Oscar's Café & Terrace (Conrad)

The colour scheme's of this place is pretty interesting. A modern vibe (orange colour scheme) radiates, complemented by plenty of sunshine! The food arrangement is very tightly packed. You don't need to walk through large spaces to get your food.

Their seafood variety is considered wide compared to other buffets- crayfish, big prawns, mussels, oysters, crab legs, scallops etc. As usual, I always have an issue with cold food and so I cannot fault Oscar's for my personal preference. Prawns always taste better piping hot rather than freezing cold, just like how you'd rather have a hot cup of coffee than an ice mocha on a cold day (I make such bad assumptions).

I've no idea what the salt is for, but since it's next to the seafood, I suppose it's for the seafood. I thought it was really cool that there were so many kinds of sea salt! Somebody explain to me how they are different, pretty please?

The Chinese food section also had pretty interesting stuff. As though you are in a hawker centre, the meat is all hung up- gimmicky isn't it? But interesting nonetheless. Chicken rice lovers would love the range of sauces they provide. The chicken in the little dishes are very smooth, accompanied by two little slices of cucumber.

Besides chicken, another meat I want to mention is char siew (BBQ pork). The overall feel of Oscar's is a very polished one. This is reflected in the char siew, which is precisely where the problem lies. It lacks the brute and crudeness of the char siew we love.

Other Chinese dishes were very ordinary- broccoli with crab meat sauce, mee goreng (don't know what it was doing in the Chinese dishes section), cod fish etc. 

If you are looking for porridge or laksa, please make your way outside to the noodle bar. I found it quite troublesome but I suppose they have their reasons for doing so. 

The salad section is worth mentioning because it's pretty rare that they have so many ingredients for the salad! I loved all the dried fruits and nuts: Macadamia nuts, walnuts, pistachios, dried apple, dried orange, dried mangoes etc. Very delightful I thought.

The sushi was pretty ordinary.

This prawn and mango with spicy cocktail was quite good. The green stuff imitating crab roe is actually wasabi. I thought the tastes came quite well together- the freshness of the prawn, the sweetness of the mango and the pungency of the wasabi. 

As usual, I always leave the part on desserts to the last and write the most about it. This is reflected in my eating style as well, leaving it to the last and eating a lot of it. 

There was an assortment of nonya kuih. We especially liked the different flavoured kueh lapis. No matter which flavour it was, the butter taste was not overpowering and it was just a very light kueh lapis with very distinct layers.

I nearly missed the waffle station. The waffle was really delicious! I also liked the range of ice cream flavours. They are not your CVS (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry) flavours but rather, swiss chocolate, coffee, passion fruit and mango and a few other flavours.

I was surprised to see little chocolate balls of exotic flavours. These included the passionfruit chocolate, and some other chocolate with lavender flower on it. 

 There was also an ice kacang machine.

Overall, this place has very good service. Every turn of my head will result in one of the waitresses thinking that I needed help. They also cleared the plates really quickly. Only minor hiccup was when one waitress asked one of us whether we had paid when we started walking out of the restaurant. What would have been more appropriate would have been to hurriedly check whether we had paid, which of course, we already had. 

I also was a little shocked when I saw two houseflies- one at the sushi section and the other at the soup section. I am not sure whether I saw the same one but what I'm sure of is that the flies shouldn't be there at all.

Food wise, I think this place speaks of quality more than quantity. At a rather expensive price tag of $58++ (Sat lunch) (here's a good guide for the prices on different days), this is a place for people who are into looking for buffets a little more special than the normal ones. Quality's good but sacrificing a little quality will get you cheaper buffets. 

Oscar's Café & Terrace 
Conrad Centennial
2 Temasek Boulevard, Lobby Level
Tel No: +65 6432 748