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

Basilico Sunday Brunch Visit 4 or 5

My last post on Basilico was in June 2012 (go to this post for more in depth review) and exactly a year later, I'm back again to post about it! See Basilico holds kinda a special place in me + the boy's hearts. This is the 3rd time we've been there tgt and it was our craving for good quality unlimited servings of foie gras that led us back once again + the good quality desserts (for me). 

I've heard some comments about the standards dropping, so did it really? Here's my review.

First up - cold seafood

Now this time the lobsters werent too frozen, just nice and were a little sweet! The crayfish was seasoned and was not bad. Generally, seafood was average, nothing particularly stood out but we werent surprised cos this wasnt really our focus! Note though that towards the end the lobsters didnt include this kind anymore but just the pincer part! So do take 'em early!

Tomatoes -  once again, big spread (in buffet standards) of tomato and I love trying the diff kinds

Iberico ham x melon - that day's melon wasnt sweet!

Foccacia with Mascarpone Cheese + Truffle - this is still THE BOMB please please try this and you'll go to heaven haha. Only if you like cheese + truffle! Mmmm this is good! But too many servings of it will make you sick of it so restrain yourself!

Mushrooms, grilled - done well

Cod fish - not bad

CLOSE UP OF HEAVEN

Foie gras

Now in the past it used to be made to order but now they already have a whole lineup of foie gras alr seared and when you order, they just heat it up. I guess its to do with the long queues + many orders of foie gras but this way the quality drops imo. The boy thinks so too. This time the foie we got were huge pieces (of course we were really happy abt it at first) and came w an apple compote that's a new addition. However the interior of the foie was still cold/lukewarm which made eating it quite undigestible unless accompanied w the tart green apple compote! Needless to say we had a hard time finishing it and didnt go back for more. We also agreed that we will not be back anytime soon as this was the MAIN reason why we wanted to come back! 

Seafood barley risotto

Nice clean flavours, not overdone, fragrant

Seafood stew - could be a bit thicker but very flavourful!

Cheese platter | saffron bread

Desserts were all a disappointment this time round!

Mille feuille (puff pastry w raspberries) was soggy and hard to cut into

Cheesecake (foreground) - too dense for my liking

Pear tart (the one w golden tinge) - didnt taste like pear

Lemon tart - too sweet for my liking, the curd

Plum tart - really liked this as always!

That twirly puff pastry was okay

Overall - the food quality is still not bad but we wont be returning anytime soon cos of the foie gras standards and dessert. Mains are still q good! Perhaps we will be back a year later to see if there's any improvements on the foie gras!

New Restaurant: Bomba

Now the craze in Singapore seems to be Spanish tapas restaurants! Bomba Paella Bar, as the name suggests, serves paella and is certainly serves more traditional Spanish food vs some of the tapas bars in Singapore! Do note that I visited Bomba on 27 Oct 2012 and the menu has since changed a little!

Quite small interior. Try and spot this counter that's particularly bright next to the huge ass painting at the background of the picture on the right. That's where you can find the "fresh" seafood of the day, pick what you like and the chef'll cook it for you! Alternatively you can refer to the black boards on top or ask the wait staff what's available.

White sangria!

La Plancha Razor Clams

Basically the method of cooking is grilling and these were super super plump!!!! Fat and fresh. 3.8/5

Plancha Carabeneros 

V juicy prawns!! The meat is quite little though for a prawn this size! A little on the dry side for me but nicely seasoned 3.8/5

Arroz Negro

$35 (S)

A wet paella of squid ink, squid, dry sherry, fish stock, spring onions & black mushrooms

This was um a tad too salty for us? Its not the squid ink salty kind of salty, its just a slight overuse of salt? It was really wet no doubt, in a good way :) Little morsels of squid sprinkled throughout, not a bad rendition though. Oh yes, there are 3 sizes for the paella; small, medium and large, this is small! 3.6/5

Chilli Roasted Quail,

Golden Sultana Quinoa

$22

Chilli, lemon juice and honey marinade, caramelized grilled quail served with quinoa tabouleh

This was cooked over "loko mangrove charcoal spiced with apple branch wood chips" and I tell you its tastes good. Tender and nicely roasted! Like the slight charred taste from the roasting and the hints of caramelized sweetness! However I think they took this off the menu alr? Cos the current dinner menu posted on their website does not feature this dish anymore and the menu has also changed a little from when I visited! 4.2/5

Sea Bream

Not sure how this was cooked but it was one of the seasonal specials of the day. The two blobs of sauce went quite well w the fish, if only they gave us more so that we can eat the back part of the fish w the sauce as well! The red one's a tomato based paste (not like ketchup) and I forgot what the yellow one was heh. Anw the fish is really really fresh, not overcooked at all, juicy and yumz. Really nice to share this fish! 4.2/5

Piquillo Peppers Stuffed with Salted Cod Brandade

$14

Baked with maschego

I must say I really love the maschego cheese here! Its totally the star of the show! You can only taste hints of my lovely roasted piquillo pepper, the salted cod brandade... not really. Great to eat it when warm with that heavenly cheese~ 4.2/5

Clams, Sherry & Ham

$20

Stew of shallots, garlic, cubed ham, clams, sherry and parsely

A very normal dish of steamed clams I feel just that this has a lil more alcohol to it? Go for it if you're really hankering for clams. 3.5/5

Roasted King Scallops, Iberico Ham, Broad Beans

$22

Scallops a la plancha, with a stew of braised beans, dry ham and chicken stock

Scallops were really quite big but were a lil tasteless for me though nicely roasted. The big slice of ham is dried so doesnt taste like the jamon we eat, its thinner, slightly crispier and harder! 3.9/5

Langoustine Squid & Prawns Paella

$40 (S)

Seafood paella, cooked with tomatoes and seafood stock

This one really has a lot of ingredients!! I think there were 4 prawns, 3-4 clams and some squid in there.  This one's drier vs the squid ink and similarly a tad too salty for us. Quite flavourful though, 3.5/5

Bitter chocolate ice cream, sour dough bread and salted olive oil

$14

I think $14 for this is a lil expensive? The ice cream isnt really um cold haha and has a texture like a mousse? The white stuff you see on top is actually salt! But the ice cream is good though, really is q bitter, v yummy :) The olive oil didnt really add much to this dish, neither did the sour dough? 3.4/5

Do note that there is NO service charge at Bomba. The service that night was quite slow, we had to tell them quite a lot of times to refill our water. Our dessert took super long to come vs the oth main dishes which came quickly in succession. Though it was slow, they are polite and are helpful :) 

Perhaps my expectations for Bomba were raised really high due to all the praise beforehand. After having visit it, I must must agree that the menu certainly looks darn good and perhaps its because I didnt try their special dishes like the suckling pig and the iberico cooked on the coal pit. But I did try the paella and well, firstly it was salty for us and secondly flavours just didnt shine through as strong as the ones we had in Spain so :/ 

Do note that your table will only be held for 15mins and that for reservations under 5 ppl, they require the table back within 1h 45mins!! They have a promotion going on called Plancha time so do check out their fb page for more updates! :)

Bomba

38 Martin Road (yes same place as Kha!)

65091680

www.bomba.sg

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