We haven’t gotten the chance to explore the Marine Parade area much so when we discovered the elusive Katong Kitchen, we were pleasantly surprised. This lovely halal hotel buffet is hidden on the 4th floor of Village Hotel Katong. Reminiscent of Asian Market Cafe at Swisshotel the Stamford, it’s buffet spread specialises in Peranakan dishes.
Signature Rojak Station @ Katong Kitchen
The dishes range from the very delectable Rojak and Kueh Pie Tee station to their signature Laksa and Ayam Buah Keluah. Unique to Katong Kitchen is that the buffet line changes day to day with the exception of the select few signature dishes which are featured permanently. You can easily get updates on the menu from the friendly staff at Katong Kitchen.
Sushi Set @ Katong Kitchen
Seafood Array @ Katong Kitchen
However the more juicy info we’d like to share is actually on their Chinese New Year buffet. For the 1st to 22nd of February, Katong serves a special buffet spread for CNY. They’ve even got a yummy line up of ala-carte items on their menu for the festive occasion.
To begin with, of course we couldn’t miss out on the Lo Hei or Prosperity Toss! It’s not a part of the buffet line itself but you can order it from the menu. It’s a platter that you definitely would want to try.
Straits Signature Kerabu Yusheng @ Katong Kitchen
Diverting from your common day Yusheng, this Straits Signature Kerabu Yusheng is prepared with ample traditional Peranakan flavours. This artful dish has been reconstructed with fried tapioca strips, dried shrimps and a novel, tangy sauce made in-house. Although I’m not a fan of veggies, I really, really fell in love with this. Even Jums who had a bad experience with Yusheng before, couldn’t get enough of it. The different vegetables were grated into fine, long strips and are very refreshing to the palate.
The team doing the Prosperity Toss @ Katong Kitchen
Katong’s Lo Hei also comes with a cute bowl of crisp you char kway croutons and a plate of smoked salmon. With the sauce, you don’t get that overly sweet syrupy taste of honey that accompanies store bought Yusheng platters and it balances the whole mixture of ingredients perfectly. It doesn’t just look beautiful but it seriously tastes heavenly – you feel prosperous just from eating it.
Honey Glazed Roasted Sesame Chicken (for CNY only)
As much as I love discussing the awesomeness of the Lo Hei, we need to continue so I’ll move on to the meat dishes. Specially for Chinese New Year, they have the Honey Glazed Chicken and Baked Stripling with Rendang Sauce. The chicken is just luscious and super juicy and the stripling is tender. The sauce for the chicken was a little salty for me but Shams and Jums enjoyed it fine with the chicken meat.
Baked Striploin with Rendang Sauce
Then again, it could be because my taste buds were already pampered by the wonderfully cooked grilled lamb with that drizzle of Katong sauce – again it’s made in-house and highly recommended. The lamb is fresh off the grill and you can get it from the buffet line as and when you please.
Grilled Lamb on the Buffet Line
There was plenty to try but I needed to save space to savour my dessert considering our accommodating host was baiting me with Durian Pengat, which is only available as part of the dinner buffet. So I had to take a breather but when dessert came, my patience definitely paid off! One of the things we tried first was the Portuguese Tarts.
Portuguese Tarts
First, let’s take a moment and check out that gorgeous sear on those babies (I know its not a steak but still, you have to admit it’s beautiful). Those Portuguese Tarts are the bomb! The tart itself gives you that satisfactory crunch when you bite into it and the eggy content is just so soft and delicious. Shams really adored those.For the other dessert platter, they infused the Nyonya style with the Wheatgrass, Red Dates cake slices – for the life of me, I couldn’t guess what it was. All I knew was it tasted grassy… – explains the wheat grass obviously. Hahaha.
Something else to look forward to is the pineapple tarts. Those pineapple tarts are deceptively addictive and they NEED, they just NEED to put it in a bottle. Even as I’m typing I wish I had packed a boatload to run away with. The base is perfectly cooked and the pineapple filling was delish. Me and Shams LOVED it so much, we were reminiscing about it in the office even days after.
Ok, we have to wrap it up with the epitome of my trip there. If you’ve guessed it, no points for you! This was what they baited me with – THE DURIAN PENGAT. My dear ones, this is NOT, I repeat NOT just ANY Durian Pengat. That teeny bowl will fool anyone but man, its contents pack a punch. It was so flavourful, it left me dazed. Well for a few seconds then, I got back to my senses and got back to scraping every inch of the cup so I wouldn’t miss any durian goodness.
This petite cup holds solid durian paste through and through. They definitely didn’t skimp on the durian itself in place of other ingredients. If durian had a brand name, this would be Prada. Or Gucci or something – you get my drift. Fortunately for us, its a permanent fixture on the dinner line so you won’t miss out. So, go, go, go, enjoy!—Here’s a couple of extra deets you might want to know:
For weekday lunches, Katong Kitchen provides the option of having a super affordable one hour buffet lunch between 12noon to 2.30pm at only $28++ with complimentary parking. The promotion isn’t up for the eve of public holidays, public holidays and other special occasions but you get to snatch the offer for the non festive period if you’d like. It’s perfect for when you want to leave your office and grab a buffet lunch out at Katong.
For the special CNY stated dishes, those will only be around for the CNY period so make sure to make some time to catch it because it will worth it.
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Opening Hours:
Lunch –
(Mon to Fri & Eve of Public Holidays) – 12pm to 2.30pm
(Sat, Sun & Public holidays) – 12pm – 4pm
Dinner – 6.30pm to 10pm
Location:
25 Marine Parade Road,Village Hotel Katong, Singapore 449536
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