I've been to Carousel once for lunch a couple of years back and it left me with supremely good memories..well even until this day friends have told me how good the buffet is. It's time for the family to pig out once again...it's pretty much our favourite-st pastime!
I made sure I toured the range of food before rushing to tuck into them this time round.
Desserts up...the common chocolate fountain.
Plates and plates of sweets...
Now only if these were part of the buffet..
I somehow like the idea of having tons of toppings available for my dessert.
The "tea time" favourites..sandwiches can't quite go wrong..eh?
The chopping board of mini pizzas.
Ah! A kebab station...
Finally back at the table..all ready to attack.
The standard test of service, warm water. Was served warm indeed. And then, I began the a journey called stuffing my face full with food.
On the plate (L-R); Sashimi, chicken salad, spicy potato, roast pumpkin, cha soba, sushi.
Starters
Chicken Salad
Juicy thick slices of chicken, quite nice..it's basically one meaty salad!
Beetroot Salad
Funny how the beetroot slices are hard.
Spicy Potato Salad
Wasn't the least bit spicy.
Rojak
Not too bad...
Roast Pumpkin
I like pumpkins done any way.
Sashimi (Salmon, Swordfish)
They were sliced quite thickly, just okay. The wasabi that came with it was potent.
Cha Soba
Noodles were soggy, somehow.
Sushi
Rice was soft and it's just one selection.
On the plate (L-R); Roti with peanut butter and kaua, pizza, tuna sandwich, egg mayo croissant.
Kaya/Peanut Butter on Roti
I was amused to find this in a high tea, pillow soft bread with smooth kaya and peanut butter. You can toast them if you want! I couldn't help licking off the kaya and peanut butter.
Tuna/Cheese Sandwiches
Normal sandwiches with minute portions of fillings, basically.
Egg Mayo Croissant
Decent!
Seafood Corn Soup
Gave this a miss, looked more like an egg soup.
Exotic Section
Pizza
Sliced to bite size portions, thickly covered with cheese, mushrooms and sausages..the tragic part of it is, plain bland!
On the plate (L-R); Nasi lemak, fried fish fillet, vegetable curry, mutton curry, chicken drumlet, seafood otah.
On the plate (L-R); curry puff, calamari, sotong ball, ngoh hiang.
Local Section
Nasi Lemak (Coconut Rice, Ikan Bilis, Balachan, Achar)
Fluffy coconut rice, there's a light pandan flavouring due to the green colour. The balachan's not quite your nasi lemak chilli, tasted more like freshly pound chilli that's served with chicken rice.Achar was quite good though.
Fried fish fillet
Reminded me of my primary school days..it was served with nasi lemak too.
Grilled chicken drumlets/wings
Not too bad.
Spicy Mutton Curry
It's one dry curry with minced mutton, quite like the thai version of minced pork, only much less spicier.
Curry Vegetable
Tofu, cabbage, long beans...very ordinary.
Seafood Otah
A mush of otah in a banana leaf. Nary a hint of seafood nor taste.
Onion Omelette
Common and boring.
Fried food (Vietnamese springroll, ngoh hiang, calamari, octopus ball, curry puff)
This came in a mini revolving grill, the waiter would entertain you accordingly. Tasted like a mini corner of Old Chang Kee. The curry puff filling was odd, didn't taste much like curry puff. The ngoh hiang's just o-k-a-y.
Popiah
Horrifying. The skin's limp, too much chilli and nothing else but turnip inside.
On the plate (L-R); pan fried red bean pancake, char siew pastry, thai fishcake, cane crabcake, kebab in pita bread, prata with cheese, prata with durian
Middle Eastern Chicken Kebab (Shovalsaki) in pita bread, salad and mayo
The chicken was tender and tasty, went quite well with the pita bread.
Thai Fishcakes
Ordinary.
Cane Crab cakes
Still ordinary.
Cheese Prata
Somehow or another I liked it, though it's just prata with a wedge of supermarket packet cheese.
Fried Red Bean Pancake
The pastry's fried till it's so crispy, the flaky pastry falls apart like cracked biscuits. It's a chunk of red bean paste being sandwiched by thin pastry biscuit. Not quite a fan of this.
Durian Prata
Surprise, surprise! The durian cream went nicely with the prata.
On the plate (L-R); glutinous rice, char siew pau, steamed beancurd skin with minced meat, kaya pau
Chinese Section
Dimsum selection (Steamed beancurd skin with minced meat, Char Siew Pau, Pandan Paste Pau)
If you must, go for the pandan paste pau. Soft fluffy pau with a light kaya filling. The Char Siew's too sweet, the steamed beancurd skin was a dimsum nightmare; tasted like a steamed fishcake with beancurd skin.
Glutinous Rice with mushrooms, chicken and egg
The better of the lot that resembled lor mai gai, the glutinous rice was at least sticky and soft!
Char Siew Pastry
I found the pastry hard, filling too sweet.
Panfried carrot cake
Overdosage of egg in the carrot cake. Lacks the "wok hei".
Stir Fried yellow noodle
On the sweet side.
Laksa
Definitely not the famous kind, found the gravy too lemak.
Chicken Porridge
Grains were cooked till they dissolved into a warm bowl of gruel laden with MSG.
Desserts
Pastries (Blueberry/Apple/Peach/Chocolate)
The most decent of the lot! The pastries were quite good, fluffy and buttery yet not overpowering in taste.
Fondue (marshmellows, guava, grapes, pineapple)
2 types of marshmellows...3 types of fruits...would've been better if they had shortbread or even preserved fruits.
Green bean soup with coconut milk
Bland yet good.
On the plate (L-R); scone, braised tapioca, bread pudding, muah chee, apple crumble.
Muah Chee
Skin's very soft, not too bad!
Bread Pudding with vanilla sauce
Not much of a taste, just...clumpy.
Braised Tapioca with syrup and coconut milk
Decent, I liked this.
Apple Crumble
More like sliced apples with raisins, walnuts and crumbs all over. Not sweet, not sour...I wouldn't call it bland.
Scones with whipped cream, lemon curd and strawberry jam
Rock hard dry scones.
On the plate (L-R); carrot walnut muffin, chocolate muffin.
Muffins (Carrot walnut/chocolate)
The carrot walnut was dry.
Didn't give the chocolate a go.
On the plate (L-R); kueh kosui, gula melaka, kueh dadar, tapioca kueh, range of mousse cakes, carrot cake, chocolate tart.
Kuehs were largely forgettable, as were the mousse cakes.
On the plate (L-R); Raspberry tart, teacakes, madeleines, tiramisu
Raspberry Tart
I was attracted by the silver foil on the tart and its gorgeous purple hue. Tart wasn't even biscuit like, slightly soggy, raspberry curd was sour.
Tiramisu (Chocolate/Mango)
Honestly can't quite figure this dessert out, it came in a huge glass bowl and people were just scooping from it. It's got a custard consistency and either sweet or sour.
Madeleines (Green Tea/Butter)
Buttery and dry, not comparable to Delifrance's to say the least.
Teacakes
Nicely decorated with a macaron shell on top. The teacakes were a drier and harder version of the madeleines, the macaron shell was bad. Real bad.
Nonya Kuehs (Red bean kueh, Kueh Kosui, Pisang Kueh, Binka Ubi, Kueh Dadar, Sagu Melaka)
Of the lot, I liked the red bean kueh best. Dense kueh with red beans, tasted like a solidified version of the red bean pancake filling.
Mousse cakes (Strawberry, Chocolate)
Plain spongey without much of an impression.
Brownie
Didn't try it.
Carrot Cake
As dry as the muffin. Cream cheese didn't quite go with it either.
Chocolate tartlet
More ordinary than ordinary.
Red bean soup with ah balling
Didn't mind this! The glutinous rice balls were soaking in the dessert for too long, hence bloating up by several times its original size.
Ice-cream (Vanilla, Blueberry Swirl, Chocolate) and sprinkles
Towards the end, the ice-cream was melting way too fast...very very slight hint of blueberry in the otherwise vanilla ice-cream. I ended up with ice-cream that was melting and had a shade of colours from the sprinkles.
Fruit Platter
Fruits..are well, just fruits.
Ice Kachang
I enjoyed the jelly pearls best, the deep colours it came in!
Service is good, without must fuss with the clearing of plates or getting the attention of any of them. My main complaint though, less than an hour into the high tea, I was passed the bill because they had to "close the registers".
Layout of the place is alright, my main confusion is..why are the mains and desserts placed side by side? Next to the pizza was the pastries, near the fried noodles were the chinese desserts. I've tried their lunch buffet before and was duly impressed with the quality and spread...and now for their high tea, I'm disappointed. Seemed like a spill over of lunch given how dry and bland the dishes are. I've lost count how many times I've said "dry" and "hard" for most of the items tried. I've lauded them for their range of desserts especially, those you see showcased at the entrance of the restaurant are nowhere near those served at the buffet, in fact a far cry.
Carousel, over and done..I went back and drank countless glasses of water, that's the thing with MSG laden food..it hits you much later.
4 for 3 with UOB cards.
High Tea: $28++.
http://www.royalplaza.com.sg/carousel.php
Carousel
Royal Plaza on Scotts Hotel
Ground Floor
I made sure I toured the range of food before rushing to tuck into them this time round.
Desserts up...the common chocolate fountain.
Plates and plates of sweets...
Now only if these were part of the buffet..
I somehow like the idea of having tons of toppings available for my dessert.
The "tea time" favourites..sandwiches can't quite go wrong..eh?
The chopping board of mini pizzas.
Ah! A kebab station...
Finally back at the table..all ready to attack.
The standard test of service, warm water. Was served warm indeed. And then, I began the a journey called stuffing my face full with food.
On the plate (L-R); Sashimi, chicken salad, spicy potato, roast pumpkin, cha soba, sushi.
Starters
Chicken Salad
Juicy thick slices of chicken, quite nice..it's basically one meaty salad!
Beetroot Salad
Funny how the beetroot slices are hard.
Spicy Potato Salad
Wasn't the least bit spicy.
Rojak
Not too bad...
Roast Pumpkin
I like pumpkins done any way.
Sashimi (Salmon, Swordfish)
They were sliced quite thickly, just okay. The wasabi that came with it was potent.
Cha Soba
Noodles were soggy, somehow.
Sushi
Rice was soft and it's just one selection.
On the plate (L-R); Roti with peanut butter and kaua, pizza, tuna sandwich, egg mayo croissant.
Kaya/Peanut Butter on Roti
I was amused to find this in a high tea, pillow soft bread with smooth kaya and peanut butter. You can toast them if you want! I couldn't help licking off the kaya and peanut butter.
Tuna/Cheese Sandwiches
Normal sandwiches with minute portions of fillings, basically.
Egg Mayo Croissant
Decent!
Seafood Corn Soup
Gave this a miss, looked more like an egg soup.
Exotic Section
Pizza
Sliced to bite size portions, thickly covered with cheese, mushrooms and sausages..the tragic part of it is, plain bland!
On the plate (L-R); Nasi lemak, fried fish fillet, vegetable curry, mutton curry, chicken drumlet, seafood otah.
On the plate (L-R); curry puff, calamari, sotong ball, ngoh hiang.
Local Section
Nasi Lemak (Coconut Rice, Ikan Bilis, Balachan, Achar)
Fluffy coconut rice, there's a light pandan flavouring due to the green colour. The balachan's not quite your nasi lemak chilli, tasted more like freshly pound chilli that's served with chicken rice.Achar was quite good though.
Fried fish fillet
Reminded me of my primary school days..it was served with nasi lemak too.
Grilled chicken drumlets/wings
Not too bad.
Spicy Mutton Curry
It's one dry curry with minced mutton, quite like the thai version of minced pork, only much less spicier.
Curry Vegetable
Tofu, cabbage, long beans...very ordinary.
Seafood Otah
A mush of otah in a banana leaf. Nary a hint of seafood nor taste.
Onion Omelette
Common and boring.
Fried food (Vietnamese springroll, ngoh hiang, calamari, octopus ball, curry puff)
This came in a mini revolving grill, the waiter would entertain you accordingly. Tasted like a mini corner of Old Chang Kee. The curry puff filling was odd, didn't taste much like curry puff. The ngoh hiang's just o-k-a-y.
Popiah
Horrifying. The skin's limp, too much chilli and nothing else but turnip inside.
On the plate (L-R); pan fried red bean pancake, char siew pastry, thai fishcake, cane crabcake, kebab in pita bread, prata with cheese, prata with durian
Middle Eastern Chicken Kebab (Shovalsaki) in pita bread, salad and mayo
The chicken was tender and tasty, went quite well with the pita bread.
Thai Fishcakes
Ordinary.
Cane Crab cakes
Still ordinary.
Cheese Prata
Somehow or another I liked it, though it's just prata with a wedge of supermarket packet cheese.
Fried Red Bean Pancake
The pastry's fried till it's so crispy, the flaky pastry falls apart like cracked biscuits. It's a chunk of red bean paste being sandwiched by thin pastry biscuit. Not quite a fan of this.
Durian Prata
Surprise, surprise! The durian cream went nicely with the prata.
On the plate (L-R); glutinous rice, char siew pau, steamed beancurd skin with minced meat, kaya pau
Chinese Section
Dimsum selection (Steamed beancurd skin with minced meat, Char Siew Pau, Pandan Paste Pau)
If you must, go for the pandan paste pau. Soft fluffy pau with a light kaya filling. The Char Siew's too sweet, the steamed beancurd skin was a dimsum nightmare; tasted like a steamed fishcake with beancurd skin.
Glutinous Rice with mushrooms, chicken and egg
The better of the lot that resembled lor mai gai, the glutinous rice was at least sticky and soft!
Char Siew Pastry
I found the pastry hard, filling too sweet.
Panfried carrot cake
Overdosage of egg in the carrot cake. Lacks the "wok hei".
Stir Fried yellow noodle
On the sweet side.
Laksa
Definitely not the famous kind, found the gravy too lemak.
Chicken Porridge
Grains were cooked till they dissolved into a warm bowl of gruel laden with MSG.
Desserts
Pastries (Blueberry/Apple/Peach/Chocolate)
The most decent of the lot! The pastries were quite good, fluffy and buttery yet not overpowering in taste.
Fondue (marshmellows, guava, grapes, pineapple)
2 types of marshmellows...3 types of fruits...would've been better if they had shortbread or even preserved fruits.
Green bean soup with coconut milk
Bland yet good.
On the plate (L-R); scone, braised tapioca, bread pudding, muah chee, apple crumble.
Muah Chee
Skin's very soft, not too bad!
Bread Pudding with vanilla sauce
Not much of a taste, just...clumpy.
Braised Tapioca with syrup and coconut milk
Decent, I liked this.
Apple Crumble
More like sliced apples with raisins, walnuts and crumbs all over. Not sweet, not sour...I wouldn't call it bland.
Scones with whipped cream, lemon curd and strawberry jam
Rock hard dry scones.
On the plate (L-R); carrot walnut muffin, chocolate muffin.
Muffins (Carrot walnut/chocolate)
The carrot walnut was dry.
Didn't give the chocolate a go.
On the plate (L-R); kueh kosui, gula melaka, kueh dadar, tapioca kueh, range of mousse cakes, carrot cake, chocolate tart.
Kuehs were largely forgettable, as were the mousse cakes.
On the plate (L-R); Raspberry tart, teacakes, madeleines, tiramisu
Raspberry Tart
I was attracted by the silver foil on the tart and its gorgeous purple hue. Tart wasn't even biscuit like, slightly soggy, raspberry curd was sour.
Tiramisu (Chocolate/Mango)
Honestly can't quite figure this dessert out, it came in a huge glass bowl and people were just scooping from it. It's got a custard consistency and either sweet or sour.
Madeleines (Green Tea/Butter)
Buttery and dry, not comparable to Delifrance's to say the least.
Teacakes
Nicely decorated with a macaron shell on top. The teacakes were a drier and harder version of the madeleines, the macaron shell was bad. Real bad.
Nonya Kuehs (Red bean kueh, Kueh Kosui, Pisang Kueh, Binka Ubi, Kueh Dadar, Sagu Melaka)
Of the lot, I liked the red bean kueh best. Dense kueh with red beans, tasted like a solidified version of the red bean pancake filling.
Mousse cakes (Strawberry, Chocolate)
Plain spongey without much of an impression.
Brownie
Didn't try it.
Carrot Cake
As dry as the muffin. Cream cheese didn't quite go with it either.
Chocolate tartlet
More ordinary than ordinary.
Red bean soup with ah balling
Didn't mind this! The glutinous rice balls were soaking in the dessert for too long, hence bloating up by several times its original size.
Ice-cream (Vanilla, Blueberry Swirl, Chocolate) and sprinkles
Towards the end, the ice-cream was melting way too fast...very very slight hint of blueberry in the otherwise vanilla ice-cream. I ended up with ice-cream that was melting and had a shade of colours from the sprinkles.
Fruit Platter
Fruits..are well, just fruits.
Ice Kachang
I enjoyed the jelly pearls best, the deep colours it came in!
Service is good, without must fuss with the clearing of plates or getting the attention of any of them. My main complaint though, less than an hour into the high tea, I was passed the bill because they had to "close the registers".
Layout of the place is alright, my main confusion is..why are the mains and desserts placed side by side? Next to the pizza was the pastries, near the fried noodles were the chinese desserts. I've tried their lunch buffet before and was duly impressed with the quality and spread...and now for their high tea, I'm disappointed. Seemed like a spill over of lunch given how dry and bland the dishes are. I've lost count how many times I've said "dry" and "hard" for most of the items tried. I've lauded them for their range of desserts especially, those you see showcased at the entrance of the restaurant are nowhere near those served at the buffet, in fact a far cry.
Carousel, over and done..I went back and drank countless glasses of water, that's the thing with MSG laden food..it hits you much later.
4 for 3 with UOB cards.
High Tea: $28++.
http://www.royalplaza.com.sg/carousel.php
Carousel
Royal Plaza on Scotts Hotel
Ground Floor
hmm i dunno about tothers but i definately dun like laksas that are found all over singapore. Not lemak enough - it wouldn't even do for my dogs! What are they thinking!? is that for human consumption? not even fragrant enuf n u dare to serve this? pifh!!
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteTaste is very subjective and to each its own, really. I guess the downside of most buffets is it's a situation of "jack of all trades, master of none". Carousel's not known for good laksas anyhow. =)