I'm not sure if the Christmas tree was already up in the main lobby of Hilton Orchard this time that we were there.
It might have.
It mightn't.
What I'm pretty sure, however, is that it was Thanksgiving season- and I quietly wondered to myself if there would be turkey and/or pies on their buffet menu there.
(Strangely enough) there weren't.
What they did have, to our glee, was their Truffle Roast Duck (Chinese style) all skillfully sliced and arranged on little plates with soybean-something and a hint of sweet sauce.
We like the truffle duck.
The meat's tender, tasty, and if you choose carefully, you might get one with a substantial piece of roast duck skin, or (as you so like) one with a thick layer of hot, oozing duck fat.
My companion takes at least three or four plates each time.
If you're the sort who likes new introductions in your buffet menu, ESTATE might make you realize the delights of being (relatively) consistent.
I've been there a couple of times and so far not much of their menu has changed.
Right at the back is the fresh seafood station.
Further up front you have the meat and potatoes station where you'll find a whole slab of roast beef, a whole slab of roast pork, sweet potatoes, baked salmon and sauteed vegetables.
On the opposite side is where you find the pasta (mostly squid ink), cream-of-something soup, and skewers of beef, lamb and chicken done yakitori style.
Then, there is, of course, the Chinese, and the Indian side, where with the Chinese, you'll find stewed vegetables in soy sauce, Sichuan-style chili and chicken we call la zi ji, steamed and stewed radish, and mussels cooked Chinese style, and on the Indian side, there's a heap of basmati rice, some palak paneer (at times), pappadums, butter chicken and pots of masala curries.
Turn a corner and you'll come upon the salads, the sashimi, the sushi, the cheese, the breads, fruits and the desserts.
And just when you think that's all to the offerings of the buffet, further up front still- near the walkway- you'll find the cooked food, the dim sums, and the noodle station serving up bowls of noodles Asian-soup style.
One time it was duck consomme.
Today it was wagyu beef pho.
I have a certain style when it comes to eating here at ESTATE.
One has to be strategic.
So I usually tend to begin with the fresh seafood and salmon sashimi.
Maybe it's a habit formed over experience.
But I don't stick to just one kind of seafood.
I go for variety.
So even if there be, say, a mountain of freshly shucked oysters on ice for me to choose, I leave the honors of oysters to my companion and instead pick out a few, get a couple of scallops, a mussel or two, and prawns.
Prawns are a relatively new addition to my chilled seafood diet at buffets.
I never used to eat them but then one day I discovered how great chilled prawns was with mayonnaise and Thousand Island Salad Cream, and now I always try to have at least a prawn or two.
Not too many, though.
They fill up really fast.
Scallops, on the other hand, are quite a charm, and this time I think I had a grand total of three.
Unfortunately I don't have a picture.
What I do have, however, is that of my salmon sashimi in servings two.
I took salmon sashimi, and salmon belly sashimi.
Mind, the salmon belly here is soft and tender and chilled and of excellent quality.
But maybe next time I ought to take a better look at their selections of sushi- all of which include tamago and (if I remember correctly) nigiri as well.
I didn't come here merely for the sashimi, truffle roast duck and the seafood, of course.
I took a fair portion of the cooked foods today too.
Deciding to have a mixture of east and west, I reached for a single serving of fried rice, a single serving of fried noodles, a tiny little portion of chye tow kuay, some chicken, a little bit of sweet potatoes and a couple slices of roast beef.
I took the roast beef plain without sauce.
And I counted my sweet potatoes.
I was more liberal with the portioning of the other foods though.
It's hard to determine just how large a serving of noodles or chye tow kuay should be.
So it's a great thing that, with the exception of the fried rice- which I think demanded to be eaten with some of the other cooked dishes, like the skewered meats or the meat of the truffle roast duck, the rest of what I took tasted good.
The chye tow kuay surprised me.
It didn't look very appetizing at the serving counter- one huge chunk of a steamed radish cake Chinese style- but hey, there was the distinctive flavor of the radish that, because I ate plain, was not overwhelmed by sweet sauce of any kind.
The one thing I took a serious fancy to were the crystal paus.
You see two, but I actually ate six in all.
Now, some might laugh at me for spending all that money on dim sum crystal paus, but I love them.
They don't look fancy, but they're a rare find.
I love their clean taste, chewy texture, crunch of the turnips and chives, and the sense of warmth I get with each bite.
It's just a pity that I wasn't able to have more of the dim sums.
They had quite an impressive selection of har gows, siew mais, this crystal paus, and two kinds of fluffy steamed paus.
It was more or less dessert time after this.
But first I had a bun, spread with French butter, a slice of brie, and a bit of blue.
For dessert tonight I took two slices of Hilton's signature cheesecake, a slice of Earl Grey Chocolate something, a bit of pecan pie (it is Thanksgiving after all) and their signature desserts in a jar.
These desserts, I assure you, are the ones that you come to Hilton's ESTATE for.
They're ubiquitous to this buffet and I (don't think) they're found anywhere else.
There're six flavors, if I'm not wrong, that you can choose from.
I can't remember what they are, but there's the one with the tiramisu, there's the one with the hazelnut, the one with marsala wine, and the one with burnt citron.
I always go for the latter.
I like the sourish, lemony taste of the citron, I like the light, fluffy meringue and the crisp of the crust that's underneath it.
The only thing I don't take much at ESTATE's buffet are the fruits.
But I make my own fruit-infused water anyway.
