This was our first ESTATE dinner of the year.
What occasion it was, I don't remember, but like always, there was a lot of variety, and we took as many a plate of oysters as we could.
I was quite determined to do strategic eating with my meal today.
After all, gone are the days when I could have plate after plate of salmon sashimi, or plate after plate of cooked selections with room enough still for dessert.
Those appetites are no longer mine anymore.
Sometimes I wish I could fill up on more of the good stuff (and make my money's worth) instead of feeling full after eating three chilled prawns.
But since that be the case, I get selective, and so today for the chilled seafood I went for a plate of scallops, and plates of oysters.
You probably thought I ate up this entire plate of oysters.
I didn't.
They were shared.
Like some of the other food we had at the table.
I didn't share the scallops though.
They were all mine.
Maybe because I've grown to fancy the texture of scallops over the texture of mussels, prawns, little lobsters and even crayfish from the chilled seafood station, these open shells are what I go straight for.
I like them fresh, plump and juicy.
I like them with Thousand Island and mayonnaise too.
Yes, I know, some might balk at the thought of dipping scallops in mayonnaise or salad dressing, but really, it's quite good.
Then again, there have been times where I've overdone the dipping and end up tasting the dip more than I taste the scallop... but I don't care.
The creamy, salty taste of the mayonnaise blends with the chew of the scallop, and that makes the dish a very worthwhile one to have.
I skipped out on the prawns this time.
Instead I went for the cooked food, taking first the truffle roast duck, which, by the way, when you come to ESTATE at Hilton for their buffet, you live live die die must have.
It's their signature.
I don't know where else in this country you might be able to find a truffle roast duck as similar as this, but this is as good a roast duck (Chinese style) anywhere else might have.
My friend likes to have just the skin.
Me, on the other hand, I like both the skin and the meat, so I take over the plates, finish whatever's on them, and then go for the fried soy thing that comes with every serving.
I'm usually a little full by then- roast duck meat does fill one up, but I won't come to this place without trying some of the other foods.
Like the salmon belly sashimi, which you get from the sushi and sashimi station but then have to ask the lady there to slice it specially for you because they sometimes keep it in the chiller and busy themselves preparing the regular salmon sashimi instead.
Today I took two plates, or maybe three.
I can't remember.
What I do remember taking, however, were the lamb skewers.
Tasty, well grilled, juicy, and tender, my friend had recommended them to me.
I had initially though I'd take just one, but it looked so lonely on my plate that I went for another, and then got a small heap of Romaine lettuce, a small serving of corn and a couple cherry tomatoes from the salad bar.
The skewers were pretty fun to eat.
After that, I made sure I took some other cooked food too, like noodles, which I oft take at buffets never mind how plain and simple they look.
I like noodles.
But because they didn't make the plate look filled, I decided on a single piece of fried chicken wing (the crisp looked so good), a single piece of what I think is spring roll, and then on another plate, I took several pieces of pappadum to go with the gravy of butter chicken.
In the midst of all this, I didn't give up on my salmon belly sashimi either. :)
I think I was feeling rather full after the pappadums, but one cannot leave a buffet as good as this without having dessert, so off I went to the dessert station, taking back with me a small slice of Hilton's signature cheesecake, some cheese for the nibbles, and a hazelnut cake thing.
Then I got some bread and butter, for no other reason besides the fact that I felt like having some.
One thing I did miss out this time round were the jars of desserts that ESTATE currently has.
Honestly, I feel like I shouldn't have.
They're unique to the buffet here, and whilst it's one thing to miss out on chocolate ice cream or even cheesecake, it's another thing to skip out entirely on a jar containing a strong, tart-tasting citrus lemon with meringue, or a jar that's got Tiramisu, or a jar that combines chocolate cake with some sort of red wine.