30 AM–9:00 PM

H&C Halcyon and Crane Cafe @ Paragon Shopping Centre

This is one of the more popular places at Paragon on a weekend morning. For us, we chose to have brunch there on a PH morning and arrived early at 1130am. The brunch crowd was not there yet.

Did you know that H&C has a Granola menu? Dearborn granola is available here. An extract from Dearborn's website states that it is a "hand crafted, small batch breakfast food that is proudly made in Singapore. Ingredients are sourced with the same intent, with a keen focus on traceability and sustainability." Let's support local.

Granola Menu

We opted for the simplest version with milk for a taste test. 

Dearborn Granola and milk @$9

Dearborn Granola

I suspect that am probably too accustomed to the taste of commercial granola and those generic cereal packs to understand the differences. Dearborn granola has natural tasting and knowing that the ingredients were sourced with sustainability in mind, probably made me feel better eating it.

Ivan chose the Dan Dan Spaghettini, and it was a repeat order for him. There's a choice of spicy or non, and we opted for non-spicy version. 

Dan Dan Spaghettini (non-spicy) @$26

Give the noodles a good mix before tucking in. Noodles were good, tasty with the minced meat bits but leaning towards the sweeter side.

Crispy Squid in the menu was quickly noticed by both Tracy and myself. It turned out to be a good choice. Chunky, tender squid well battered and fried to a golden brown. This was so tasty! My favourite.

Crispy Squid @$18

Hence ordered an orange coffee and it was interesting. Orange juice was served separately and the coffee was in cube form.

Orange Yuzu Passionfruit Coffee Cubes Latte @$14

in goes the orange

ta-dah!

The last main dish was the Grilled Tiger Prawn  Risotto. The dish looked vibrant with its beautiful colours. However, I was confused by that piece of bread served together with the risotto. 

Grilled Tiger Prawn Risotto @$32

This dish was rather refreshing with the diced zucchini, oriental corn, multigrains and pumpkin 'risotto'. Again, strong flavours and overall enjoyable!

For dessert, we were unanimous in choosing the Nutella & Banana French Toast. It came with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Nutella & Banana French Toast @$23

On first bite, I was intrigued by that one singular taste that was familiar but can't really pin a name to it. We debated amongst us for a very short while before having the eureka moment of revelation. "The fritters taste from the goreng pisang!" Hahahaa!

Overall, the food at H&C have good variety and delicious. Will be back to try the other dishes. Spent about $34 per pax.

H&C Halcyon and Crane @ Paragon Shopping Centre

Address: 290 Orchard Rd, #03-09 Paragon Shopping Centre, Singapore 238859

Website: https://linktr.ee/halcyonandcrane

Contact: +65 9727 5121

Business Hours:

Sun - Thur: 9:00 AM–8:30 PM

Fri - Sat: 9:00 AM–10:00 PM

Blue Smoke @ Joo Chiat

I first got to know about 1925 Brewing Company was via its beer, "Liang Teh". Haha, yeah. So curiosity was piqued when I found out about Blue Smoke, an Asian Smokehouse by 1925 Brewing Co., which incidentally, is within the vicinity of my staycay at Katong.

Kris, Tracy, Hence and Ivan are agreeable to have dinner at this place, so Ivan made a same day reservation since it was risky to do a walk-in on a weekend evening. There's a $15 per pax deposit for reservations of 4-pax and above.

Walking to Blue Smoke from Hotel Indigo, took us about 10 minutes or so. Ivan, Hence and Tracy were already seated by the time Kris and myself got there.

signage

interior

The early birds had ordered appetizers of chicken skin and belinjo. So we reached at the right time!

Crispy Chicken Skins @$14

Emping Belinjo @$6

Chicken skin was not as crispy as we had imagined it to be, but for me, it was strangely addictive. One piece after the other. The emping belinjo was as expected and the homemade chili balado became a star on our table. It has the right spicy kick and loveable taste! We refused to let go of it, even when the belinjo crackers were long gone. This later was proven to be the right choice, as the chili balado goes well with the dirty rice too!

Vienna Lager @$7

I got myself a Vienna Lager, which is a limited edition brew. Limited till when? No idea also, but am a sucker for this type of wordings on the menu. Hahaa! Flavours of malt with a touch of bitterness as the aftertaste.

Lychee Lager @$7.50

I like the Lychee Lager more, as it was sweeter and more refreshing as that night was hot and humid!

Miso Shitake Buns @$8

Read plenty of reviews about the umami miso shitake buns. It was just alright for me. Good flavours of mushrooms earthiness but was somewhat expecting a stronger flavour punch. Loved the soft brioche, but everything on it was soft too.

Smoked Crispy Pork Belly @$22

Our first plate of meat was the pork belly! Lovely vibes from this dish. Not too porky taste, meat was tender with a good bite, and lovely to eat with the wasabi sour cream.

But, of course we need our vegetables too! Thus, I insisted on the cabbage.

Charred Napa Cabbage @$14

We could probably get alot of Napa Cabbage from the market with that price but oh boy, this plate was delicious! Cabbage was softened, the fried shallots on top gave it a hint of crunchiness, and swipe a piece with the garlic aioli, and oh yes, this one was umami! One of my favourite plate of that night.

served with roasted garlic aioli (that blob there, the one that looked like a prune..)

Chargrilled Wagyu @$28

200 gms of wagyu, was finished in no time. Flavours were on-point, but pistachio crumble were really scarce. Didn't taste much of it. Enjoyable mouthfeel for each piece of the wagyu slice. 

Smoked and Grilled Pineapple @$10

I didn't remember much of the pineapple but the sunflower seed cream, was causing me to lose my mind. It has a peculiar taste and that was the most intriguing part of this dish. We even asked the service staff to enquire if there's anything special in the sauce. I found it interesting!

"Dirty" Rice Basmati @$8

Initially, I thought ordering rice will not be a good choice as usually, I'd avoid carbs when eating out with the group. But this, was worth ordering especially for sharing. It paired real well with our main course of Wood Smoked Beef Brisket.

Wood Smoke Beef Brisket (left to right: Naval End, Point End) @$48

If my memory is correct, I think we got 100gms of Naval End and 200 gms of Point End with Point End being the fattier cut.

Naval End Smoked Beef Brisket

Loved the pickles served with the brisket. The rendang sauce, basmati rice and the bits of the brisket goes very well together. And, add a dash of that homemade sambal balado for extra oomph!

Having had brisket from other smokehouse before, I like the version at Blue Smoke more as the seasoning is not too strong.

Wood Fired Basque Cheesecake @$18

Ended our meal with the cheesecake and birthday wishes from the group. Thank you Tracy, Hence, Ivan and Kris for the meal! 

Special thanks to the two friendly service staff who attended to our table and answered all our queries during dinner.

Blue Smoke

Address: 261 Joo Chiat Rd, Singapore 427515

Website: http://www.the1925.com.sg/bluesmoke

Contact: 8923 1592

Business Hours:

Closed: Mon

Fri - Sat: 12:30 pm–12:00 am

Sun: 12:30–10:00 pm

Tues-Thu: 4:00–11:00 pm

Yi Zun Noodle 伊尊老字号拉面 @ Joo Chiat

Was doing a staycation nearby, so suggested to the Easties to try Yi Zun for lunch. It's about 12 to 15 minutes walk from the hotel. With weather soaring, it was nice to have a meal in an airconditioned place. The interior of the restaurant was lovely. It wasn't busy yet on a Saturday afternoon as people seemed to be congregating more towards cafes and the newly opened Banh Mi places.

interior

we were seated at the round table

nice decoration

Staff was super casual and friendly. He informed us that we could order via the QR code on the table or just call him over when we are ready.

First things first, we ordered a jug of the sour prune juice (酸梅汤) to quench our thirst.

Sour Prune Juice @$5++

refreshing!

We ordered appetisers, a bowl of signature beef noodles and some skewers to try. Staff informed that the skewers need longer time to prepare hence, it is better to order it early.

Pickled Cucumber 酱黄瓜 @$4.80++

Chilled Shredded Beancurd Skin 凉拌干张丝 @$3.80++

Chilled Pickled Black Fungus 凉拌木耳 @$3.80++

Spicy Beef Tripe 香辣凉拌牛肚 @$7.80++

My favourite appetisers would be the pickled cucumber and the spicy beef tripe. Both are so yums! Black fungus was good too but the cucumber was best.

Signature Beef Noodles 伊尊牛肉面 @$10.80++

thin lean beef slices

scissors to cut the noodles

We chose the thick noodles as the wide noodles either sold out or not available. It was a good choice. The beef broth was clear and flavourful. Mild and not overly seasoned. The noodles were QQ and lovely to eat. If you're used to fattier cuts of meat, then the slices here will be overly lean. However, it provides a good mild taste to the overall dish. 

Can add some chili oil provided on the table, to elevate the flavours up a notch.

chili oil

I was impressed when the skewers were served to the table. Such big skewers! We ordered a variety of skewers; chicken, beef, mutton and lamb chop.

assorted skewers

The best skewer was the mutton skewer. Well grilled, juicy meat and adequate seasoning on the meat. Very good! Must order. 

Mutton Skewer 红柳羊肉串 @$3.50++ (per skewer)

If you prefer something fattier, then go for the lamb chop.

Lamb Chop 羊排串 @$6++

Overall, the signature noodle was a comforting flavourful bowl if you prefer something soupy. The chilled appetisers were good too, especially the pickled stuffs. For skewers, my must eat would be the mutton skewer. So good.

Price is rather reasonable too. 

Yi Zun Noodle 伊尊老字号拉面

Address: 60 Joo Chiat Rd, #01-08/09, Singapore 427726

Website: https://www.yizunnoodle.com/menu/joo-chiat

Contact: 6909 9287

Business Hours: 

Daily: 11 am–9:30 pm