Azur, Crowne Plaza, Singapore

I have never liked buffets.  I tend to over-eat and the quality is never that great.  In other words, never very good value for money.  Azur has left a different impression on me, however.  It is my favourite buffet so far.

Azur, as the name suggests, is awashed in calming shades of blue and aqua.  On the walls are terracotta vases.

First off, they use Royal Bone China tableware. Wow, Royal Bone China tableware in a buffet.  The china is fine, not clunky like in many places.

The buffet has a good mix of Asian and Western dishes—there is Chinese, Western Roast, Chinese roast, Japanese (cold soba, sushi, sashimi), Indian, Italian, Indonesian etc.

The oysters, clams, mussels  are all very fresh.

The mushroom soup was very competently done.

The bread was very good quality.  They didn’t overlook a small thing like bread.  Very nice.

I also tried the Waldorf salad and squid salad.  Both are very nice.   Next was the sashimi.  It was very fresh.

I tried the cold soba.  It was ok.  It could have been colder though.

Seafood Jumbalaya—there were many tiger prawns and mussels in it and they were very fresh.

There was also Fish fillet in Mango Passionfruit, Beef Stew, a cheese selection, crab and a Chinese roast station.

One pleasant surprise at the buffet was the availability of Drunken Prawn.  I haven’t had Drunken Prawns in years.  Drunken Prawns is a dish where live prawns are brought to the table and they are drowned in a bowl of wine and soy sauce.  Through the transparent glass bowl, you can see the prawns flapping around … and then stop.  The Drunken Prawns here are big and fresh.  The stock they come in is OUTSTANDING—rich but clear, and full of the goodness of gogi aka wolfberry, reed dates and other wonderful Chinese herbs.

They have a huge selection of dessert, such as Green Tea Panna Cotta, Dark Sweet Cherry Tart, Chocolat Chestnut Mousse Cake, Earl Grape Jelly, Wheatgrass Blueberry Cake etc.

Of all the dishes here:

the minimum score 7/10;

the maximum score is 9/10 for the oysters and the Drunken Prawns.

On top of that, this place is never too busy means that you never have to jostle with everyone like it’s a matter of life and death. Excellent, my kind of place.

Price:

S$48++ (Sun-Thurs)

S$55++ (Fri-Sat)