Disclaimer: I'm saying its the best Italian Sunday brunch, so if you're not into Italian cuisine, don't try this! Also I think there isn't a huge variety but there's quality in what they serve.
The boy and I were having a headache thinking of where to go for Sunday brunch the past Sunday and then suddenly Basilico popped into his mind and we got soooo excited about it!!! I've been to Basilico w the boy two years ago and last year with my bestfriend and this time, I'm back w the boy again!
We were very sure we'd get good service and most importantly, good quality food. Instead, we got all that and more. This was truly a mindblowing experience in terms of service!! I was extremely wowed by the wonderful service the team at Basilico gave us and the other guests (lest you think we had some special treatment). I know they were as nice 'cos I observed them doing the same for the oth guests around too :)
My previous post on Basilico can be found here. Essentially, there are a few items at the core of Basilico's Sunday Brunch spread but some mains and appetisers do change as well as the desserts!! Most desserts change actually :) Also, compared to the previous two years, Basilico has made some improvements to their already stellar buffet :)
Cold seafood: Prawns, king crab and crayfish (I know you cant really see the crayfish but its at the most right of the pic!)
I really like how the king crab is alr cut up so its so much easier for you to scoop out the yummy flesh :)
Cold seafood: scallops, lobster, mussels
Change #1: There's more cold seafood on offer now! *meaning more value for money hehe* Used to be just king crab and lobsters if I'm not wrong :)
All the cold seafood on offer!!
Scallop: slightly sweet
King Crab: slightly sweet too
Lobster: this was quite a letdown 'cos the meat felt like it was still in the process of defrosting so it was a tad hard and chewy :/
Prawn: take the big ones!! Juicy and crunchy and sweet
Crayfish: not bad! Slightly sweet too
This was some ricotta cheese that's quite old I think! It had a sign telling us abt its "heritage" haha and I really liked it! This was w the appetisers!
CHEESE AND TOMATOES!
Mainly burrata cheese variations! And omg I LOVE LOVE LOVE their tomato variety!!!! They have so many different types!! Green, pink, black/reddish etc and they taste super sweet and nice!!! Kept eating their tomatoes hehe.
Change #2: More tomatoes and cheese options!
Parma ham to the left and different types of ham!
There's also rock melon to go w the yummyyyyy parma ham as seen below. This one's not too salty and goes absolutely well with the rock melon!
Appetisers: Grilled asparagus, grilled zucchini, smoked duck, smoked salmon, artichoke salad
Of these, I tried what was on the plate, ie asparagus, zucchini and artichoke and loved all for their crunchy flavour. The grilling taste was the strongest in the zucchini! Love the asparagus for its crunchy, juicy and slightly sweet taste!
Change #3: what you see below is now found in the hidden-foie-gras-room (ie where they used to prepare the foie gras for you)! I asked the chef and he said it was cos it got too smokey inside the room when they cooked too many foie gras so they moved it out! Now they have pizzas, bread, cheese (this has been there all along) and a truffle risotto station! :)
The nice friendly chef at the risotto station sliced the pizza for us :)
Bread selection!
Squid ink bread, assorted focaccias!
Cheese lover's heaven!
Truffle risotto
This was aromatic and delicious! The rice wasnt too mushy and it doesnt give you the jialat feeling aft eating it! Kudos to friendlyoungchef! :)
Squid ink bread: salty!!!!!! The boy could taste the squid ink but I could only faintly taste it! It was good though, I'd say I like this better than TiongBahruBakery's! The white part at the bottom is salty too!!
Pizza: this one wasnt that nice cos it was cold already!
The very kind Mr Luit gave us complimentary glass of champagne each :) Thank you for your kind hospitality! More about him later! Now onto the mains!
Pasta selection: Beef lasagna, spaghetti with diff toppings etc
Squid ink pizza! They had others like margherita pizza, focaccia with truffle and mascarpone and another pizza but I forgot what it was! :X
Ratatouille, sauteed mushrooms, potatoes, grilled mix veg
THE MUSHROOMS ARE TO DIE FOR. Totally breakfast worthy and if you're a mushroom fan, pls try it! I had numerous servings!!!! Juicy and flavourful, crunchy but a little soft, TOTALLY missing it now!! I love a good mushroom side :) The ratatouille is good too!
Baked sole fish
This was not bad! Soft flesh!
Grilled beef, grilled lamb
Sorry I forgot what the one on the most left is but it was changed to grilled chicken later on! And next to this they had the Wagyu rump and Roasted pork!
Roasted pork: This was heaven to the boy 'cos the skin was SODARN CRISPY!!! I could hear the loud crisp whenever he bit into it zomg. He was smiling with each bite! The soft juicy meat went perfectly well with the crispy skin. He was amazed at how they made it so crispy!
Change #2a: The foie gras station is now beside the grills you see on top!
FOIE GRAS!
I've been to quite a few places serving foie gras during their Sunday brunch like Melt, The Dining Room, Oscar's, Triple 3, but to me, Basilico serves the BEST foie gras amongst all! Why?
#1: Theirs is of a respectable size (places like Melt, Triple 3 are uh sadly quite small)
#2: Theirs is the most flavourful and most melt in your mouth but still a little crispy kinda texture!!!
I like how theirs is simple, just balsamic to help balance the oilyness with the sour twang of it so that I can enjoy the foie gras in its own glory. I believe the dash of salt and pepper before pan-frying it is part of the reason why 'cos Dining Room doesnt do it and it realy doenst taste as good!
Theirs is wonderful and I had uh, let's just keep it a secret 'cos I had well a little too many :)
Squid ink pizza, grilled snapper, grilled lamb, ratatouille and mushrooms
Squid ink pizza was quite good! It had smoked salmon and caviar on top of the slightly salty crust!
Snapper was quite dry.
The lamb, omg the lamb. Since two years ago I've remembered the awesome lamb I ate here and till this day, ITS STILL AS GOOD!!! Lamb haters, dont worry, this does not have the smelly lamb taste, instead there's a slight smokiness from the grilling, a little soft 'cos of the v thin layer of fat, the chewiness from meat itself and the fragrance cos of the seasoning and its own yummy juice :) This is one helluva lamb rack! On par w restaurants outside or even better!!! Look at it below:
Seafood stew
This was slightly spicy!! Provided a nice contrast to the food I've had so far as I think this was the only spicy dish! It was a little sour too cos its tomato based! Quite nice!
Lobster bisque!
This was better than the one we had last year somehow haha and the boy said this would be a damn good broth for hae mee aka prawn mee haha.
These dishes can be found at the middle part of the buffet which also had: salmon with fennel, italian sausages, meatballs and oth dishes
Salmon w fennel was okay, a little dry though. There was another fish there which was quite okay only, nothing exceptional.
Change #3: More desserts!!!! As seen on that huge plate up there! That's the almond pear cake.
Mango tart, choc fudge cake
Plum tart, pastry w cream filling, background: mousse cake!
Pavlova and some doughnut thing I think!
Towards the left there were small shooters of chocolate, sabayon, strawberry cream and sth else.
Vanilla gelato!
Basilico makes their own gelato and flavours that day included: orange sorbet, pistachio, espresso, nougat, vanilla and strawberry!
Orange sorbet tasted quite sweet to me, didnt like it! Nougat tasted a little artificial but the boy liked it haha. They have a smaller scoop so you can ask for that if you wanna try out the flavours first!
Pear almond cake, mango tart, plum tart, choc fudge cake, lemon macaron
Pear almond: This was good and something different! It was crunchy cos of the nuts on the frosting and it was more grainy than usual (the cake) but went v well w the poached pear!
Mango tart: this one has a diff base compared to the plum tart. This one was quite thick but surprisingly it doesnt make it annoying to eat! This one, though thick, was still quite crispy and went v well with the creme and sweet mango!
Plum tart: LOVED THIS! I ate like 5 or 6 pieces of this cos the crust was just so crispy and buttery and yummy and the plum provided just enough sweetness :) it's really an evil little thing haha cos I suspect I can eat the whole lot!
Choc fudge was a tad dry for me but tasted sth like a commercial choc cake I've eaten before
Lemon mac was quite good tho I took the last one and they didnt replenish :(
Some cheese, plum tart, berry cobbler
The cheeses were good!! Mr Vincent kindly recommended me some cheeses to try :) Thank you so much for your help!! They were great! The berry cobbler was okay, plum tart was great! The cobbler was found at the ice cream counter along w the macaron, assorted toppings for ice cream, choc madeleines!
Now onto the exceptional service that I feel is one of the best, if not THE best service in Singapore considering its a buffet restaurant!!
I'd like to commend two people!
Firstly, Mr Luit! He was very friendly throughout our meal, constantly checking we were okay and that lunch was good. He made us feel very welcomed at Basilico :)
Secondly, Mr Vincent!! He was extremely helpful, helping me with my plates when I had too many to hold, pulling out the chairs for us when he saw us walking back to our seats and he happened to be nearby and giving us cutlery when he noticed we needed extra ones or that we were missing a spoon 'cos we took something soupy. He really provided us and the other guests exceptional service :) Even though he was wearing a suit, he didnt mind taking this mop-like thing (though the end was like a cloth kinda thing) to wipe the aircon vents cos there were some water droplets there.
Thirdly, the rest of the staff on duty! They were very helpful too and I like that they gave us new cutlery when they knew we were having desserts next and then later when we had some more mains, they gave us the cutlery for our mains as well. It was kinda like magic the first time 'cos we went to get desserts and when we were back, there was new cutlery on our table and they gave us a small spoon for our ice cream! We were kinda surprised 'cos usually you'd have to ask or take new ones yourself but here, they think of everything :) Then after few rounds of dessert, I wanted more mains so I walked over and when I came back, there was fork and knife for me to eat my mains! :) Wonderful!
I must really applaud them for giving such exceptional service, especially at a buffet :) Smiles were never missing too, making my afternoon a wonderful, enjoyable and memorable one.
The best friend also told me she thinks this is the BEST BUFFET in Singapore and I'd have to concur! The quality of the food, the ambience (depending on where you sit) and especially the buffet makes this worthy of that title. Now if only there were oysters... hahaha ok just kidding. But do note that this is an ITALIAN buffet, so if you're looking for international/seafood etc, pls look elsewhere!
Oh yes, special mention to Mr Martin Dell for making reservations for me and for being so kind :)
To me, I feel Regent Singapore truly has one of the BEST services, surpassing that of the more "famous" hotels.
Basilico - stellar service, good food, what more do you want? Do give them a try if you have not!
The Regent Hotel
Level 2
$88++ for coffee/tea and juices in the buffet! (There's a juice counter! Serving like 6 varieties of juice and the boy loved it! Oh they have fruits too like pears, persimmon etc but whole fruits!)
They also have a champagne option which is of course more expensive but not sure of the price sorry (UPDATE: its $140++)
