Got jio-ed by a pal to stuff our faces at the famous Durian Buffet at Carlton Hotel on a Friday. Situated within a 5mins walk from CityHall MRT Station, we had caught sight of the iconic thorny fruit on display many a times along the way to Raffles City.
With a 10% (or was it 15%?) discount of the total bill for the Durian Buffet cum spread of other main dishes, we happily plonked ourselves at the cosy and comfortably lit Cafe Vic. Although it was a Friday, the Cafe wasn't overly packed with ample privacy and swift service.
The service staff was on hand to clear plates in doubly quick time that there was an incident we had our plates cleared even before we finished our last morsel.
So down to the spread.
Besides the main Durian attraction there were also:
1) Fresh oysters.
Which dominated my plates. I think i had close to 20 of these babies drizzled in lotsa lemon juice and tabasco sauce. In fact, I even nicked one of the tabasco sauce bottles coz I was too lazy to walk to n fro to get it to splash my oysters in.
2) Salmon sashimi
2nd on my list. The sashimi was lovely except it was the ONLY sashimi there. If only there was more variety like Maguro and yellow tail.
3) Assorted other cold dishes like baby octopus + sushi + salads
4) Pasta dishes that the chef prepares on the spot upon orders. You can choose from tomato based to cream based ones from an array of pasta assortment. Surprisingly the cream based one won over my tastebuds. Uusually I avoid em coz of their heavy consistency but the one at Cafe Vic was light and tasty.
5) Soups - old cucumber and tom yam soup.
The old cucumber soup was a disappointment coz i was looking forward to a nourishing broth. Instead it was simply OILY. The tom yum was much beta and whet our appetites.
6) Choc fondue + assortment of cakes
Honestly, we jus had one stick of marsh each coz need to save tummy for the durians mah. Ate too much oysters and sashimi liao.
7) Prawns
Third most eaten item on my list.
8) Assorted meats and fish
Lamb chop
Beef done well done.
Ta dah! The durian array includes:
A lovely spread of durian inspired desserts and of course the king of fruits in his birthday suit.
Durian desserts includes:
1) Durian tarts
Durian flesh scooped whole on top of tart and sprinkled with crunchy choc balls.
2) Durian creme brulee
Durian flesh blended into a smooth and creamy paste.
3) Durian nyonya-kueh-look-alike
Skipped it coz the blue tinge din really appealed to me
4) Durian and choc ice cream
Your usual ice cream fare
5) Durian cake
The durian taste was a lil lost due to the sponge and vanilla fresh cream
6) The king of fruits in the nude.
You have to sit on the al fresco portion of Cafe Vic to indulge in the thorny fruit and its full glory. We had a bittersweet one which was L.O.V.E.L.Y
7) Durian bread and pudding
Thick and luscious.
And lots more which I cant bring to mind now.
At $45 per pax (aft UOB discount), it's a meal which made us both so full we had to take a cab back home.
Yums.
