For The Love Of Roasts | Plaza Brasserie at Parkroyal at Beach Road

Can you see the love on his face? Kidding. But he was the nice guy that carved everything nicely for us.

For The Love of Roasts — Lovingly carved meats to indulge one's carnivorous appetite.

Seating area, Plaza Brasserie.

18th Sept 2014

By Mu Yao

Photos by Xin Li & Mu Yao

We were kindly invited to indulge in our "carnivorous cravings" at Plaza Brasserie's "For the Love of Roasts" hotel buffet at the Parkroyal on Beach Road. After rushing down from class from Pulau NTU to meet Xinli and working up an appetite, I guess I was. 

A lovely Kurobuta Sausage and Guinness Beef/Pork Sausage served with a wonderfully smooth mash.

Because I had arrived unceremoniously late, I was immediately seated to this — a sausage duo of Kurobuta Pork and Guinness Beef/Pork. I was drawn to the former more for the savoury smoothness, and also it wasn't as heavy as those sausages I had in Germany. The Guinness wasn't bad, but it had a faint sour/salty twang that was characteristic of the namesake brew. Could have been more adventurous and throw a little haggis in there, but I'm no chef, I'd say. Haha.

It wasn't an understatement to say that this was a noticeably atas (and delightful) version of bangers and mash. 

Braised Kangaroo Tail... which didn't leave me hopping for seconds.

This was a little too gamey and lean for my taste — even though the meat was so soft that it just fell of the bone. I don't think it was a question of technique for this braised kangaroo tail — perhaps it was just a matter of taste for me. That being said, I think I still finished half of this out of the respect the 2 hours that was spent braising this thing. 

The Executive Sous Chef Ken serving us our Braised Ox Tongue.

Braised Ox Tongue. Tasted like ham.

Chef Eric soon came rolling in with a platter of finely cut braised ox tongue, which was delicately served piece by piece to everyone on the table. This tasted like ham, but with a slightly rougher texture. It was pretty good! 

This was Australian Wagyu. Wagyu. Melts. In. Your. Mouth.

I love Wagyu. It was like a meat made for the gods, with silky smooth, marbled fat intricately mixed in with the rich, sinewy muscle fibres of the beef propelling me into an utterly indulgent moment in carnivore heaven. This horseradish mustard was a welcome tangy complement to this. 

Auntie looks spoilt for choice at the sashimi section.

Right after the meats were served, I bolted straight for the buffet line with the enthusiasm of a typical Singaporean auntie. So yeah, say hi auntie.

And naturally, being Singaporean, you have to always take the expensive stuff first — the sashimi (which I didn't take photos of). But they do offer pretty decent Tuna, Salmon and Octopus Sashimi here. 

Canadian oysters — good if you don't like the briny taste in your oysters.

So I also decided to actyige atas and go for the oysters. I enquired about the origins of these oysters, and was told by the friendly chef that they were from Canada. But judging from the non-briny taste, I'm taking a guess they were from the East Coast. They were okay, not very sweet, but at least they weren't briny. 

Smoked Swiss Bacon. Anything sounds fancier with "Swiss" in it. Including bacon.

Air-dried beef.

Some cold cuts and cheese to remind me of my exchange days in Europe... including Pork Knuckle Jelly. I can see my German buddy rolling his eyes at that now.

I tried a little of the Italian Reserva Ham, Smoked Swiss Bacon, Air Dried Beef and Pork Knuckle Jelly. Didn't like the ham — had this strange medicinal aftertaste that reminded me of some herbal remedy. But the smoked swiss bacon was mighty fine — strong smoky taste layered with a nuanced saltiness, as with the air dried beef, albeit less saltier. The Pork Knuckle Jelly was quite good actually, tasted like the essence of what it was, but I could only imagine my German friends rolling their eyes at the thought of this instead of having the real thing. Except this, being a jelly, was nicer and less cloyingly rich. 

Of course there was also the cheeses — Irish Porter, Camembert, Gouda, Brie and Goat's Cheese. I think I liked the camembert best, although the Gouda and Brie were the classic creamy, smooth favourites that you couldn't go wrong with as well. 

There is no chicken or egg question here. Obviously, at this carnivorous spread, chicken.  

The chicken was a little dry in the centre, but still flavourful.

I had a little of the Rosemary roast chicken — nicely flavoured with the herbs and a nice roast on the skin, but I think it was on the dry side when it was cut to the centre. Maybe it was out for too long.

Fancy some Baked Bone Marrow, anyone? Obviously this is no Soup Tulang, but it's pretty good still. 

While this was no soup Tulang, the concentrated savoury goodness of baked bone marrow is presented in this form as a less messy, lighter version that was pretty good.

Roast rack of lamb with the star of this plate — the mint jelly. Wondering whether they put weed inside it. (joking) 

The star of this plate was the roast rack of lamb — strong herb taste, slightly dry outside, but the lean meat was fairly tender and well packed with flavour. While it had a slightly gamey taste, the mint jelly's sprightly sweet taste erased all notions of that, creating a wonderful melding of flavours in one's mouth. 

The "200-day grain-fed" prime ribs, perched on a piece of pork collar. I don't care if it's 20-day or 200-day, it was pretty damn good too.

Wah. This was something, the prime rib. I didn't know whether the cows were fed on weed or something, but it was very nice — not dry, a healthy layer of savoury fat melded in the relatively smooth and even texture of the meat. The pork collar was a more sinewy version, with a texture resembling roast beef, but was fairly okay still. Prime ribs take the cake though. 

Tiger Prawns.

Who can resist a buffet without sweet and juicy tiger prawns!

Braised Sea Cucumber with Sio Bak (roast pork) and mushroom. Cantonese classic.

This cantonese classic really uses the savoury fats of the sio bak to its fullest potential, mixed with all the tender softness of the braised sea cucumbers and mushrooms. Lovely.

I'm guessing this was the soft-shell crab, which comes with a savoury addition of Tobiko Mayonnaise.

Chilli Scallop in "XO" sauce. 

Both the two dishes were done decently, without fanfare. I would have liked the chilli scallop to be a bit more spicier, and the scallop had a pretty nice bounce to it. And I liked the fact that it wasn't greasy. The Tobiko Mayonnaise was a wonderful accompaniment to the soft-shell crab. 

Sio bak. Tintin and Snowy look on. Sio Ak (Roast Duck) in the background. 

 Roast Pork belly was done pretty well, but I would have liked more layered fat and a slightly thicker and more crunchy crust. Flavour-wise, it did hit all the right notes though. And it went brilliantly with the sweet mandarin sauce!

Sweet and sour pork, that was so-so. 

The sweet and sour pork was typical tze-char standards. Nothing to write home about.

Sorry vegetarians. This is all you're gonna get. There's a pumpkin risotto though. Oh, and that brown stuff on the right, that's not for you. It's abalone. 

Pulut Hitam

I was told the Pulut Hitam was so-so as well. But do try the Chocolate Cake and the Durian Prata (their signature, apparently) here. I had the latter and it was dannngggg good and creamy, oozing 100% Mao Shan Wang goodness, with the crispy yet fluffy texture of the prata (which wasn't oily at all!).

All in all, at 65++ per pax ($39++ for children 4-12 years old), I have to say that this is one of the more affordable hotel buffets in town considering the quality and variety. Some misses, yes, but that is to be expected of most hotel buffets. At large, the friendly service/cook staff, the relatively wide variety of food, with the mainstay of the buffet (the meats/roast) being largely up to par. I was told that Plaza Brasserie had always been focusing more on Asian food, but this first time venturing to a more international offering commands much promise that may bring me back again.


Special thanks to Siew Leng and Jolin for hosting this invited session. 

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Plaza Brasserie
7500 Beach Road
Parkroyal on Beach Road
Singapore 199591

Tel: +65 6505 5710

For the Love Of Roasts Buffet Dinner Promotion
5th September 2014 to 26 October 2014
6pm - 10.30pm daily