Food Capital Tasting Session 2020 - Chinese New Year
392 Havelock Road
Level 1 Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel
Opening Hours:
Mon - Sat: 12pm - 2:30pm (Lunch), 6:30pm - 11pm (Dinner)
Sunday: 12:30pm - 3:30pm (Brunch), 6:30pm - 11pm (Dinner)
https://www.millenniumhotels.com/en/singapore/grand-copthorne-waterfront/food-capital/
This was an invited media review. I did not pay for the meal during the free hosted tasting session.
Attended with representatives from Purple Taste, Where To Eat Singapore, Geeky Elephant, Hazel Diary, Darren Bloggie, and Ms Hannah Chia.
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| Sesame Ball |
A Celebratory Feast To Usher In The New Year
(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 8
Ambience & Setting: 8
Food & Beverage: 7
Service: 8
Value for Money: 9
Budget about SGD $68++ (Lunch) / $88++ (Dinner) per person.
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Returned to Food Capital in the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel to sample the Chinese New Year 2020 buffet menu. Having previously visited several times, we've come to expect a consistently above average standard of quality in their ambience, service, and food. This time, Food Capital is showcasing their Bountiful Spring Reunion buffet, available from 20th January till 9th February 2019. Chef Jackie Zhang has created an auspicious array of dishes to welcome the new year.
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| Banquet Hall |
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| Banquet Hall |
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| Chopstick Calligraphy & Paper Cutting |
Ambience at Food Capital is open-concept, yet cozy and inviting, with modern contemporary decor around the place. It boasts the largest floor area, with clever use of decor, partitions, and the curvature of the building to section off areas, making it seem more intimate. Ample natural lighting and a high ceiling lend a sense of space, while light wooden furnishings with comfortable cushions are contrasted by vibrant blue backed booths. There is also al-fresco outdoor seating, though it's not suitable on warm or wet days. The many ballrooms here are large and spacious, beautifully decorated for events by their in-house artist / designer.
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| Display Of Desserts |
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| Display Of Desserts |
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| Display Of Desserts |
Service at Food Capital is good, befitting of a restaurant. Staff are professional, engaging, and efficient. They offer greetings upon entry, and are quick to seat guests. Staff will brief you on the various sections, and helpfully make recommendations if asked. While they're able to broadly describe what is available, their product knowledge does not have depth. I like that staff come around to check on your dining experience, as well as clear away empty / dirty plates quickly, which is important in a buffet. If dining in a ballroom, staff are efficient at serving and cleaning up after each course, and present dishes at the table with a touch of flair.
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| Display Of Seafood |
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| Display Of Seafood |
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| Display Of Seafood |
Food at Food Capital is International cuisine, and spans American, British, Italian, Chinese, Indian, and Japanese cuisine, with a range of rotisserie / grilled meats, fresh seafood, salads, main courses, stir-frys, desserts, cold cuts, and more. The highlight here would be the josper grilled meats and seafood. Generally, I would say the dishes here are executed to an above average standard, made with fresh ingredients, and are tasty. Chef Jackie Zhang leads a skilled team, each with their own speciality. As a buffet, portions are naturally unlimited. Prices are comparable to other hotel buffets, and is good value for money because of the quality, budget about SGD $68++ per person for lunch, or SGD $88++ per person for dinner here.
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| Cucumber Tomato Tofu Beancurd Salad |
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| Salmon In Charcoal Wafer Handroll |
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| Red Bean Paste Pancake |
These Fresh Oysters With Trio Flavours feature succulent slippery fresh oysters with briny salty sweet flavour, served with a trio of house dipping sauces. The first is smoked tomato with bacon chip, which has a robust smoky vegetal sweet salty flavour. The second is mango chutney, which has a bright fruity sweet flavour. The third is a home made chili sauce, which is sharply spicy in taste. Of course, you could also choose to pair this with light soy sauce, which brightens the salty savoury notes.
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| Fresh Oysters With Trio Flavours |
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| Dipping Sauces |
No Chinese New Year celebration is complete without Prosperity Yu Sheng (SGD $68 / $88 / $168). Chef has created this auspicious plate to usher in the year of the rat / mouse. This has lovely crunchy juicy textures, with bright vegetal sweet sour earthy flavours. Also available for takeaway.
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| Prosperity Yu Sheng (SGD $68 / $88 / $168) |
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| Prosperity Yu Sheng |
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| Prosperity Yu Sheng |
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| Prosperity Yu Sheng |
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| Prosperity Yu Sheng |
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| Prosperity Yu Sheng |
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| Prosperity Yu Sheng |
The Double-Boiled Chicken Soup With Ginseng has a soulful, comforting feel, though the herbal notes of ginseng is rather strong. Garnished with soft goji berries / wolfberries, tender chicken meat shaped like a ball, bouncy dried abalone, and spongy crunchy bamboo fungus. This herbal sweet savoury soup / broth is pleasing enough, and helps to open the appetite.
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| Double-Boiled Chicken Soup With Ginseng |
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| Double-Boiled Chicken Soup With Ginseng |
Execution is key in the Stir-Fried Prawn With Chili & Curry Leaf. The freshness of the bouncy juicy deshelled prawn lends sweet savoury flavour, while the aromatics of curry leaf and chili lend bold savoury spicy notes.
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| Stir-Fried Prawn With Chili & Curry Leaf |
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| Stir-Fried Prawn With Chili & Curry Leaf |
Styled like a squirrel, the Song Shu Sea Bass Fish With Sweet & Sour Gravy features a whole fresh sea bass fish, with tender moist flaky fish meat. Coated generously in a thick sweet and sour gravy, accompanied by crunchy diced green and yellow bell peppers / capsicum, soft red onions, juicy pineapples, and crunchy pint nuts, this has bright and tasty vegetal earthy sweet sour nutty flavours.
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| Song Shu Sea Bass Fish With Sweet & Sour Gravy |
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| Song Shu Sea Bass Fish With Sweet & Sour Gravy |
The La Mei Fried Rice With Seaweed Crumbs has a fluffy base of fried rice garnished with crisp seaweed flakes, which hold delicate smoky earthy savoury sweet flavours. Completed with chewy Chinese dried sausage / lup cheong and tender roasted pork belly, which lend bold meaty salty savoury flavours. Quite addictive, though I'd have liked a stronger smoky aroma.
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| La Mei Fried Rice With Seaweed Crumbs |
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| La Mei Fried Rice With Seaweed Crumbs |
This 2020 Chinese New Year, the Bountiful Treasures Pen Cai makes a return. The pen cai / poon choi is a luxurious Chinese Cantonese one-pot feast, the version here features a base layer of daikon radish, Chinese cabbage; with a middle layer of dried scallops, shell-on prawns / shrimp, roast pork belly, roast duck, soy sauce chicken, abalone; and a top layer of sea cucumber, fish maw, braised oysters, wolfberries / goji berries, and black moss / fat choy / black hair vegetable. Everything has been cooked till tender with a bouncy bite, and the ingredients have absorbed all the earthy savoury sweet salty flavours. Good!
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| Bountiful Treasures Pen Cai |
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| Bountiful Treasures Pen Cai |
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| Bountiful Treasures Pen Cai |
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| Bountiful Treasures Pen Cai |
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| Bountiful Treasures Pen Cai |
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| Bountiful Treasures Pen Cai |
The Mango Pamelo Pudding is soft and juicy, with bright fruity sweet flavours from the mango curd and pamelo bits. Love the little egg shell presentation.
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| Mango Pamelo Pudding |
The fairly straightforward Mango Jelly Koi has bright fruity sweet notes from the mango jelly, with a wobbly soft texture. Wow for presentation!
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| Mango Jelly Koi |
This 2020 Chinese New Year, they're offering 2 types of Nian Gao / New Year Cake. There's the classic version made with glutinous rice flour, brown sugar, water, dessicated coconut, and canola oil, which is sticky and chewy in texture, with robust earthy grainy sweet flavour. There's also a modern version made with matcha / green tea powder, which has a bold grassy sweet flavour instead.
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| Nian Gao / New Year Cake |
Had the Yam / Taro Paste / Orh Nee over the previous years, and it's still as decent as before.
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| Yam / Taro Paste / Orh Nee |
The Honeydew Coconut Sago has a bright creamy refreshing texture, with lovely fruity milky earthy sweet flavours. The cubes of juicy honeydew in the thin chilled coconut milk soup / broth stand out, and the chewy tapioca sago balls lend a pleasing contrast of texture.
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| Honeydew Coconut Sago |
Always good to return to Food Capital for a meal. Enjoyed the Chinese New Year 2020 feast at Food Capital, with its comforting and familiar flavours. Glad to see they're offering Pen Cai as part of the buffet throughout the CNY 2020 period (Bountiful Spring Reunion buffet, available from 20th January till 9th February 2019). Their strength in fine Chinese Mandarin cuisine is evident with the new culinary team at the helm. Well worth dining at Food Capital, do make advance reservations here!
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CONVERSATION