lime at parkroyal on pickering, chinatown (part 1)

for part 2 of this post (with photos of the food!) – here’s it!

really good international-asianish buffet at the spanking-new parkroyal at pickering. it’s managed to bring some modern cool to this area – which despite growing into a hipster enclave, has kept to kitschy old-means-retro, rather than a modern aesthetique. this post also marks my first post back in singapore, and boy am I excited about that – I have an incredible backlog of posts and so ready to share.

so, the short: one of the better buffets, a small but good spread (might be subjective), and a lovely, gorgeous space with great service and no issues you’d associate with new establishments. this first post on the place is more space-descriptive – the eating comes in the next one here!

I cannot tell you how much I like this place – my sister has been itching to visit this place because of the extraordinary exterior – lots of stacked, protruding ridges – and my granddad’s birthday was a good occasion to come here. the hotel itself reminds me of boutique hotels in design magazine spreads – furniture with character, loads of wood in the furnishings, and many friendly staff. and not to be a country bumpkin, but those smoothly-sliding doors to the lavatories are sexy to someone who appreciates good design.

the restaurant itself is surrounded by wall-to-tall-ceiling windows that let in a lot of light when it’s sunny out, and otherwise make the space incredibly cozy at night.

you’re greeted by the dessert table when you enter, an array of cakes, tarts, fruit and a chocolate fondue. they also had these gorgeous braided marshmallows that you snip off as you wish – such a nice touch. this isn’t a large buffet by any means – nothing to compare with the spread at the line, for example – but there was plenty that I liked. there was a typical cooked-food section with stews and braises, a roast section with pink (pink!!) and moist roast beef and an assortment of accouterments, a cold seafood counter, a section just for thai/asian-style salads, another for western salads, a bread counter and finally, there was a decent cheese counter. a cheese counter! with four cheeses, three large blocks of hard cheeses, and a pot of blue, and nuts and dried fruit to go around.

i miss cheese (so expensive in singapore!), if you can’t tell already.

I’ll tell you more about the food in my next post because I just had too many photos to squeeze into this one. I’ve gone with a darker wash on my photos in this one – do you like them?