I have heard glowing reviews about the award-winning Carousel buffet at the Royal Plaza on Scotts. This was even voted as Best Buffet Restaurant in the AsiaOne People’s Choice Awards this month, for the fifth year in a row – a testament to the quality of their food.

So to celebrate Easter Sunday earlier this month, I decided to check out the buffet spread – to see whether it lived up to its reputation. I’ll highlight some of the dishes available.

Soup

Bitter Gourd Soup with Tofu and Seafood

This had a nice wholesome taste to it and the tofu and seafood pieces combined well, with the bitter gourd. The soup was a little bit thick, though.

Six Herbal Chicken soup

The delicate herbal taste gave the soup a wonderful kick and the chicken being boiled until it was really soft and tender, was a delight to eat.

Hot Section – Asian

Some highlights included the following:

Thai Steamed Whole Sea Bass

Prepared with spicy piquant sauce, the spicy kick provided a very pleasant change to the usual way that sea bass is steamed.

Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab

This was served with fried tofu, cucumber and Bonita Flakes in Oriental peanut sauce.

I am not usually a fan of deep fried soft crabs, but this dish appealed to me. It was not too oily and the crab was definitely crispy. The peanut sauce gave it a rather pleasant, unique taste.

Stir Fried Prawns

This was cooked in Szechuan spice and was moist and tender.

Three Egg Omelets with White Silver Fish

I absolutely loved this omelet. The flavours of the eggs blended in together well and the crunchy silver fish added a delicious texture to the omelet.

Braised Crispy Noodles

Clams and mixed vegetables accompanied the noodles – which provided a lovely crunch.

Chicken Rice Section

This station offered both poached corn-fed chicken and Chinese roast chicken – served with traditional chicken rice and condiments.

I preferred the roast chicken, which was tasty and tender. The boiled version did not suit my taste buds as much – it was a bit bland.

Chinese style roast duck was also served at this section. I don’t usually eat duck, but my companion thought the meat was quite delicious.

Hot Food Section – Western

A few of the highlights were:

Baked Sole

This was a fillet of sole baked in herbs, orange salsa and Capers Butter Sauce.

The Citrus flavour of the orange gave the sole a delightful kick.

Eggs Benedict

These poached eggs were served on half a mini burger bun, with cheese and mashed potatoes. While I usually love poached eggs, I was a little disappointed with this though, because the egg was a little overcooked and the bun was a bit soggy. But the flavours mixed in well together.

Roasted Artichoke

Ratatouille, olives and pestos were the other ingredients accompanying the artichoke.

This was a pleasant vegetarian dish – with a nice fresh taste.

Sauteed Fresh Spinach

The spinach was crunchy and appetizing. Other ingredients in the dish included mushrooms, feta cheese and walnut crumbs – which blended in well with the spinach.

Poached Salmon

This was stuffed with spinach ragout and accompanied with carrot marmalade.

I’m not usually a fan of poached salmon, so I just took a small portion of the fish. Think I’ll still stick to my grilled or baked salmon next time.

Smoked Chicken Breast

Served with mushroom risotto, this was accompanied by Pomegranate sauce and micro herbs.

The sauce and the herbs blended in well with the chicken pieces – but the meat surprisingly, was a bit coarse and dry.

Hot Sizzling Section

Teriyaki chicken, baby kai lan, prawns and fried rice were served here – piping hot.

The chicken was tender and juicy and the sauce was absolutely yummy.

The prawns and kai lan provided delicious treats. The chef knew just how long to sizzle these on the hot plate for – as these were cooked to perfection.

Roast Section

The oven roasted baby lamb (whole), provided a very interesting display and created good photo opportunities. Normally, I’m not a fan of this meat, especially if it tastes strongly of lamb, but I couldn’t detect much of the strong taste here. So I didn’t mind this one bit – especially when eaten with the mint sauce.

I liked the slow-roasted beef ribs in this section. Sometimes if it’s overcooked, the beef gets a bit coarse and chewy, but the meat here was quite tender. If anything, it was still red and “slightly underdone” but you could request for a piece to be grilled a bit – for those who wanted their meat more “done.”

Indian Section

Nasi Briyani, Tandoori Chicken and Dal Tadka (yellow lentil tempered with garlic and cumin seeds), along with fish and chicken curry were some of the dishes served, with naan bread.

My favourites were the Tandoori chicken, chicken and fish curry – and the pappadums.

The chicken was tender – compared to some other tandoori chicken that I have tried. But the fish could have been less dry. These two dishes were quite appetizing though, and the fish curry sauce was superb.

Everyone was grabbing the pappadums – these were very fresh and crunchy.

Cold Seafood

A few of the highlights included lobsters, crabs, mussels, prawns and scallops. There was also a whole poached salmon.

The seafood all tasted very fresh, with the meat being tender and moist.

My favourites were the lobsters and the scallops. I also loved the green lipped mussels.

Sushi and Sashimi

There was a generous spread here. Items ranged from raw salmon, tuna and sashimi to sushi items, such as inari sushi, kani maki, tamago and ebi sushi.

As I am not a fan of raw sashimi, I went for the cooked items, including the ebi sushi, as well as the kani maki and tamago sushi. These were quite decent and freshly made.

Desserts

I love desserts and some of my favourites were the:

Crème Brulee

This caramel-based treat was possibly my favourite dessert. I thought that the soft melt-in-your-mouth caramel pudding, combined with the crispy caramel on the top, was complete heaven. It was so good I even went back for seconds.

Coffee Mousse

I loved this rich, moist cake, with the combination of coffee and chocolate flavours. The taste of the coffee and chocolate absolutely melted in my mouth and combined so perfectly together.

Easter Orange Chocolate Tarts

I thought these were pretty delicious as well. The orange and chocolate flavours in the tart went very well together. However, I felt that the tart could have been more crunchy.

Chocolate Mousse Rice Pudding

I loved this dessert too. The layer of sweet, sticky rice went very nicely together with the chocolate mousse cake and the combination of flavours melted nicely in my mouth.

Chocolate Fondue Fountain

This fondue fountain was unique, because there were three flavours. These were the dark chocolate, a pink coloured rose flavour and a green tea variation.

A wide variety of items were also available for dipping, including strawberries, marshmallows, eclairs and dried peaches. I loved munching on the strawberries coated with dark chocolate – a classic combination.

Ice Cream

There were three flavours of ice cream – chocolate, strawberry and vanilla with cashew nuts. As well, biscuit cones, wafers and chocolate chip cookies were available as condiments.

I tried the vanilla ice cream in a cone and I thought the taste was absolute heaven. The cone was extremely crispy and the ice cream was rich and creamy – which suited me perfectly.

Overall Comments

As a whole, I thought this was a really delicious buffet, with a range of interesting items.

The buffet will set you back by SGD68.00++ per person.

Carousel Buffet

Royal Plaza on Scotts
25 Scotts Road, Singapore 228220

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