Sunday, April 04, 2010

Melt the World Cafe – Buffet at Mandarin Oriental

C says:

We’re generally not buffet people, but I must say that this buffet is right up our alley. I’m not one for main courses at buffets, because I always feel that no matter how perfectly cooked a dish is at the start, it simply cannot stand up to being kept in a warmer for hours while it steadily overcooks. We therefore usually head for the starters or the sashimi sections, the carving stations, and food cooked a la minute, like pasta made to order. Melt has all these aplenty.

This is our second trip here; both were with my brother and his family. We regretted not writing about this the first time, so this time we made a point to snap pictures of the food when we first arrived, before everything got messed up by hungry diners.


What really gets me is their cold cuts and cheese section, which is where I camped out for most of the evening. They have an incredible selection of cheeses, breads and grilled antipasti. Tonight actually wasn’t as good as the first time we were here, when they had a great camembert and blue cheese. The cheeses tonight were a bit more unorthodox but still very good. Tip: ask them for a jar of honey to pair with some of the stronger cheeses – delicious!



They also have a leg of parma ham with the slices displayed on top. The quality was good – a deep red hue and not overly salty. But by far what takes the cake for me is their duck rillette – an entire terrine dish of fatty goodness that only we seemed to be taking. The other diners simply don’t know what they’re missing.


They have a good selection of sashimi and sushi too, though I steered clear tonight in favour of the cheeses. Their smoked salmon is good too, especially since they provide mini bagels and a chive cream cheese for you to assemble your very own smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel.


The main courses to me are secondary, but the standout ones are actually at the Indian/tandoor station. They have freshly made naans, and their tandoori offerings are very good indeed – juicy tandoori chicken, prawns and lamb chops.

I was too full to have much dessert, but the variety is quite impressive. They have a chocolate fountain with many different skewers, freshly made waffles that are light-as-air, 8 ice cream flavours, mini cakes and puddings, nonya kuehs and an ice kachang station.

Besides a la carte buffets and not counting the uber expensive Sunday champagne brunches that are so popular nowadays, if I want a good buffet with quality food, Melt is definitely my choice.

A says:

Probably one of my preferred buffets in Singapore.

Melt the World Cafe
Mandarin Oriental Singapore
4th Floor
Tel: 6338-0066
Breakfast: 6.30 am – 10.30 am
Lunch: 12 noon – 2.30 pm
Dinner: 6.30 pm – 10.30 pm
Sunday brunch: 12 noon – 3 pm

1 comment:

Elaine Ng. said...

my favorite buffet. really love their indian dishes & freshly baked garlic naans (: