Thursday, August 14, 2008

High Tea at Carousel

Gorgeous backdrop for desserts
Nadine did well yesterday at her annual development review with Dr Bhavani Sriram, the foremost physician for Down Syndrome in Singapore. We always feel good after meeting Dr Bhavani. She is genuinely warm, full of encouragement and love for these children. Oh, and her husband is Nadine's cardiac surgeon too. He's the best around, and has saved many lives.

After the session with Dr Bhavani, we decided to treat Nadine (and ourselves!) to a high tea at Carousel. She enjoys tasting a bit of everything, and it's a great way for us to discover what she likes or not. Used the DSLR and noticed a difference to the quality of photos, compared to those taken at the lunch we had last year. Alas, photos better this time but food not as good. Still, there were some highlights.

Cold platter
Carousel has scaled back its high tea, I think. Last year, there were still cold seafood (mussels, scallops) on ice but now it's just limited mixed sashimi, sushi, and some salads. These looked and tasted like leftovers from lunch.

Nasi lemak and the works!
Nasi lemak with the works - achar, crispy chicken wings, onion omelette, fried ikan bilis with peanuts, a very rich vegetable curry (sayur lodeh), minced mutton curry and fish fillet. Most of it pretty good, but the rice was overly "lemak" (rich), saturated with coconut cream and a bit soggy.

Middle Eastern chicken shovaslaki and mini pizzas (back)
There was doner kebab-style chicken shovaslaki with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and pita bread. Edible but not as good as the ones from Zac Cafe. Forgettable mini pizzas in the background.

Laksa, fried kway teow, seafood otah and fried items
Lots of Asian stuff at the high tea. Fried kway teow, laksa, congee, soups, fried items. Seafood otah, on the far right, was very good. Meant for nasi lemak, but people had swiped it all during the time I plated my nasi lemak earlier. The serving ladies are almost motherly - one of them said to me the kway teow is fried well today, and asked me to take the shrimp. I don't get this kind of service very often!

Platter of fried items and kueh pie tee
We found the fried and dim sum items a little dry. One easy explanation - this place is halal and therefore, chicken is used to replace pork. This does not translate well, as chicken tends to taste dry. Sorry but non-halal dim sum just doesn't make the cut.

DIY Ice kachang dessert!
I had fun with the DIY ice kachang dessert. There's a cast-iron machine that shaves ice into snow-like mounds but it looks so traditional, like the ones used by stalls in olden days, I was automatically looking for a manual handle before I spied the on-off operation button. Customise your creation with gula melaka, colourful syrups, jellies, coconut cream, evaporated milk, creamed corn, gingko nuts, lotus seeds, and even maraschino cherries.

Mee jiang kueh and muah chee
Ah, just the other day, Keropokman was talking about ban jian kueh, or mee jiang kueh as Carousel calls them. The friendly serving lady gave me freshly made ones, saying these would be nicer hot. The muah chee (glutinous rice dough balls coated with crushed peanuts and sugar) is nicer though.

Small selection of French desserts
Turns out the desserts were better than the mains (or the savoury items). There is a small selection of French pastries, as well as Nonya kuehs. I didn't get to sample all of them. Also available (which I had no room for) - a tall chocolate fountain, tubs of ice cream, lots of fruits, muffins and scones with accompanying jams, creams and sweet sauces.

Sweet tapioca braised in honey; bread and butter pudding with vanilla sauce
Hubby liked the sweet tapioca braised in syrupy honey, topped with coconut milk; whereas I preferred the bread and butter pudding with vanilla sauce - yes, those are real vanilla specks in the sauce!

A meal for all times of day
I see that prices have increased for some meals. The food was not as stellar as what's served at lunch but still, the weekday high tea offers good variety and value-for-money at S$25++ (Citibank cardholders get 15% off, not sure until when). Expect to pay S$32++ at weekends though. Reservations recommended.

CAROUSEL
(click on "Launch Dining Site" to see sample menus, dining hours, etc.)
Lobby Level, Royal Plaza on Scotts
25 Scotts Road
Tel: 6589-7799
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17 comments

  1. oh man! i miss hotel buffets!

    They are just they type you crave for and kept thinking about and yet, when you're through with it, you wonder, "Wat have I put myself to..?!"

    I have to admit, their food are "jack of all trades, master of none". All the food are not really that exceptionally good.

    My fave so far is The Line @ Shangri-La. But a tad pricey.

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  2. very tempting! especially the nasi lemak and asian food selection. very good price too! i wish i cud get the same in hong kong :)

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  3. Oh yummy! I have not been to buffets for a long long time!

    cute rolled up mee jiang kueh! The kueh pai ti looks so tempting with that 'little green tree'. hehe..

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  4. very clear and crisp photos ...
    projects the deliciousness in all its glory !!!

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  5. woah...the bread and butter pudding looks moist. it is warm? i like the look of the peanut pancake. ;o)
    i think your photos are quite sharp looking. nice!

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  6. i guess prices are still reasonable. even though food not as good. haha

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  7. Wow do they have 10% service charge and 7% GST on top of those prices?

    Demon

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  8. Wow, I have not been there in a long time. Everything looks good. :)

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  9. DBS now has a promo with their credit card - 1 for 1 high tea at Carousel, for mon-thur only though :)

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  10. hmmm. interesting. i like the concept and the decor but that's just me and my fetish for Commedia dell'arte and anything that's gotta do with a mask.

    may pop round some time to have a look myself. :)

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  11. i seriously dont understand 1 thing, when is the "teacher promotion going to end " i mean, if its called a promotion, isnt it suppose to be cheaper than the normal dinner price. and the thing is, a few months back i called them, they were having the promotion, today i called, they still having the same promotion. is it just me or wat ?

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  12. Hi I must say the photos look good! Yeah, I agree that Carousel has scaled back on its food quality and quantity, and increased their prices at the same time! But can't blame them... Still, they serve one of the best scones that I've ever eaten! Oh and when does the DBS 1-for-1 offer for high tea end?

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  13. i went in jul and was quite disappointed with the range and quality. i remember it to be much better from years ago (b4 the renovation. now i think only the desserts have maintained their standards. the rest, really so-so only :(

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  14. hello!

    just wondering, between Carousel and Melt, which one would you recommend?

    a real headache cos i need to reserve a table for my boyf's coming birthday at the end of nov!

    thanks loads! (:

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  15. xianHUI: Melt has better food in general but also higher prices (which just went up too). Carousel is cheap and cheerful (and halal, so there's no pork/lard). So really depends. If you intend to splurge, Melt would be it.

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  16. thanks sweet! really helpful. i ll give melt a try! (:

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