Orchard | Seafood Extravaganza at Marriott Cafe

If you are a seafood person, there is something on offer at the Marriott Café in Orchard. From 1^st March till 15^th March only, Marriott Café is having a Seafood Extravaganza for their dinner buffets.

We had the opportunity to sample some of the dishes on offer at the Marriott Café on Monday. Seafood being served on ice included huge prawns, crayfish, clams, mussels, flower crabs, really good Alaskan King Crabs and Lobsters.

To top that off, they also offer three kinds of oysters in rotation. You have the petite but savoury French oysters, plump and sweet Canadian oysters and lastly sweet and smooth Irish oysters. My friend and I enjoyed the Canadian and Irish ones.

After some seafood on ice, you can look forward to a serving of clam chowder and appetizers like a grilled seafood skewers such as scallops, bell peppers and prawns, a tasty combination done right. If you fancy something creamier, there were also Gratinated Scallops with chopped bell peppers.

Also, if you prefer to have some meat, there is a mix of Sauteed Scallop with Caramelized Onion and Chorizo, a harmonious blend of spiciness from the chorizo, sweetness from the onions and good yummy grilled scallops.

And that is just the appetizers, the real deal are the seafood stews where the chef’s story comes through. Chef Daniele Trivero, is a native of Piedmont in Italy, a province located between the coastal Genoa and the mountainous Aosta (also known for coffee and hazelnuts). The chef recalled his fond memories of home-made stews at home and yearned to share something from his childhood in Singapore, combining with his experience of working the France and inspired by the rich gourmet offerings of the Mediterranean.

For this seafood extravaganza, Chef Daniele has prepared two kinds of stews. Firstly, there is a French-style Seafood Bouillabaisse, with assorted seafood such as mussels, lobsters, squid and clams with a dash of dill. His version of the seafood bouillabaisse is more herbal and sweet and the seafood was cooked just right.

Then there is the star of the feast, the Gratinated French Cassoulette of Seafood & Fish, a unanimous opinion among our fellow diners. This is a rich, creamy stew and a seafood variation of the French “Cassoulet” is the name of a small bowl rather than “Cassoulet” the term for stew cooked in a cassole, a pot.

The more popular variation of the Cassoulet is the one from Carcassone in Southern France which uses meats like pork, chicken, quail and the signature white beans. In Chef Daniele’s version, he opted to use seafood instead, which is quite unique. It was rich but less heavy than the meat-based bean stews, very fragrant and thick enough to be eaten with bread like a good curry. The seafood were cooked nicely too, a plus point. I hope the consistency will be maintained at the buffet lines as well.

All in all, it was a good seafood buffet till mid-March to splurge for. With this quality, it is expectedly on the pricier side. The dinners are priced at 88++ SGD for adults and 44++ SGD for children. Perhaps if you are chasing miles or hitting your 500 SGD spending criteria for your saving accounts, this might be a place to pay with your credit card first. This might be promotional menu, thus do check if your credit card discount is applicable: certain AMEX cards have dining discounts in Marriott Singapore Tang Plaza.

Marriott Cafe

320 Orchard Road

Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel

Singapore 238865

Thank you Marriott Singapore Tang Plaza for the invitation and hospitality!