Town Restaurant Fullerton Sunday Brunch!

I've been having this weird constant craving for buffets so I dragged the boy + his family and my mom to a Sunday Brunch I've yet to try! 

Have been reading a few one-liners about about Town Restaurant's spread but haven't read many proper reviews of the spread so here it is! Photos of the entire spread :) 

The cold seafood selection

Very good spread! Largest I've ever seen and most comprehensive. Generally good!

The Italian corner

Left to Right: pizza, live pasta station, mushroom risotto in parmesan, ready cooked pasta in 2 types of sauces

Mushroom Risotto in Parmesan wheel

The risotto was cold so it was quite icky since its cheesy and creamy.

Salmon

This salmon was probably seared? Not sure how they cook it but the meat was BEAUTIFUL. It was so gorgeously soft and fragrant! I had many many servings of this

Assorted smoked fish

2 types of lobsters! The one on the right was sweeter imo (the boy + our moms thought so too)

Also like how they have 2 kinds of lobsters :)

assorted raw shells

crab

The main cooked food area with a breakfast food area to the left and then malay food to the back

Breads! Love that they had a wide variety from savouries to sweet. There were 3 types of foccacias too which I really liked :) there was also banana bread, assorted multigrain/healthy loaves, croissants, tomato buns etc

Cheese!!!
This was a round table FILLED with cheese and this is 1/3 of the spread only! Love love their hugeass cheese spread :)

I had a taste of most of the cheese and honestly I loved them all :)

Assorted roast meats which we all thought looked great but disappointed in the taste/texture department

The siew mai was okay, a little too much meat for my liking but still okay!
Didn't try the other dim sum. These were the 2 dim sum items available that day as well as a chilli crab pau which I didn't try!

On to the Japanese area! this was slightly disappointing as there was only 4 types of fried food, assorted sushi (ok granted the sushi range was quite large), 2 types of sashimi, soba, miso soup

The sashimi wasn't cold enough as it was placed on the same white plates as the above. Also it is a little sad that there's only 2 kinds of sashimi!

On to the breakfast spread:

Eggs Benny on smoked salmon or spinach

The eggs benny was quite good!

Pancakes 

Scrambled eggs w ikura

Frittata - this was okay
  Hash brown - very crispy!

Bacon

Sausages, baked beans, omelette station (was v psyched there was an omelette station! Cos its my fav station for hotel breakfasts)

Assorted salads

They had potato salad, mixed mushrooms, pasta salad w lobster claw, and I can't remember what else! Oh DIY salad at the back too. The mushrooms were okay, not as flavourful as I thought they'd be!

Foie Gras w Balsamic Vinegar + Apple puree

This was THE BOMB. Replaced my fav foie gras from Basilico (since its standards dropped). I had so so so many servings of this!!! It was extremely well executed - crispy on the outside, melt in your mouth on the inside and most importantly this was very very well flavoured!!! With the thick balsamic, and the slightly sweet apple puree. Even my Mom who dislikes most foie gras dishes, loved this one! I would go back just for this (well the rest of the spread is v satisfactory too so.. works out well!)

Assorted keropoks (Crackers)
Papadam
Chicken Curry

Live Burger making station!

Didn't want to lift up each cover to take photos but I remember whats in them!

Briyani, seafood mee goreng, grilled seabass w this cream sauce, grilled salmon, butter chicken, mashed potato, grilled chicken, grilled lamp chops, naan

Assorted grilled veggies

Ham
Steak
Grilled Lamb - the meat was tough

Burger!

Seared scallops with mango coulis

This was good too! Same live cooking station as the foie gras :)

**

Photos of the dessert spread

Love how they have chiffon cake!!!! I've never seen this at buffets. The thing on the right is mango pomelo sago! Again I've never seen this dish at buffets! Below is mango crepe

Macarons - I thought they were so-so. Cant really tell the flavours. Shells not as crispy/chewy as I like them to be.

Mango mousse cake - this was okay

Chocolate shooter - its essentially choc mousse with crispy choc pearls - average

Choc cake w crispy base - this was good

Waffle - crispy kind of waffles with airy insides

Tiramisu (in front of waffles) - more mascarpone cream vs sponge fingers - a ratio I don't like

Choc tart + lemon tart - I generally don't like this kinda tarts cos the shell tends to be soggy and lousy which held true in this case.

Cinnamon cake - this one really had a strong cinnamon taste!

Overall

Service: very very good, prompt, friendly, lots of smiles, polite

Ambience: nice natural light, view of the Singapore River, space is not too cramped with the other tables, live music with good vocals! The musicians go table to table. Provide birthday cake + song

Food: generally good!! We were all v satisfied and impressed

Its now one of my top few buffets to go!

Town Restaurant Sunday Brunch

12-3pm

68778128

$108++ free flow drinks (Soft drink, tea, coffee, juices) - cheapest price for adults

You can have the free flow champagne option, but not sure how mud that is

New Restaurant: Tess Bar & Kitchen

Following the explosion of cafes in Singapore, the new trend seems to be cocktail + tapas-style food joints! One such place opened recently and with an experienced bartender (ex Bitters & Love), and chef (ex L'Atelier Robuchon), I told the boy "Okay we're eating here this Friday!" and he was like "but there's no menu online and the instagram posts of the food looks q limited!" but I insisted knowing it'll likely be good. Am v happy I did! He was v happy too that dinner turned out to be good :)

We arrived at about 6.30pm and managed to snag a lot along the street outside the restaurant! Its quite difficult to park along that road so I suggest leaving some time for finding parking space. 

They were having happy hour till 7pm and I must say, their happy hour deal is quite attractive! 30% off all house pours, 10% off all alcohol. 

I really love the atmosphere of the place and we were greeted with really awesome hospitality. Very sincere and friendly! Initially I did not want to sit at the low tables (foreground of the picture below) as I do not like having to bend down to eat, and compressing my stomach (damn uncomfortable!?), so we moved to the bar seats. However the bf wanted to sit at the table (cos we usually order a lot and well, its more spacious) so we kept looking over. Then the same staff came over and asked if we changed our minds, then convinced me that its not so bad and gladly told me that she'll give me the corner seat (initially ours was in the middle) with the cute doggie armrest haha. So we moved there and it really wasn't that bad! 

The space at night

*

So the staff will explain the drinks + food menu to you upon sitting down and I think this is sorta an added value to the experience! I wouldn't go as far to say that all restaurants should do this cos I know manpower issues and all, but its a good plus point. 

Do note that the tiger prawns for small plates is actually 6 pieces (photo later) -> they're still in the process of tweaking their menu!

Their very interesting cocktail menu!! I remember we were recommended Dawa for sth sour, and scandalous pear for sth sweet! I really like their mix of ingredients for the cocktails and makes me feel like trying 'em all! Cocktail review coming up after the food review below!

Bohemian Vegetables Love
Grilled zucchini, bell peppers wrap in aubergine with pepper coulis 
$9

Basically its grilled veggies served in a wrap form accompanied by a slightly tangy but slightly sweet coulis that was served cold. The grilled veggies were hot of course. So this was quite a good contrast and well its hard to fault these sweet veggies 3.8/5

Triple truffle fries
Yukon, idaho, sweet potatoes, deep fried and seasoned with truffle oil + salt
$10

The boy said this was a little dry and honestly the way they cut it? More of wedges haha except maybe the sweet potato ones. The truffle oil taste wasn't strong. 3/5

Crispy pork belly
Served with spiced Asian dip
$10

Sea bass, Momotaro & Arugula
Seared sea bass slices, momotaro tomatoes sliced and topped with arugula salad
$12

Please do not order this. Its such a waste of money! The fish was dry and unflavourful. Saving grace was the very crispy skin. The tomato, honestly maybe momotaro tomatoes or not in season or sth but this tastes like our regular tomatoes and nothing like the ones I've had at Tatsuya or other Jap restaurants. And if putting a few strands of arugula is considered salad… I have nothing to say. I won't even give a grade for this

Tiger prawns in Herb Garlic Butter
King prawns seared to perfection
$18

This was very very juicy, bursting with flavours. Can really taste the butter in the sauce but the herbs didn't really shine through. 3.6/5

Seared Smoked Duck Breast + Foie Gras
Served with braised lentils & blueberry compote
$18

Really really love how they used lentils as a side dish cos not many places in Singapore use lentils and I love lentils! The Foie gras is on the left and its average at best. Blueberry compote was good, but hard to go wrong. The smoked duck was beautiful. Just a tinge of saltiness, with a rather firm but still a little soft kind of texture, with a mild duck taste. This was quite a good rendition of duck I must say! Not too fatty either :) 3.9/5

Tess Wagyu Cubes & Bone Marrow
Seared wagyu beef cubes on bone marrow glaze with veal jus
$26

This was very good according to the boy! The sauce was very flavourful, the marrow melted in his mouth and went beautifully with the amazing wagyu cubes! You've gotta scoop up the marrow from the bone which adds an element of "fun" to this dish. The wagyu cubes were very soft and bursting with flavours from the sauce. 4.5/5

**

We didn't order any desserts because they did not interest us.

Bespoke cocktail - refreshing + no bitter taste

I can't really remember what was in my cocktail but it was refreshing! :) These bespoke cocktails are charged based on the alcoholic base they use and the prices of these "bases" can be found in their menu. You can tell them whatever you want, or don't want and something will be created for you :)

Godfather
Monkey Shoulder scotch whisky, Disaronno amaretto with cigar smoke
$21

We were curious about the cigar smoke! You gotta breathe in deeply + quickly when you open it as the smell dissipates really quickly!

Figticious
Wild Turkey 81 whiskey, home made fives puree, fresh lemon with tonic
$21

Was very intrigued by figs in cocktails as I've never had such a drink before. However there was barely any fig taste in the drink! :/ it was quite refreshing though

Their cocktails are really easy to drink and thats dangerous haha cos you can just keep going on and on like you're not drinking alcohol cos you don't feel any burning in your throat or difficult to swallow or whatever.

Overall

Service: friendly, good, rather prompt

Ambience: bar + tables w seats, industrial kind of decor, quite pretty at night!

Food: above average food

Cocktails: creative! Would like to try more

Tess Bar & Kitchen

38 Seah Street S188394

63377355

Mon- Thurs 1130am-1am

Fri 1130am - 2am

Sat 430pm to 2am

closed Sundays

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