Seasonal Taste @ The Westin Singapore, The Great Thai Feast.

It has been some time since the wife and I dined here. We first dine here when we saw the opening specials of Westin Singapore and booked a room for a short staycation. (Time passes so quickly as they are now 3 years old!)

We wondered into Seasonal Taste because there was nothing really opened at Asia Square at that time. During the weekends the restaurants at Asia Square were all closed then. We decided to have the a la carte items during lunch and they were good. All the Westins around the world has this healthy menu. Healthy yet tasty menu.

For dinner, we had dinner one night at Cook and Brew and another night at Seasonal Taste. We had their buffet then and somehow we never came back. If you watched enough restaurants reality TV, you know why you shouldn't come during the early days of opening. LOL.

We are back this time and this was an invite from the hotel and was also an unhosted tasting. You just dine like a regular guest, they foot the bill. If we liked it, we write about it. We were seated near a table of 4 hungry ladies, a couple on a date and a table of 8 businessmen on company dinner.

For 2 weeks till 31 July, they are having The Great Thai Feast.



If you are a SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest, not Sarong Party Girl lah...) member (which is free by the way, and I have it since 2003), you get a discount of 20% plus Starpoints for future hotel stay redemption.



One of the highlights of the Thai Feast is the Kor Moo Yang (Marinated Grilled Pork Neck). Yes, it's the fatty and muscled meat part of the oink oink animal and is used in Thai and Chinese cooking for melt in the mouth dishes. I am sure if you have been to Thailand, you have bought them to snack like me.

The dipping sauce Jim Jaew is an addictive sauce accompanies this dish. I drizzled it for most of the things I ate!



Another highlight of the Thai Feast is the Tom Yum Gung. Prepare to "cough /choke" on your first mouth. Recover from it and you will want more. I know my stomach, so I shared a bowl with the Mrs. If I have more of it, the body will tell me!

The table next to us really loved it from their chatter.  It's sometimes a joy to watch other people eat right? "Eavesdropping" on people who talk loudly and enjoying and laughing silently with and also at them. 



Marry a partner who peels prawns, and she will dish a bowl to share and then peel it for you as well.



Papaya salad - the 'live' station that has the chef pound your salad in the Clay Kruk mortar and wooden pestle. Do you think the clay mortar bruise the Som Tams and Nam Priks gentler so they are better flavoured?

It's recommended to eat it with the Grilled Pork Neck, fresh prawns and/or salted egg.



Pad Thai! There was once when a few of us visited Bangkok, we were on a Pad Thai discovery. We ordered and tasted Pad Thai from so many places, from streets carts and small eateries, chain restaurants and higher end establishments. We discovered that where the locals eat, the noodles are QQ / al dente. If it's a place where tourists go, it's soft like how we normally get in Thai restaurants here. I wonder if my observation was correct.

Well, this Thai Chef prepares it the QQ way here. Your parents might say it's undercook haha! A good thing about a buffet is you can add as much peanuts or chilli flakes or lime on it.

Many people will avoid the raw bean spouts and chives right?



I had many rounds from this station. Skewered meats, chicken wings and roast chicken with that dipping sauce that is addictive. 



I have a confession. I mostly skipped this station. Too much veggies for a pig out night.
I only took the Nam Prik for the veggies and used it for some rounds of cold seafood and meats.



Not Oysters Kilpatrick, but grilled oysters with Red Curry and Green Curry. 
I think they have this for those who don't like freshly shucked oysters! Somehow they tasted so good. 



The main staples of the Seasonal Taste buffet - Canadian Lobsters, freshly shucked oysters. (also mussels, prawns, scallops). For the Thai Feast, they have in addition to the usual dips and sauces, Thai sauces and dips.

This was the Mrs. She always love her lobsters and oysters.



This is my plate. I prefer Lobsters and Prawns. I had them with Jim Jaew.

Oh, if you like Pork Skin/Rind, they have a bag at the salad table and it disappears quickly. If you see it when you walk past, grab some and then top it with the spicy spreads. That's why there is pork rind on my seafood.



They have a quite a few Thai based desserts too. The colourful Khanom Luk Chup, it's mung bean filling inside the colourful outer layer. Like Ang Ku Kueh! 

They also have some Thai Pumpkin Custard which disappeared quite quickly! When I wanted to taste it, it's gone!



I had Khao Niew Ma Muang (Mango Sticky Rice), I know many people love this, but I am one who don't appreciate it. I like my Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce eaten with a scoop of Dark Chocolate Gelato, so good. I had a few more scoops of blood orange sorbet, mango sorbet and avocado gelato.

A photo posted by Philip Lim (@keropokman) on Jul 27, 2016 at 5:38am PDT

I had 6 helping of this addictive Cha Yen (Thai Milk Tea), made from black tea infused with condensed milk. The hungry ladies beside us, they were also thirsty! Instead of these small mugs that is placed at the dessert table, they used their big iced water glasses from their table to fill it up! That good! I think I haven't had anything with condensed milk for a long time that's why!
(Warning, very sweet! Thai style sweet, which I think some people can't take it.)

If you consider this for dinner this week if you are planning for some Thai food. On a Wednesday night, it was quite filled up.


Seasonal Taste
The Westin Singapore
Level 32,
12 Marina View,
Asia Square Tower 2
Singapore 018961

Tel: +65 6922 6968
Email: seasonaltastes.singapore@westin.com
Web: www.thewestinsingapore.com/seasonaltastes

Flavours of Thai @ PARKROYAL on Beach Road

Recently, the wife and I (plus a group of bloggers) were invited to the Flavours of Thai buffet at PARKROYAL on Beach Road by the Marketing Communications Manager.

Since then, KopiKosongGirl has been nudging me to go back with her again for a meal, the next time paying from our own pockets because it's quite decently priced. We would not say it's the best Thai buffet around, but there are enough things that is nice plus some non-Thai items that has been staple in their buffet menu (like their very fresh sashimi, sio bak, drunken prawns, braised sea cucumber and soft shell crabs) that makes the wife wants to go back.

Here are some items that we had, we eat a little more usual that we usually do, but not stuffed ourselves silly.

As it was kind of a 'media' tasting, some of the food's served to our tables rather than from the buffet line. We checked, they were all looking the same at the buffet line except without these nicer serving plates and bowls.


Unlike most people, both of us like veggies and we love the Thai Papaya Salad.
Just be careful of the spicy and potent chillis!


This Thai Glass Noodle salad was quite appetizing too. I like the refreshing taste of the herbs and the slight sourish-sweet dressing on it that makes you want to have more of it.


Move over Thai Fish Cakes. Hello Thai Prawns Cakes!
You know how prawns always add a little natural sweetness to food. These prawns cakes had naturally sweet taste, nice crispy crunch and not oily at all. You can skip the sauce and eat it on its own.


The Thai Fish Maw Soup was a little salty for my tastebuds, but it was filled with delicious ingredients!


Yes, while enjoying the Thai buffet, we like to pause and indulge in some non-Thai stuff like drunken prawns!


The Thai Beef Noodle soup was quite good. Though a bit salty, it also has the slight sweetish taste to it. Probably more salty than sweet that night, it was a flavourful broth. 

Somehow the combi makes it quite a comfort food. The beef balls were those solid biting kind that gives you the satisfying 'bite'. The beef pieces on the other hand was tender yet stays in shape on your chopsticks, but when you bite it, just breaks apart in your mouth.


For those who like Roast Duck and Red Curry, the Thai Red Duck Curry would probably what you would like. KopiKosongGirl was especially happy with this curry.

Tender pieces of roast duck in a rich flavourful red curry. Already sounds quite sinful, but you can't help drinking one or two spoonfuls of that 'mesmerizing potion'. Detox can come another day.



For those who like Stir Fried Minced Pork Thai Style.
Somehow, I did not eat a lot of it, because it goes with rice, but I was not going to eat a lot of rice during a buffet. (hehe...)


Do you remember Plaza Brasserie had the 'catch of the day' buffet before?
My mother in law remembers this place by the order as much fish buffet place, we brought her here once for some celebration.

Their Executive Chef Jackson Goh knows people like their freshest catch of the day promotion, so from Mondays to Thursdays, Chef Goh will prepare Promfret, Sea Bass, Kee Fish and Tilapia fishes in one of the various styles: Spicy Thai Lime and Chilli, Thai Green Curry, Thai Red Curry or Basil in Coconut Cream.

Sounds good doesn't it?
These are just part of the menu, there are lots more stuff to try!

Some of the desserts we were served:


The Glutinous Rice that goes with the durian paste from the next photo!


The Durian Paste!
I know everyone was raving about it, but are extreme durian fanatics just tasted a bit of it! LOL!


Another of KopiKosongGirl's favourite dessert that night, the Tapioca with Coconut Cream.
Try it here if you like Tapioca dessert!


Another reason we like we having a meal here because of the variety, other than the Thai desserts like the above and Banana Fritters, Thai Red Ruby with Coconut Cream, Assorted Royal Thai Kuehs, I can have my choc cake!

This promotion runs from 5 September to 31 October 2012.

Flavours of Thai at PARKROYAL on Beach Road
7500 Beach Road
Singapore 199591

Tel: 6505 5710

Prices:
Dinner (Mondays to Thursdays):  Adult $52  Child $31
Dinner (Fridays to Sundays): Adult $55   Child $33
Prices are subject to10% service charge and 7% Goods and Services Tax
For enquiries or reservations, please call Plaza Brasserie at 6505 5710.

Thai Village Restaurant @ Leisure Park Kallang

We were at the Singapore Indoor Stadium for an event and after the event was over, we were all famished and needed some food. Like any event held there, it was a mad rush out. There were probably over 10 thousand people rushing out of the stadium, and half would probably eat nearby.

We headed to Leisure Park Kallang, next to the stadium and saw that Thai Village had empty seats. We asked for a table and quickly got ourselves seated. We knew we had to quickly place our order before everyone else did. If not, it will be a super long wait!



While waiting for our food, we were chatting and tried this green chilli concoction on the table!
It was super spicy!! But it was rather addictive at the same time.




We ordered the Braised Fish Maw ($27). The dish was in a claypot and it came with a golden bottom container which looked rather posh.

Anyway, the fish maw (nice and soft/tender), sea cucumber (soft and yet still has a crunch), mushroom and scallops were quite good. It went well with the rice. If you don't restrain yourself, you would probably finished up your whole bowl of rice with the first dish.




The next dish we had was something not many places serve. Braised Duck Web ($20).
It looked a bit similar to the previous dish! But the sauce tasted different and the ingredients were definitely different.

Duck webs. Our seniors (parents, uncle and aunty) on the table loved it. The juniors like us also loved it. Braised till it was really soft, yet still retained the shape of a feet. But as you put it in your mouth, you kind of suck the skin out and all that was left was bones. I find joy in eating stuff like that!


But comparing duck and chicken feet, I think I prefer chicken though. Think chicken skin has a nicer texture. The seniors think duck webs are nicer than chicken though!




We had a venison stir fry as well. ($30). This dish was very popular with our table when it was served.

The way it was prepared, it reminded us of pork liver stir fry! The whole family loves pork liver except me, but I like the deer meat done this way. Quite tender and flavourful. You will keep picking up piece after piece with your chopsticks!




The Spinach and egg soup. ($18).
Decently done, not super special for this dish that's served almost everywhere ;-)




After the vegetable dish, we were all quite full, probably because the first two dishes were starchy.
Yet as the last dish came, we walloped it as well.  It's called Baked Chicken Drumsticks ($24).

From the photo, it probably does not look very appetizing, but it did taste very good. It was salted baked chicken which I think was a recommended dish on the menu. Chicken was tender and I particularly like the sauce. Had that to eat up the last two mouths of rice in my bowl. ;-)



Food's here quite decent, but a little pricy. Total bill was $160.65. Service we experienced that day was good despite a mad rush of people. They are probably used to it. We did not order their sharkfin that they are famous for. No sharksfin for us unnecessarily. (We had a teenager with us who is in the save the sharks movement too. haha) Momo and I would want to return to try the crab beehoon though one day.


Thai Village Restaurant
5 Stadium Walk
#01-50, Leisure Park Kallang
Singapore 397693


Tel: 6440 2292

Thai Express @ Bukit Panjang Plaza

This was a quick lunch at Bukit Panjang Plaza. Places to eat gets changed quite frequently here. There is now a Thai Express. It is situated where Xin Wang used to be. (By the way, Xin Wang, Thai Express belong to the same boss, so I guess they are trying to see which chain is more popular or bring in more profits)

I think Thai Express is a better choice than Xin Wang :-)

*** Mango Salad ***

We had a Mango Salad to share. If you are ordering this, be careful of the nasty chilli padi! Small and so potent! Probably that is why it is nice.

*** Tomyam Horfun ***

The Horfun that aunt had. I think it was the Tom Yam Horfun. I can't remember, but I remember it is :-)

 *** Meatballs with Tang Hoon ***

Our cousin had this and she liked it. She has this thing about tang hoon nowadays. She had it with a bowl of rice.

*** Set Meals ***

Thai Express seems to have set meals now. They have starters, mains and dessert.

For the starters, there was the shrimp toast (above) or Crispy pancakes (another set that we had)
For the dessert, what we were given was steamed tapioca cake with coconut milk.



For one of the set, we had the Thai Green Curry. I like this curry, I actually finished the whole bowl of curry. (and got a very warm tummy later. :-p )



Their so innocent looking fiery Tom Yam soup. After you sip a mouth of it, you know the potency!


Thai Express @ Bukit Panjang Plaza
Jelebu Road
#02-27/32
Singapore 677743

Tel:  6892 6953
Hours: Monday to Saturday 11.30am to 10.00pm,  Sunday 11.00am to 10.00pm

Tasty Thai Hut @ Bukit Timah Food Centre

Momo and I spent last Saturday 'babysitting' my cousin. What activities can you do so that teenagers stay entertained so I can catch up with emails etc. I realise my newest toy was a life saver! I bought an iPad in UK and my cousin is enjoying herself downloading and playing games on it!

Momo introduced "Sally Spa" and she played the lite version so many times over. We decided to just purchase the full version so she can proceed to paint nails! Momo's iPhone had the full version. She was just too good and quickly played all the stages! Playing Sally Spa on the iPad is so so different! It's so huge and fun said the two girls.

Sally Spa is what I call a silly girls' game. We decided to play something more intellectual. I bought  Scrabble for iPad. We were all so intrigue with it. The iPad acts as the crossword board. The wooden tray to hold the letter tiles were our iPhones! It was all connected via bluetooth. We can flip the letters from our iPhones to the iPad!  How cool is that! The iPhone app has a built in dictionary too, so can check the words first so the rest of the players won't call us a nincompoop for putting down silly words!

***

Before we took over the babysitting, we ate at Bukit Timah Food Centre.
Momo said she has not tried Tasty Thai Hut and wanted to try it. She had the Green Curry.




with rice... of course!

***

I had the Phad Thai. Yes, I ordered it because there was no one in front of me ordering it.

Remember I told you all before, if someone orders it in front of you, order something else. Portions will be smaller if two person's orders were cooked together and split up later to be served. ;-p

***

Since Momo had not tried the food, I ordered the super chokingly spicy tom yam soup for her to try. It looks clear and harmless, but it's really potent and addictive!




The soup's has a fair amount of seafood and you can see there are lots of aromatic leaves in the soup. We like!






Tasty Thai Hut
Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre
116 Upper Bukit Timah Road
#02-159
Singapore 588172

Tasty Thai Hut @ Bukit Timah Food Centre

If you are around the Bukit Timah / Jalan Jurong Kechil area, and if you are thinking of really decent and cheap Thai food, you would probably want to head to the upper floor of Bukit Timah Food Centre.

Why we ate here tonight was because the lady boss appeared on TV again. A few nights ago, as I walked into the main door of our home this conversation took place:
Sis: Her name is Mrs Chon-Chom.
Me: Huh? Who's that?
Sis: The Tasty Thai Hut lady lah. We always wondered what's her name. Now we know. She was on TV earlier.
Me: Orrr OK. (Yes, me and my usual "uh-huh", "ok", "ya" answers haha)


Mrs Chon-Chom is usually a 'one lady show'. But sometimes you do see (I presume is) Mr Chon-Chom there. He happened to be helping out today.





My usual grub here: Chicken with Basil Leaves and Rice. $4.
I like it because it is 'wet'. (the chicken and greens has gravy and it will seep into the rice. You can see the mark left by the gravy on this plate) 

By the way, it's spicy too. Don't let the 'clear' looking dish fool you. (Their Tom Yam is clear looking and is even more potent!)




Sis had the "Phad Thai" $4.
While she was eating, she continued her story a few nights before. Sis said that on TV, it was mentioned that the noodles and some other stuff she used are all from Thailand.

By the way, this is what we notice and also confirmed by some 'aunties' we know. When someone in front of you orders Phad Thai, don't order it, order something else. If you do, Mrs Chon-Chom will combine the order and cook it together then splits it to two or three orders. Her 'agak-ration' (agak - estimation in Hokkien) has been proven to be not that good, you always get a smaller plate.  ;-)




The other very popular dish is the green curry. But it was sold out when we arrived.
Personally, I don't like the Pineapple rice here. Try other things!

Tasty Thai Hut
Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre
116 Upper Bukit Timah Road
#02-159
Singapore 588172

Bua Siam Thai Seafood @ Pasir Panjang Food Centre

One of our colleague, 'owet' was suggesting that we try this Thai Food at Pasir Panjang Food Centre and ask if we are interested. We are always eager on trying new stuff so we said yes! So we all hopped into another colleague's 'picnic' and off we went to Pasir Panjang FC.

When we got there, the shutters on the stall was still down. One colleague happily went to order her CKT (yesterday's post), but another hungry colleague said we are not coming all the way here and not trying the food. So he knock on 3/4 down shutters and ask if their stall will be opening soon.

The guy said sure, and the shutters went up immediately! LOL...



So we looked at the menu in front of this stall and ordered the following:

The Tom Yam Soup. We had two bowls of it. One bowl has more balls and the other more seafood. Hmm.. But we did like the taste. It was flavourful and spicy, but not the overwhelming kind. Just look at the aromatics they have for the soup, all those ingredients will make the soup tasty.



We also had the green curry. The chicken's all part of the wings that is cut into bite size pieces. The curry was quite decent and kinda addictive after a while.



The above were all came with rice.

The next thing we had was the Chicken and Basil Stir Fry with rice. For this dish, the rice came beside it.
It was not too bad. Quite fragrant, and enough basil inside to please me. haha....



We also had a Phad Thai. Somehow we thought it was not as tasty and was lacking something. We wonder if it's because the rest above was too flavourful or it's the style of Phad Thai from whatever region the chef is from. (Ya, we always give them the benefit of doubt! haha)

This might sound wrong to some of you, but we solve it by eating it with the Green Curry. Some curry over it and we have a brand new dish that was nice!



Not too bad a lunch. The total bill was $19. Each dish is around $3-5.
Cooked by a Thai person, so we thought it was quite authentic.


Bua Siam Thai Seafood
Pasir Panjang Food Centre
Stall 36
121 Pasir Panjang Road
Singapore 118543