The Courtyard – Chocolate Buffet

I went for the famous chocolate buffet at Fullerton Hotel today. It cost $38.00++/pax for the buffet and $46.00++/pax for buffet with a glass of dessert wine.

Cakes

Mostly mousse

Tarts and cakes

macarons

More cakes, and crème brulee

Fruits for the fondue

Hot chocolate. you get to choose which chocolate you like and the chef would prepare a cup of hot chocolate for you on the spot

Apparent from the above, the variety was quite limited. I had expected to see more options.

As The Courtyard was located in an open space near the main lobby, the atmosphere was somewhat casual and there wasn’t much privacy. However, the main lobby of Fullerton was beautiful enough, so the ambiance was quite food still.

Macarons

The macarons were good, save for the brittle shell which wasn’t glazed. The cream was very good. They had mango, strawberry (or raspberry?), pistachio and of course, chocolate. I liked all of them! I went to get more of these.

Crème brûlée

This one was weird. There wasn’t burnt sugar on top. I usually like crème brulee only for the burnt sugar.

Pralines

There were only 3 types of chocolates in chocolate form available at the buffet. Among these, I liked the centre one best. Inside was milk chocolate praline. It tasted like marble chocolate!

Tarts

Nothing impressive about these, and I was glad they came in bite sizes.

Most of these were mousse and some of them were kind of weird. They had a wasabi chocolate mousse (top right hand one). These weren’t impressive either.

Raspberry brownie cheese cake

As cakes are generally filling, easy to get sick of and most of them came in rather big slices, I skipped almost all cakes except for this one. I glad I didn’t, as this was good! I love cheese cake anyway.

In the background you can see some skewers of fondue. They didn’t provide a bowl of ice water to solidify the chocolate, unlike equinox. I don’t like my chocolate dripping wet. However, the taste was quite good.

Crepe

I was looking forward to this but I was disappointed. They poured some very sour citrus sauce over it and it spoiled the whole taste of the crepe. Otherwise, I think it would be quite good, especially with a scoop of ice cream, but I was too full for seconds.

Chocolate Soufflé

This was baked on the spot when you request for it. It was baked to perfection. It was crispy outside and molten inside. However, the portion was kind of big. I liked it! I always loved molten lava cake, so how can I not love chocolate soufflé.

70% dark chocolate, hot chocolate

Moscato d’Asti (Michele Chiarlo 2008, Italy)

For an additional $8.00++, you get a glass of dessert wine. I was so glad I opted for this, as the wine was really good! It tasted somewhat like ice wine. On the wine list, a glass of this cost $18.00++. This was probably the best discovery from the buffet!

Other than dessert wine, I had tea too. Coffee or tea was included. They only offered one type, which was their house tea. It was kind of bitter, but that was good as it could neutralise the sweetness in my mouth.

Other than the dessert wine, something else to rave about from the buffet was the excellent service. The service was impeccable and possibly the best I have experienced in Singapore. They were attentive, polite, patient, and they were always smiling. They were obviously well trained. Their good attitude made the whole experience so much better.

*****

Ambiance: 8.5/10

Food: 7/10

Wine: 10/10

Service: 10/10

Value: 6.5/10

Overall: Personally I wouldn’t revisit for this buffet, as having too much chocolate can get kind of scary and trying it once is more for the novelty of it. However, I may visit for their afternoon tea, with expectations of the same impeccable service.

*****

The Courtyard

1 Fullerton Square,

GF Fullerton Hotel

Tel: 6877 8128

*****

Chocolate Buffet 8pm – 11pm (Fri and Sat)

*****

Getting there:

By Car:

Fullerton Hotel or One Fullerton Car Park

After 5pm: $5.00 per entry