All-you-can-eat hotel buffets are not usually our thing; food quality is often inconsistent, and prices are typically high.
However, given the wide selection of dishes across multiple cuisines, it’s a practical choice for large groups. Everyone’s taste is different but there’s bound to be something that caters to individual preferences.
We were planning for a year-end gathering with some old friends and their young children, before everyone jetted off to different countries for their annual vacations.
Choosing a buffet made the most sense and since my Accor Plus membership came with 50% off dining vouchers for up to 10 people, I could apply them at participating restaurants.
Feast Asia @Grand Mercure Roxy
Accor’s footprint in Singapore is significant, with several dozen properties all across the island. Therefore, narrowing it down to just one proved quite challenging.
After scanning through the Accor Plus website, Grand Mercure Roxy caught my attention. The Thomson-East Coast Line had recently extended its network and a station had opened right outside the hotel.
I used to stay in Katong a long time ago but haven’t gone back recently. This seemed like an opportune time to revisit the neighbourhood and see how it had evolved over the years.
Daily lunch and dinner buffets are offered at Feast Asia, with a comprehensive pricing matrix that differentiates between lunch/dinner, weekdays/weekends and adults/children.
True to its name, the restaurant’s selection was both extensive and predominantly Asian.
Buffet staples like freshly-shucked oysters, seafood sashimi, laksa and roast beef were all in attendance, but two specific items stood out: “live station” satay and “signature” durian pengat.
Satay is one of my all-time favourite comfort foods.
Rempah-marinated sticks of meat, grilled over a charcoal fire and dipped in thick, spicy peanut gravy, always bring me joy. It’s not something I have often, but that just makes the occasional indulgence even more enjoyable.
For The Wife, the equivalent is durian pengat.
For those who’ve not heard of it before, it’s a Malay dessert made by slow cooking durian flesh in coconut milk and other ingredients. The resulting paste is creamy, luxurious and irresistible to durian lovers.
Our reservation was officially for 7pm on a Saturday, but since the food was self-service and free-flowing, it was essentially an “own time, own target” situation.
We took the train down at 3pm and spent a happy few hours revisiting old haunts and exploring new joints. Since dinner service starts at 6pm, we walked over to Feast Asia for an early start.
But First, Satay
After securing our table, I immediately made a beeline to the satay station. The chef on duty there had already stockpiled a huge mound of freshly-grilled chicken and mutton skewers.
Throughout the night, he would be kept busy replenishing it as a steady flow of hungry diners, myself included, continually drawing down on the strategic reserves.
The first plate I assembled comprised two sticks each of chicken and mutton, some slices of cucumber and onion as well as a generous dollop of satay sauce.
Since they were mass produced and not cooked à la minute, I didn’t get my hopes up. However, after taking a generous bite, my initial concerns turned out to be unfounded.
Though not the best satay that I’ve ever had, it was definitely way above average. Chunky and juicy with just the right amount of smokiness, it tasted wonderful with the goopy ground peanut sauce.
Over the course of dinner that night, I returned for several refills and the quality remained consistently good.
Durian Pengat
While I was preparing my initial portion of satay, The Wife had honed in onto the dessert section. She quickly scanned the shelves of cakes, kuehs and fruits but they were all of little interest to her.
All, except for the durian pengat, calling out to her like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
She came back with a big heaping ladleful in her bowl, cradling it longingly like Gollum and his ring. I could have sworn I heard her murmur “my precious…” right before she savoured her first spoonful.
Vegetables
After finishing our respective first courses, we took a lap around the restaurant for a detailed reconnaissance of all its offerings.
The salad station only got a cursory look because, let’s be honest, nobody goes to a buffet to eat grass raw vegetables. A much better source of fibre was the cooked “Luo Han Zhai” vegetables.
Seafood
Hordes of people usually throng the cold seafood bar, but it was eerily empty when we walked pass.
Granted, crowd favourites like Boston lobsters and king crabs were absent, but the selection on display was well-stocked and still quite decent.
“Perhaps the seafood isn’t fresh?” I thought. To test the hypothesis, I gingerly picked out two raw oysters, squeezed some lemon juice and lived life dangerously.
Not the smartest thing to do, I know, but it all turned out well. They were as fresh as an ocean breeze and delightfully juicy.
It was strange that they weren’t wiped out as soon as they were shucked, but that only meant that there were more for us to slowly enjoy.
Cooked seafood dishes were much more well-received. Each new batch of the cereal prawns, hot bean sauce clams, fried milkfish and crab beehoon that came out were quickly polished off.
Running out especially fast were the cereal prawns. Diners not only wiped out the deep-fried whole buttered prawns, but also the golden cereal crumbs that they were served with.
The second most popular seafood dish was the crabmeat curry beehoon. Or rather, to be more precise, it was just the peeled snow crab legs on top of the rice noodles.
Even though the beehoon itself was flavourful, they were generally ignored as people exclusively picked off the premium ingredient.
Luckily, The Wife’s eyes were sharp enough and her fingers were fast enough to scoop out a bowl that contained not only carbs.
Meat
Meat lovers were also well-catered for, with a carving station that stocked roasted pork knuckles. Supply was abundant though I felt that it was too dry, and lacked the familiar fattiness that makes it so appealing.
The beef stew and stir-fried chicken compensated for the lack of moisture, as they came with more than enough sauce to rehydrate the desiccated pork.
Particularly tasty was the lamb caldereta, one of our favourite dishes of the night.
Initially, I thought that it was European, possibly Italian or Spanish, but a quick Google search revealed that it was actually a Filipino stew.
We haven’t tried much Filipino food, but the robust and savoury flavors of the caldereta really suited our palates. It was a sign that we should start actively seeking out Filipino cuisine.
Carbs
Given how quickly carbs can fill us up, we tend to avoid them at buffets. The kiddos in our group, with their high metabolic rates, didn’t have the same constraint and happily piled into the creamy mushroom pasta.
We made an exception for the laksa though. The Wife upgraded the vanilla bowl of noodles by adding prawns and crayfish that she had fished out from the cold seafood station.
If you’ve never tried this “trick” before, give it a go next time. You’ll find that this simple step is a quantum leap that really elevates the dish.
Desserts
In addition to the cakes, kuehs and fruits, there was also an interesting selection of gelato. Flavours included Vanilla Maotai (as in the Chinese baijiu), Soursop, Tiramisu and Mocha.
I tried a bit of everything and topped my Frankenstein creation with probably too much rainbow sprinkles. Which, by the way, aren’t just for kids; they’re equally popular with old fogeys like me.
Cheese and crackers were available in a small corner, but they remained largely untouched. Not surprising since there was a do-it-yourself chendol machine, complete with all the accoutrements.
We struggled to figure out how to make ice shavings with the fancy contraption, but a wise 10 year-old veteran took pity on our confusion and kindly showed us the way.
Verdict
We were pleasantly surprised by the spread at Feast Asia, especially the wide range of dishes available. Many tables were occupied by families who seemed to be regulars, a good indication of the food quality.
After utilising my 50% Accor Plus voucher, the cost per adult was a reasonable S$43 nett on a Saturday night. Weekday lunch prices are even more compelling at S$25 nett.
Naturally, higher value items such as raw oysters and crab beehoon would be excluded during lunch, but the remaining selection was already good enough for us.
There’s a high chance that we’ll be back again on a weekday afternoon to see how their offerings change. And when we do, it goes without saying that we’ll be spamming the satay and durian pengat.
