1 CAROUSEL (for buffet)
Royal Plaza On Scotts, 25 Scotts Road
Tel: 6589-7799
Buffet hours: Lunch is noon to 2pm; high tea is 3 to 5.30pm; dinner is 6.30 to 10.30pm; supper 11pm to 4am

I had thought there was already a saturation of hotel mega buffet eateries after the opening of The Line in the Shangri-La, Melt in the Mandarin Oriental and Aquamarine in Marina Mandarin over the last two years.

But Carousel, which opened in Royal Plaza On Scotts in January, proved me wrong.

It distinguished itself from the others by offering a halal international buffet, with dishes ranging from Caesar salad and raw oysters to sushi and rotisserie chicken.

It turned out to be an excellent marketing strategy as it tapped into an increasingly affluent Muslim clientele who are happy to fork out more than $30 per head to taste dishes not offered in other halal eateries here before.

The cooking is great too. Go for the rotisserie and check out the soups. The chef does a mean French onion soup. And leave room for the desserts, which include some very good Western cakes and pastries.
 
2 GUNTHER’S (for fine-dining)
36 Purvis Street 01-03, Tel: 6338-8955
Open: Noon to 2.30pm, 6.30 to 10.30pm

Gunther Hubreschen had high expectations to meet when he opened his eponymous restaurant in August with Garibaldi owner Roberto Galetti.

He was after all the chef of Les Amis, widely regarded as the best French restaurant in town, before that.

His new restaurant in Purvis Steet looks simple and modest, in keeping with the chef’s philosophy of not letting anything distract from his food.

And in his case, it is no empty boast. His cooking is light and pure, where top-quality ingredients are given the slightest nudge to turn them into gourmet dishes.

A good example is the grilled Scottish bamboo clams with tomatoes and grilled mushrooms, which are cooked to perfect timing, allowing you to taste the sweetness of the fresh shellfish.
 
3 RELISH (casual dining)
501 Bukit Timah Road, 02-01 Cluny Court
Tel: 6763-1547, Open: Noon to 3pm, 6 to 11pm (Mondays to Fridays); noon to 11pm
(Saturdays and Sundays)

Among the casual Western eateries that have opened this year, Relish stands out for being unpretentious and yet stylish at the same time.

The menu of burgers is equally friendly. Ranging from basic beef hamburgers to creative variations such as a char siew burger and a seafood burger, there is one for everyone.

My favourite is the seafood burger with lemon mayo where the crispy deep-fried patty of octopus, shrimp, fish and crabmeat is flavoured with aromatic kaffir lime leaves.

But the Wild Rocket burger is good too, with a juicy and tasty beef patty that still has a bit of bite. It’s simply the best burger you can find in the under $20 range.
 
4 THE PALMS (for local fare)
2 Andover Road, Changi Beach Club
Tel: 6542-2653
Open: 11.30am to 2.30pm, 6 to 10.30pm

Among new restaurants serving local fare, The Palms gets my vote hands down.

This seafood restaurant opened by the owners of Roland’s Restaurant in Marine Parade has cooking good enough to go to the end of the island for.

And you do have to. The Palms, which opened in January, is located inside the Changi Beach Club near Changi Village.

The restaurant is right beside the sea, and during the day, you get a stunning view of the azure waters and the verdant Pulau Ubin looming on the horizon.

The black pepper crab here is very good but you should also try the Dong Po pork (above), which is not only very good with its melt-in-the-mouth tenderness but also excellent value at $18 for four pieces.
 
5 MEGA TIAN SIANG (for concept dining)
11 Siloso Road, Sentosa
Tel: 6275-2011,
Open: 10am to 10pm

Among all the new restaurants that have opened in Sentosa this year, my favourite is a year-old Mongolian hotpot restaurant.

Mega Tian Siang is a branch of a successful Taiwanese chain that claims to base its recipe for the hotpot stock on one created by the great 13th-century conqueror Genghis Khan to boost the energy of his invading troops.

It is a stock that certainly perked me up. Brewed with more than 60 ingredients that include fresh garlic and herbs and spices, it tastes so good that this hotpot comes without any dip.

The place is not cheap compared to the many buffet hotpot eateries in town that charge less than $20 per person. A meal here generally runs up a bill of more than $50 per head. But it’s quality food.
 
Worst
1 POORLY TRAINED STAFF
A perennial problem is that training for service staff is often lacking. Quite often, when asked to recommend the restaurant’s best dishes, the staff offer little or no help at all. Some would simply read out what’s on the menu, as though the customer couldn’t read it for himself, while others would answer glibly: “It depends on what you like.” Hello, why am I asking you then?
 
2 POOR RESPONSE
What is sad, too, is that some restaurants have found that good cooking alone was not enough to attract trend-conscious Singaporeans.

While average eateries in hot areas like Dempsey Hill appear to be doing well, other better ones have less luck.

One that closed down this year is Cha Cuisine in Purvis Street. The concept Chinese restaurant, where all the dishes and even the rice are cooked with tea leaves, lasted less than a year despite excellent fare like a marvellous smoked duck. The space is now occupied by Gunther’s.

Right across the road is another good restaurant that has been struggling since it opened about a year ago.

Cilantro offers very good Western cuisine with an Asian twist, but customers just didn’t bite.

Hurry down before it closes too. That will be a shame.
 
3 POOR FOOD QUALITY
For a nation that prides itself on its food, some of what is sold in markets here are of pretty poor quality.

I’m talking about things like the tender but tasteless chicken and the hard, yellowish and stale-tasting beancurd.

Yes, they are cheaper and I’m sure for many people, that’s most important. But I wish there’s better choice for those willing to pay for quality.

I would love to be able to buy a nice cake of smooth, snowy-white beancurd to make yong taufoo at home.

This article was first published in The Sunday Times on Dec 30, 2007