Window on the Park at Holiday Inn Orchard is currently have buffet promotions  until 30 Nov 2017. For dinner on Mondays to Thursdays, the Southeast Asian Culinary Dinner Showcase focuses on flavours from the region which may include Tekwan and Gulai Udang from Indonesia; papaya salad, Thai crab cakes and steamed Otah from Thailand; and chilli or black pepper crab from Singapore.

Baby lobsters, mussels, and prawns on ice

On Fridays, weekends, and public holidays, the concept changes to “Boston Lobster Weekend.” Both concepts are presented by Executive Chef Ivan Lim and his crew.

We were there over the weekend. First of all, I have to say I love the decor. It’s walking into an 80s film set. There is something very retro about the restaurant. Is it the yellow lights? The zebra print carpet? The use of frosted glass with wood? or the laminated tables with zither string prints? In any case,  I’m digging it.

Bamboo clams with Thai basil

Half the success of a good buffet is the display of items; if you don’t know where the items are, you can’t eat them. Some buffets are displayed in a higgledy-piggledy manner that you may miss out of the items. Here, the items are nicely placed in a tight corner but that also means the selection is small. We managed to share almost everything once before going for seconds individually.

Black pepper lobster claws

The buffet begins at an island table with a selection of cold seafood (salmon sashimi, baby lobsters, mussels, and prawns); kueh pie tee; DIY rojak, and some salads. Pretty good, but will it be too much to ask for oysters and some cheeses given that the buffet is at $96++ for two?

Rojak, kueh pie tee, potato salad, pasta salad

By the time you finish your starters, they will have probably served the Boston lobsters. Each patron is entitled to have one each. The lobsters are cooled; perhaps they are cooked some time ago. The flesh clings onto the shell, which many say is indicative of the freshness or lack thereof. But the sauce, which is placed in the cavity of the head in case you don’t want it, is pretty amazing. It’s sweet (kecap manis?) with green onions.
Many hot items are Indian or Malay in origins, such as ayam masak merah (fried chicken in sweet-sour chilli paste), and sambal ikan (deep fried mackerel with chilli paste), lamb kurma. There are also some stir-fried Chinese items such as baby kailan with oyster sauce, wok-fried long bean with prawns, and kung po chicken.

The hot dishes are not bad. I enjoyed the bamboo clam for their sweetness. But the black pepper lobster claws, which I guess come from the limited Boston lobster we had, were so fishy that we could not eat them.

Like the mains, the desserts are ok. There are some outstanding ones like banana panna cotta, and dark chocolate mousse. But like the mains, the most anticipated dessert, durian pengat, disappoints; it is sour and fibrous.

Window on the Park
Level 2, Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre, 11 Cavenagh Road, Singapore 229616
tel: +65 67338333
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Southeast Asian Culinary Dinner Showcase (M-Th 6.30pm to 10:30pm)
S$80++ for two persons, S$24 nett per child (6 to 12 years old)
Boston Lobster Weekend (F-Sun & PH 6.30pm-10.30pm)
S$96++ for two persons, S$24 nett per child (6 to 12 years old)

Food: 5.75/10
Decor/ambience: 6.5/10
Service: 7/10
Price: 6/10

You may be interested in…
–Cafe 2000 at M Hotel: Seafood & BBQ Buffet on Fridays and Saturdays
–One Ninety, Four Seasons Hotel: Fantastic Semi-Buffet With a Choice of Entree
–Borderless Sunday Champagne Brunch at The Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel: 3 Dining Concepts Combined to 1 Buffet
–10 at Claymore, Pan Pacific Orchard: Oyster Buffet Is Back By Popular Demand (Fully Booked for Next 2 Weeks!)

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.