Seasonal Tastes Weekday Dinner Buffet @ Westin Hotel 14/08/19

Seasonal Tastes is located at Westin Hotel Singapore which is located WITHIN Asia Square Tower 2. It is quite near to Downtown MRT, a 10min walk away. I got quite lost due to the lack of any obvious signs stating where The Westin Hotel was. However, if you do know that it is located INSIDE Asia Square Tower 2, then it'll be really easy to locate as there are plenty of signs indicating where the building is.

Inside, the hotel is extremely classy and posh - your typical high ceiling floors draped in gold from top to bottom. At the lift lobby, there were 2 attentive and helpful service staff, one of which had to help us locate the button for the lift as it was (I would say) very well hidden amidst the ornate decorations surrounding it.

Reaching the 32nd floor took a matter of seconds as the lift flies up at an ear-popping speed. As the lift opens, it revealed a lounge with comfy leather chairs, elongated cushioned seats and a beautiful view of the sea.

Amazing view of the South China Sea

The restaurant, Seasonal Tastes, is located to the left of the lift. It has a similarly immaculate and posh interior.

The entire buffet spread (Apart from the desserts) were placed along the length of the restaurant; This picture was taken towards the far end of the restaurant

It was very spacious and elongated, allowing for more seats to be placed nearer towards the floor-to-ceiling window panes for the beautiful view of the ocean. These seats are no doubt highly coveted and special requests would have to be made at the point of reservation to be seated there (To which I was totally ignorant of until I arrived).

Chope is currently offering a 1-for-1 promotion for their dinner buffet and hence the pricing is as such
Sun-Thurs: $51.78 nett per pax
Fri-Sat: $57.70 nett per pax
Else,
Lunch pricing
Mon-Fri: $35++ per pax (1200H-1430H)
Note: Above pricing is a limited time promotional price
Sat: $48++ per pax (1200H-1430H)
Sun Family Lunch: $58++ (1200H-1500H)

Dinner pricing
Sun-Thurs: $88++ per pax (1800H-2200H)
Fri-Sat: $98++ per pax (1800H-2200H)

From the start of the buffet,
Salad/Bread Counter

All their breads were generally decent, nothing spectacular. Gluten-free Ciabatta (The plastic packaging on the right) was also offered

The petit bread rolls were kept in a Victorian Oven which was very unique

Particularly liked the lemon dill yogurt, raspberry vinaigrette and spicy mango; All their dressings were very distinct, making it very easy to identify the various flavours which complemented one another well

Fresh Seafood

Available that night: Crayfish, Prawns, Mussels
1st Crayfish I took was springy and chewy but the second one had a firmer texture, was more moist and was subtly sweet

Cold Salad

Ginger Almond and Walnut Dip with deep-fried tortillas (The dip was too sour and tangy while the tortillas were oily and soggy)

Pasta Salad with board bean, red radish, haricot bean, pesto & parmesan cheese

Smoked Duck with barley, raisin and orange dressing 

Quinoa Salad with toasted butternut square, feta & cranberry

Grilled Corn & Avocado Salad with ricotta cheese

Overall, I did not quite like any of the salads that I tried (Quinoa salad & Smoked Duck) as the flavours came out too strongly to me.

Japanese Counter

Like the vinegared rice

Didn't like the sashimi (Tasted bland and not the freshest; I've eaten at quite a few Japanese buffets this year though)

Cheese and Charcuterie

From left to right and bottom to top: Emmental Francais, Pont L'eveque, Fourme D'ambert (Very saltish and pungent), Bethmale (Mildest cheese and slightly sweet), Tomette Elucha
My favourite would probably be the one at the bottom right as it was creamy and rich. It was also mildly pungent, just right for me.

Nothing spectacular; Spicy Salami was barely spicy

Western/Carvery Station

Roasted Beef Striploin Black Pepper Crust (Comes with a side of black pepper sauce)

Roasted Pork

Aglio Olio

Baked fingerling potato with pasil basil pesto

San Francisco Style Seafood Cioppino

Cooked Food (Chinese to Indian)

Drunken Prawns with aged shao xing wine

Wok fried lady finger with dried shrimp & bird chili

Wok fried Black Pepper Crab

Wok fried Mala Seafood Pot

Chili Crab; Don't really eat this but I quite like the sauce - sweet and had a nice spicy kick, slightly tangy/acidic but could have been stronger

Wok Fried Hokkien Noodle with seafood & lala (Really moist, flavourful and delicious); Sambal chili provided was far too sweet though

Dal Tadka with Eggplant cooked with yellow lentil, onion & tomato (Quite like this; strong flavour)

Paneer Curry; Slightly savoury but a bit saltish and was not really aromatic/fragrant

Cumin rice

Pappadum

Laksa Live Station

Other ingredients such as beansprouts, shrimp and fishcake located above the noodles

Fish Noodle Soup (On the right of the laksa), Double-boiled chicken soup & Miso Pumpkin soup were also available

Desserts!

Dessert counter! The brown pieces at the foot of the Chocolate Fondue are banana muffins

Other side of the dessert counter

Fruit jelly, Chocolate Mousse (With berries that made the shooter too sour for me), Rose jelly (Very refreshing) 

Matcha cheesecake (Not tangy at all but matcha flavour was too subtle), Raspberry Tiramisu cake (Not too sure what made this a tiramisu, tastes just like a regular raspberry cake)

Financier (Slightly dry but strong hint of almond, very rich)

Strawberry lemon meringue tart (Rich buttery tart and strong tangy lemon but could not taste the strawberry)

Chocolate Creme Brulee (Very creamy, light chocolatey taste, you can taste the fresh cream used; Slightly rich but overall very delicious, goes well with the castella cake), Homemade Castella Cake (Light and fluffy)

Cupcake

Clockwise from top left: Creamy lemon white chocolate, (Forgot what this was), Orange milk chocolate, Rich peanut butter chocolate

Nonya Kuehs (Very very outstanding) - One of the best kueh lapis I've had (strong pandan flavour, buttery and fragrant, soft and moist), Love the one wrapped in pandan leave as well (Moist, fluffy and soft banana kueh)

The variety of food was substantial though it was largely focused on seafood. This is the kind of buffet where you're unlikely to sample everything or at least, if you try to do so you'll probably be bloated at the end of it. As an international buffet, they had Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Western and Local cuisine which were all cooked to varying degrees of success. There was technically only 1 'live' station which would be the Laksa station. The Carvery station had some of the meats pre-cut which meant that there wasn't a need for a service staff to be present to cut the meats upon request. However, I felt that this led to some parts of the meat becoming too dry.

The fresh seafood on offer were mussels, crayfish and prawns to which my friend commented that it was disappointing that oysters were not on offer. I guess they only offer it on Fridays and Saturdays? ($98++ per pax). Seafood was noticeably present throughout all the cuisines that Seasonal Tastes had to offer, except perhaps Indian. Admittedly, I'm not a hardcore fan of Seafood and hence did not try a bulk of their seafood.

Without trying much of the seafood:
The Indian food on offer had the least variety, with its quality being average as well, preferred the one at Clove. While there were 2 roasts that night, I felt the quality of Western food and meats was the poorest I've had at a buffet. While the sushi and sashimi at the Japanese section was not the freshest, I particularly liked the umami and subtly sweet vinegared rice used for the sushi. The Chinese section had really savoury and flavourful double-boiled Chicken soup.
My star dishes of that night would be:
1) Signature Laksa (Rich, thick and highly aromatic gravy)
2) Wok-fried Seafood Hokkien Mee (Though it lacked the 'Wok Hei' taste) - Sambal chili at the side was too sweet and not well-balanced though
3) Double-boiled Chicken Soup

The dessert section was on a league of its own. I was thoroughly impressed with their dessert selection which had its own counter and it definitely delivered on both quality and variety.

I could not really comment on the service as I made it a point to consistently clear my plate each time I went to get more food as the plate return area was conveniently located near to where I was seated. However, I am very thankful for Darnmen (Don't think I spelled his name correctly) who attended to my special request for chilled soya bean milk and warm milk promptly. He was very warm throughout and even helped me to refill it when I made this specific request a second time.

Overall, this buffet is definitely value-for-money with the 1-for-1 promotion. While the type of seafood on offer may be a slight let-down for those coming for the seafood, it was definitely cooked in an innumerable number of ways. I had a great time trying out the variety of food on offer and would rate this as having the best variety and quality of desserts I've had thus far (As compared to the other 2 hotel buffets I've reviewed thus far). The ambience of the restaurant was amazing, a well-designed, posh and spacious restaurant which offers breathtaking views of the South China Sea. It is definitely a restaurant worth considering for special occasions.

Price: 8/10 (With the discount)
Taste: 8.5/10 (Without the desserts, would be 7/10)
Ambience: 9.5/10
Overall: 9/10 (Worth going for special occasions)