Carousel

With a peppy performance by a Taiko drum troupe, a 90-kg tuna was hoisted through the lobby and into the restaurant. A blinding amount of camera flashes flashed away as the invited guests and diners followed, right on the trail of the imported fish. And that was how the new dinner spread at Carousel kicked off.

Singaporeans have always had a soft spot for Japanese food – be it for the chase of longevity to be next the famed supercentenarian, or for the skilful presentation of food – so it was without a doubt that the highly anticipated Japanese-themed Tokyo's Spring Feast buffet of Carousel at Royal Plaza on Scotts is making its return.

Our island may be stuck between the unbearable heats of summer and sudden, thundery downpours of the rainy season, but Carousel’s new buffet line up provides diners with a spring respite. With two specially invited distinguished guest chefs, Yasuyuki Sato and Yasuhiro Shima from the renowned Royal Park Hotel Tokyo, expect the finest flavours of spring presented with authentic Japanese techniques.

For more, please visit Six&Seven.

For more pictures, please visit here :  http://www.ivyleh.com/2012/03/hi-tea-carousel.html

It was my 2nd time here and I brought my gf here for hi tea since it's her first visit. We both love how there's a wide variety of food for selection for diners and for a second, we thought we were there for lunch/dinner buffet, just not Hi Tea! Definitely a fair spread to indulge in and it was worth the price we paid. Service was generally good and prompt in clearing the empty plates. Will still head back there for Hi Tea again!

http://makanescapades.blogspot.com/2012/02/bday-part-3.html#!/2012/02/bday-part-3.html

Finally, I had the opportunity to catch up with A and celebrate my belated birthday. I wanted to do something different this year because I’ve not celebrated my birthday since I was primary 6. Ah deprived childhood I know…

Now, to the food! Actually I wasn't expecting much because this is actually my second buffet of the week (Melt the World Cafe last thurs), so I thought the 'WOAH SO MUCH FOOD' would kinda be diminished. LDMR oh yeah econs... BUT HELL NO. I could feel the adrenaline rushing through my blood when I entered the restaurant. The seafood spread is much more impressive than Melt.

First thing I went for was the OYSTERS! I was disappointed that Melt didn't offer oysters in its Seafood Bowl (probably communication misunderstanding), AND the bbq wasn't working (maintenance issue). I was really looking forward to it. I had a great time at Melt nonetheless! Oh well, so to make up for the oyster deficit last week, I slurped down about half a dozen at one go. Gelard daoooooooooo... They were fresh and tasted like the sea! It brought back good memories of my kayaking expeditions and sailing.

Next, MORE SEAFOOD! Isn't this the reason why we go for buffet? Ok maybe not you, but definitely for me because my dad has high blood pressure so I seldom get to eat seafood since young. Lobsters, crab, mussels and so many others. Gosh the lobsters were ORGASSSSSSS. There were two types, one with the lobster roe and the other without. Obviously I went with the former! The roe gives the succulent lobster meat the extra oomph.

Sashimi sashimi sahimi. All the layers of fat of the fresh norway salmon, all my time spent in the gym, all gone down the drain in a few mouthful...

Japanese Cha Soba green tea noodle and brown wheat noodle served with soba sauce was to my liking because of the strong aromatic green tea from the noodles did complement the saltiness from the soba sauce well.

I skipped the salad section (one learns to prioritize at buffets) and moved on to the cheese. Oh my oh my the blue cheese. It was goody good good. I tried all the different types of cheese but the distinctive taste of the blue cheese really stood out. I had to remind myself of the fat content of each serving of cheese to stop myself from taking my 3rd and 4th serving.

Over at the western section, the Baked Rainbow Trout with Lime & Ginger Butter Sauce was heavenly. The moment I placed it in my mouth, it melted, LIKE SERIOUSLY MELTED. Definitely one of the best dishes of the night!

On the other hand, the Hot Smoked Duck Breast Cinnamon Spiced Scented with Poached Apricot and Raisin, Beef A La Bourguignonne, Deep Fried Mussel with Béchamel and Herbs Crumbs, Sauté mushroom with Fine Bean, Shallot Confit and Sun Dried Tomato, and Potato Pont Neuf were good but not great. I guess the Trout raised the bar. Oh well expectations often lead to disappointment.

I’m not a big fan of Indian food, and furthermore I’ve sampled a wide variety of Indian food over at Melt so I gave the Indian cuisines a pass.

Moving on to the soup, the Chicken Consommé with Julienne Vegetables was clear and light which was a good contrast to the ‘heavy’ food taken previously.

I had the Cheese Tortellini with Carbonara Sauce at the Live Station. I could hardly taste the cheese from the Tortellini. Argh so disappointed, so not worth the calories.

By now I was already 85% full, so I stopped eating the main courses. AND HERE COMES THE DESSERT. Whenever I go out to eat, be it at the food court, hawker centre, restaurant, buffet, I always reserve a portion of my stomach for desserts. Desserts make me happy. I don’t know why, but it’s probably the sugar content which gets me high.

I ATE EVERY SINGLE DESSERT AVAILABLE. Cakes, puddings, yam paste, ice cream, those sweet things that they put in shot glasses, etc. Overkill at its max. I wasn’t impressed by the quality of the ice cream, even though people around us were raving about it. The other desserts were eh decent I guess. I don’t know whether it is because I’m full or because my standards for desserts are getting higher and higher. Hedonistic treadmill, oh gosh.

By the way, did you know that BYO for the first bottle is FREE? Like F. R. E. E. There’s even FREE corkage for first bottle opened! HOLY COW. Most restaurants don’t offer that if I’m not wrong. Anyway the Sauvignon I brought complemented the food absolutely perfectly. I swear wine does make a difference.

Cheers to being 20! :)

Had arranged to meet some really old time friends and eat at this place. Picked it cos I heard reviews that it was good and I always wanted to try it anyway.

We picked the 4th of February and it was also the Birthday of one of the people in the gathering so I wrote in to Carousel to arrange a little something for my friend.

The day came, we met and wow the spread is really good! I really cannot think of any item in there that was no nice to eat :P They had an Asian noodle station, and you can make your own Kuah Pie Tee to exactly how you like it. The glutinous rice was nice and they make popiahs for you too, and you can stuff your own Pita. There was a sashimi station, and the dessert station had nice stuff like chocolate pudding cake! The only thing I never figured out was... what were all the keropok and poppadum for?? It was wrapped up on on a counter where I can only see and not get at it :( Maybe it was for dinner....

Once everyone arrived (some were late) , I went to 'activate' the birthday 'proceedings'. I was a little worried at first as one of the staff mentioned that no specific notation was made for my reservation.. but they promptly reassured me that they would be right over once they finished up at another table that they were gonna celebrate the birthday at!

They asked where the birthday girl was seated (I felt that was thoughtful!) and when they arrived (they were VERY well hidden until they 'ambushed' my friend), they plonked the birthday cupcake right in front of my surprised friend. There must have been like 6 or 7 of the staff gathered around singing a really feisty song. My friend told me after words that she was so surprised that she was wondering who all that was for!

The staff in charge of this fantastic surprise was Karlson, thank you very much!

Food was great, service was wonderful. Every bit worth the money spent at Carousel!

Went to Carousel for a Christmas feast. Last time I went there, it was almost 5 years ago. When I made the booking, I was surprised to find out that there was no change in price for the Xmas eve buffet whereas compared to other buffets, prices were jacked up everywhere. As for the quality, I would have to find out on the day itself.

I was greeted when entering the restaurant was the HUGE seafood spread on ice. The snow crab legs were HUGE. Crabs, both alaskan and snow varieties were succulent and sweet. Boston lobster flesh is firm and tasted wonderful with the roe. Canadian oysters were small, Austalian one is creamy and the American one is plump and firm. It depends on what you prefer.

Roast beef prime ribs was well cooked, still pink and juicy in the middle. Just the way it should be. However, I still feel that the prime rib by Triple 3 still tops this one. And not forgetting the turkey. Got a piece of the thigh thus it is tasty and juicy.

Lobster bisque was flavourful but lacking the oomph that a few drops of cognac would provide. 

Desserts still as wonderful as ever, 1 of the better dessert spread I've had. Wish I could have had more of my weak point, Creme Brulee.

One of the top international buffet you got to try. I wish i can tell you guys how marvelous the food was, there's so much for me to list down. You have to be there to experience it!! :)) 

I have been there twice. The foods serving are great and the service staffs are very friendly and nice. It was on my birthday on the second visit and the service crew was very nice,she packed a birthday cupcake for me as she knew that after the buffet i cant have it. I spent $62 per pax after the discount of 10%.

It's very convenience as it is just next to the DFS. I will be back. :)

 

The buffet breakfast is a definite treat for in-house guests due to its sheer variety and quality. I'm not sure about having to pay ala carte for it though as am not sure how much it costs. So for hotel guests - make sure you have breakfast included with your room.

To be honest I didnt expect the variety to be as per their lunch and dinners and I was pleasantly surprised! It was a blur of dim sum, noodle station, fruit juices station, cheese platter, bread, pastries, indian, chinese, western, the ever popular egg station, and some very local things including chweh kwey and chee chong fun.

I didnt try the bread and pastries but everything else was quite good, especially the dim sim and the noodle soup. It helped that the auntie who cooks the noodle was super friendly and kept asking me to try her noodles, then reminded me again when I walked past a 2nd time, and finally hurried me one last time saying the noodles are almost finished). Very tough to find a hotel staff who takes so much pride in her work.

The potato wedges were very nice, grilled in their skin with rosemary instead of deep fried. Juice station is amazing with your pick of watermelon, orange, apple, banana, honeydew, pineapple, grapes (not sure how you make grape juice though), carrots etc. Skip the chweh kwey and chee chong fun as they tasted it came right out of a frozen packing.

Clearing of plates were a little slow at times but the breakfast crowd does get quite busy. Their brewed coffee was medicore as all other breakfast coffees are. But still one of the best hotel buffet breakfast I have ever tried.

The Indian selection is nice! What a good spread!

I love the roasted chicken too! Eventhough I chose breast meat, it was so good!

They have a sashimi counter and seafood too.

Indian station, western station, Teochew porridge station, Pasta station( long Q) and interesting dessert.

The downside is the time. Lunch buffet is from 12-2pm. I reached at 12.45pm..

 

Went there once but definitely want to come again!!

Very expensive but worth it. The food, there is a lot of variety. They have an open kitchen which shows the customers how the food is prepared. One can request for what ever you want. Help yourselves with the types of food, mediterranean, fresh seafood, local cuisines, turkish, desserts are marvelllous ( levels of glass shelf)- cakes, ice-creams, puddings, macaroons etc. You name it they have it. 

It isn't healthy cause the food is a lot and there's not much fruits to begin with.

The staff were really prompt cause they are alert enough to clear your plates once you are done and keep refilling your cup of water.

I saw they have special rooms for corporate functions and private rooms for couples. I remember chandeliers and the lightings that complement the different types of food and seatings.

You'll absolutely enjoy your whole night there!

p.s There's lunch too by the way