Very rare is it, I tell you now, that I will put the hobby of picture-taking over the necessity of filling up my empty plate (albeit strategically) when I am at a buffet.
But on this particular afternoon at Crossroads Café, I actually made a quick run for the camera before reaching for a plate.
Because I so happened to begin the exploratory round of the buffet spread at the dessert section- and the sight of all these kueh kuehs, rainbow lapis and sliced cakes so beautifully arranged on their serving plates caught my eye.
And since I already had the camera, I decided I'd try to take pictures of everything else in their still-neat, garnished glory.
I made it as far as the sandwiches, chocolate fountain, salmon sashimi and the prawns before deciding that it was time to whack the chicken satay, the fried chicken wings, the sayur lodeh and a bit of chye tow kuay. Trust me, it was a very brown looking plate.
Crossroads Café at Marriott Tang Plaza has been one of my favorite places for high tea, buffet style, for a very long time. There's something about their warm ambient lights, their table arrangement, their staff and the entire atmosphere that makes the café a lovely, conducive place for a team of two, or a party of ten.
And for someone like me who loves a blend of cuisines wrapped within a single meal (typical kiasee Singaporean lah), Crossroads has a high tea offering that fits my palate.
On one hand you have the smoked salmon with the toppings of sour cream that is not very sour, and slices of lemon. Then you have the sushi maki which I think consists of plenty of Californian maki. Of course there is the salmon sashimi with soy sauce and wasabi and which we usually go for. Here they slice the salmon sashimi really thick, so it actually does fill you up.
The cooked food sections are interesting. You've got a bit of Indian cuisine- for some reason there's always prata and chappati with curry and butter chicken. Then you've got the hint of Indonesian where there's satay, sayur lodeh, fried chicken wings and a little bit of red meat stew. Then there's the hint of Mediterranean where there's couscous, pasta, barley and on this day, steamed white fish pieces in pesto sauce. Over on the other side, separated by the dessert section sits the local and Chinese offerings. Local offerings vary, at one time there was char kuay teow, at another there was chye tow kuay, but always- always- always- there is chicken rice, which is served like chicken in one big plate and rice in another plate. Further on after the noodle soup (and laksa!) are the dim sum offerings. I tend to skip this part of the offerings unless there is the crystal pau- then I go for it.
I like crystal paus, and I can have a few at one go.
Of course my meal is usually planned in a strategic manner whereby I try to have the best of many worlds.
Inevitably I end up having to pass some worlds, like the pastries and the buns, but sometimes, like this afternoon, I decide to go a bit of English high tea and went to get wholemeal cucumber sandwiches, some of tuna, and then I saw the sugar on top of the doughnut calling out to me so I went to get it, and then after that, the shiny, wobbly blueberry jam on top of the pastry seemed kind of nice and so I decided to get it too.
I got my sashimi- filled up two plates of it between us and we finished it all.
I got my prawns- peeled them by myself and dipped them with salad sauce minus Tabasco.
I got my salad- the romaine lettuce was enticing, they had juicy rock melons at the fruits section and I added black olives because I like black olives, but then I wish I had added a bit more of the couscous this time.
Then I took a bit of laksa soup because it is very silly to see all this glorious laksa gravy soup shimmering prettily in front of you whilst wafting the fragrance of coconut and not take a share.
And of course I got my dessert.
I never miss dessert at any buffet. Ever. In fact, my litmus test of how good a buffet is depends on the dessert section. A place that bothers to make the dessert section good will likely make the rest of the offerings good too. For me, the dessert is the highlight of the entire meal.
Not that I take a lot.
Today (thanks to the sugar doughnut), there was a little bit of restraint. I took one rainbow lapis- tried eating it layer by layer but then I lost patience and gave up, a bowl of sticky date pudding (of which I feel Crossroads is renowned for), a little bit of earl grey cheesecake, one tiny slice of the chocolate cake, and two scoops of ice cream.
I skipped the chocolate fountain.
But on this particular afternoon at Crossroads Café, I actually made a quick run for the camera before reaching for a plate.
Because I so happened to begin the exploratory round of the buffet spread at the dessert section- and the sight of all these kueh kuehs, rainbow lapis and sliced cakes so beautifully arranged on their serving plates caught my eye.
And since I already had the camera, I decided I'd try to take pictures of everything else in their still-neat, garnished glory.
I made it as far as the sandwiches, chocolate fountain, salmon sashimi and the prawns before deciding that it was time to whack the chicken satay, the fried chicken wings, the sayur lodeh and a bit of chye tow kuay. Trust me, it was a very brown looking plate.
Crossroads Café at Marriott Tang Plaza has been one of my favorite places for high tea, buffet style, for a very long time. There's something about their warm ambient lights, their table arrangement, their staff and the entire atmosphere that makes the café a lovely, conducive place for a team of two, or a party of ten.
And for someone like me who loves a blend of cuisines wrapped within a single meal (typical kiasee Singaporean lah), Crossroads has a high tea offering that fits my palate.
On one hand you have the smoked salmon with the toppings of sour cream that is not very sour, and slices of lemon. Then you have the sushi maki which I think consists of plenty of Californian maki. Of course there is the salmon sashimi with soy sauce and wasabi and which we usually go for. Here they slice the salmon sashimi really thick, so it actually does fill you up.
The cooked food sections are interesting. You've got a bit of Indian cuisine- for some reason there's always prata and chappati with curry and butter chicken. Then you've got the hint of Indonesian where there's satay, sayur lodeh, fried chicken wings and a little bit of red meat stew. Then there's the hint of Mediterranean where there's couscous, pasta, barley and on this day, steamed white fish pieces in pesto sauce. Over on the other side, separated by the dessert section sits the local and Chinese offerings. Local offerings vary, at one time there was char kuay teow, at another there was chye tow kuay, but always- always- always- there is chicken rice, which is served like chicken in one big plate and rice in another plate. Further on after the noodle soup (and laksa!) are the dim sum offerings. I tend to skip this part of the offerings unless there is the crystal pau- then I go for it.
I like crystal paus, and I can have a few at one go.
Of course my meal is usually planned in a strategic manner whereby I try to have the best of many worlds.
Inevitably I end up having to pass some worlds, like the pastries and the buns, but sometimes, like this afternoon, I decide to go a bit of English high tea and went to get wholemeal cucumber sandwiches, some of tuna, and then I saw the sugar on top of the doughnut calling out to me so I went to get it, and then after that, the shiny, wobbly blueberry jam on top of the pastry seemed kind of nice and so I decided to get it too.
I got my sashimi- filled up two plates of it between us and we finished it all.
I got my prawns- peeled them by myself and dipped them with salad sauce minus Tabasco.
I got my salad- the romaine lettuce was enticing, they had juicy rock melons at the fruits section and I added black olives because I like black olives, but then I wish I had added a bit more of the couscous this time.
Then I took a bit of laksa soup because it is very silly to see all this glorious laksa gravy soup shimmering prettily in front of you whilst wafting the fragrance of coconut and not take a share.
And of course I got my dessert.
I never miss dessert at any buffet. Ever. In fact, my litmus test of how good a buffet is depends on the dessert section. A place that bothers to make the dessert section good will likely make the rest of the offerings good too. For me, the dessert is the highlight of the entire meal.
Not that I take a lot.
Today (thanks to the sugar doughnut), there was a little bit of restraint. I took one rainbow lapis- tried eating it layer by layer but then I lost patience and gave up, a bowl of sticky date pudding (of which I feel Crossroads is renowned for), a little bit of earl grey cheesecake, one tiny slice of the chocolate cake, and two scoops of ice cream.
I skipped the chocolate fountain.