Melt ~ The Whole World Cafe
Mandarin Oriental Singapore
5 Raffles Avenue, Singapore 039797
Reservation: 6885 3082
This is by far the most top notch buffet I have tried in Singapore. The moment I made the reservation call, I was impressed. The usual details were given, and then the polite receiver asked if it was for a special occasion. I was taken aback by the question but replied a yes. "Certainly, we could arrange a mini cake that day." Even before I needed to ask for anything.
Before we were shown to our seats, the friendly waitress asked if it was our first time there and we nodded. Much to our delight, she explained and showed us the way to the various food stations. It was not crowded when we arrived, and I began snapping pictures before the lunchtime crowd arrived minutes later.
The Cold Station - breads, all sorts of cheese ((I like camembert!), salads, sushis, sobas. A must try is the duck rillet spread on toasted bread. It was vvv good!
A Centre Table of mussels, and prawns
The Cooked Station - pastas, noodles soup, kebabs and lamb chops
Indian cuisine - naans, masala chicken, there were so many kinds of curries, I had a bit of everything on my naans.
Western and Asian Cuisine - the cod fish was good, scallop in tomato sauce, beef, jumbo fresh prawns
The Desserts Corner - Waffles, Chocolate fondue, fruits, jellies and cakes
The stations were spaced far apart and they might looked 'little' at first, but we were surprised we ate so much after the whole thing. And to add, every dish was cooked very well and ingredients used were very fresh.
I like the fact that tables were spaced well apart and the food stations were at different locations of the room, allowing guests to eat at ease without having to queue/start from one end to the other or difficulty walking between tables to their seats.
Wen's cake came at the time we were settling for desserts (thanks to the attentive staff). Two waitresses came, and guess what. They asked if we would like them to sing the Happy Birthday song! Before I responded to Wen's waving hands, "please do!" was what I said to them! Haha...
We ate the dark mousse chocolate cake with our Tea (you can choose Chamomile, Peppermint and English Breakfast - complimentary from the buffet) and it was so relaxing.
We enjoyed the lunch very much and even though it was pricey (buffet prices have gone up everywhere else anyway), I felt it was worth it.
Happy Birthday, Wen.
