Sunday Brunch at Oscar’s, Conrad Singapore – London ducks, suckling pigs & excellent salad bar

Oscar’s newly launched Sunday Brunch buffet is set to be one of the best brunch buffets in Singapore.

It doesn’t try to impress in numbers, but focused instead on quality and exclusivity in terms of ingredients.

For SGD98++ (food only), diners of Oscar’s Sunday Brunch feast on unlimited imported roasted London duck, suckling pig, Oven roast US Prime Rib, Boston lobsters and freshly shucked oysters from France, Ireland and Canada plus succulent Snow Crab legs.

For now, Oscar can claim to be the only buffet in Singapore to offer suckling pigs and imported Irish ducks on its buffet tables.
Add that with their shining star; the Seafood Bar which is currently the most popular section of their daily buffet and we have a buffet that would please most buffet-goers.

Another distinctive feature of Oscar’s Sunday Brunch is their newest salad bar which boast of a 4 metre-long table featuring over 30 toppings including organic chia seeds, Montmorency cherries and red raisins, gluten-free mung bean chips and Arame wild seaweed.

Ok, does that sound alien to you?

Well, I can assure you that all of these are costly imported ingredients that doesn’t belong to any ordinary buffet table, but at Oscar’s, the Sunday Brunch wasn’t meant to be ordinary.

Far from ordinary in fact.

Here, let me summarise 5 sections of the Oscar’s Sunday Brunch that should be your focus. Heap your plate on these luxe items and you’re well on the way to get your money’s worth.

1. Carving Station:
The carving station is split into 3 : the Oven roast US Prime Rib, the suckling pig and the London Roast Duck.
The US Prime Rib is juicy with the rich, beefy flavor of the meat shine through.
The suckling pig was done Morrocan style on the day I was there, but there are 3 flavours being rotated on weekly basis so depending on week, you will be biting into crackly skin, slow-roasted Argentinian, Mauritian or Chinese-style whole Suckling Pig.

BELOW: Some gourmet mustards for your meat my lady? 

Last but not least is the London Roast Duck.
This is Oscar’s version of the famous roast “London Duck” which are specially imported ducks from the farms in Ireland. Favoured for its succulent, supple meat and higher fat content, these “the wagyu of ducks” yields beautifully lacquered roasted birds with crispy skin.

Get in line and watch as your portion is deboned and plated. Pair it with a dab of the perkily sweet dark sauce and savour the juices as your teeth breaks apart the the wafer-thin skin, releasing the delicious fat underneath. The meat is imbued with great depth of flavour and suffused with slightly sweet taste of its marinade.

Salivating yet?
Well, good.
I’m glad to be of assistance! 🙂

And oh, do not overlook this simple looking dish. It is pork belly on a bed of lip-smacking sweet mash.
It is seriously tender and so delicious!

2. Are you a seafood person?
If you are both, then Oscar’s Sunday Brunch is just where you should be spending your Sundays. While I dive straight for the meats, my dining companions cleared the seafood on ice.
Heaping their plates with freshly shucked oysters from France, Ireland and Canada as well as long Snow Crab legs and Boston lobsters they discarded the cutleries and proceed to strip the crustaceans out of their shells with gusto.

Besides lobsters, there are crayfish, Cherrystone clams, prawns and Chilean half shell scallops.

3. Sashimi lover?
Who isn’t?
The fresh sashimi selection includes tuna, salmon, swordfish, snapper, hamachi and ika while the sushi tabletop were steadily attracting diners with its range of unagi, salmon and rolls.

4. Live stations – there are 2 exceptional ones that you must, I repeat, MUST take multiple servings of.

The first is the Organic Eggs which are soft poached and assembled with cauliflower purée, sautéed spinach, foie gras and truffle oil espuma, dusted with espelette chilli and Fleur de sel.

This is the bomb. It is superb.
You break that wobbly yolk, swirl it and mix it up with the other ingredients and be ready to be blown away with each spoonful.
Since it is brunch buffet, the familiar eggs benedict made an appearance as well. However, this is no ordinary egg station so the common scrambled, omelette and fried eggs were absent.

Right beside the eggs station thick slabs of foie gras were being lovingly pan-fried and topped with a sprinkle of Fleur de sel vanilla salt, a wedge of sweet apple and a teaspoon of passion fruit.
While the pairing of foie gras with fruits isn’t new, I’ve just discovered that pairing it with a fruit that has both tang and sweetness (such as passionfruit) made each bite of the luxurious liver so much more enjoyable!
If you appreciate foie gras, don’t be shy. Load up multiple servings of this, for I doubt there is another buffet in town where you can overdose on foie gras!

5. Now, the 4 metre salad bar is another one of its kind in Singapore.
If you’re thinking “Heck, I’m not paying for buffet to eat vegetables!” then you might want to relook at this particular salad bar.
For starters, all the dressings are made in house and none are your typical salad dressings.

There are a selection of 8 unique dressings such as blueberry, vanilla bean, Champagne Vinegar and yoghurt; Bragg organic apple cider, fresh green apple and vanilla bean; Verjus and lavender; fresh tamarind and kumquat vinaigrette.

Besides the individuals items, a selection of 10 small plates including Chefs’ creations such as quinoa with fava beans, roasted pumpkin, fresh mint and grapefruit; Vietnamese salad of Sous vide duck breast with fresh herbs, crushed peanuts and smoked Hoisin sauce; Roasted beetroot and green apple slices with grape seed oil and fresh sage are at your disposal should you feel at lost at building your own salad.

But come on, designing your own salad is fun!
Start with a base of greens and add EVERYTHING along as you go!

Freshly made shakes featuring a variety of superfoods including chia seeds, fresh berries, mangoes, strawberries, Greek yoghurt and Jarrah honey; as well as health supplements such as Whey protein, Lucama, Maca and Camu powder are again, not your run-of-the-mill ingredients or items offered at a buffet.

So yes, if the 5 key points that I’ve mentioned above resonates with your appetite, then this is the Sunday Brunch for you.

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Now, the above are my top picks. There are other food such as pasta, hot Asian cuisine in pots as well as international spread of Asian and global cuisine.

If you’re a pasta fan, then get your carbs fix with choice of organic pasta or a risotto prepared à la minute.
Choose from homemade organic tomato sauce or Cculis of piquillos, smoked paprika and small capers sauce; or Dijon mustard, sautéed mushroom and cream sauce.

Possessing more of an Asian stomach?
The Noodle Bar should please.
Tuck into all-time local favourites such as Oscar’s Laksa, slow-cooked Beef Cheek Noodles, Slipper Lobster Noodle with pork ribs, Fish Noodle Soup, or Singaporean speciality “Bak Chor Mee” (minced pork and fishball dry noodles with vinegar and homemade chilli paste), all tossed and assembled fresh upon order.

For cheese lovers, it is worthy to note that Oscar’s eschewed the common Cheddar and Camembert in favour of better flavour and less conventional cheeses with unpronounceable names such as Coulommier, Port Salut and Petit Livarot.

After the fresh crabs and lobster, you might want to saunter over for some of the chefs’ personal crab creation dishes, highlighting the countries, culture and cuisines they represent.
Executive Chef David Laval combines his French roots with Asian origins and Balinese influences in an exciting dish of live Indonesian crabs cooked with galangal, coriander, fresh chillies, tamarind, coconut cream and fresh herbs.

Diners can taste other exciting crab creations from other top Chefs at Conrad Centennial Singapore – Executive Sous-Chef Le Trung from Vietnam, Senior Chef De Cuisine Alex Siah from Singapore and Trainee Chef Tommy from Indonesia with 2 types of personal crab creations available each Sunday.

Conclusion:

Dining at buffets can be more about quantity than quality but I’m the sort who prefers quality over quantity so Oscar’s brunch buffet is just my thing.

Overall, the buffet spread was modest in size, but the food were well curated and presented.

Just help yourself to a dozen oysters, a whole suckling pig, one duck, a few lobsters and a few pairs of Snow Crab legs and that would have tallied up to the buffet’s price.

Echire butter at a SGD98++ buffet? That’s a first for me.

Last but not least; DESSERTS.

Watch as chefs make liquid nitrogen ice cream in choice of sweet potato or vanilla flavours.

Indulge in flambéed crepes suzette with Grand Marnier or Cointreau and sugar syrup infused with geranium essential oil; homemade blueberry and maqui powder pancakes; or Oscar’s Waffles with organic maple syrup.
Don’t miss the multi-tiered chocolate fountain displayed with assorted fruits and sweets ready to be given a rich, chocolaty bath.

Diners can satisfy their sweet tooth with endless rows of sweet treats including coconut crunch and lime curd, Oscar’s black forest cake, tofu and green tea panna cotta, cendol gula Melaka coconut espuma, and crémeux and mousse Grand cru Manjari, praline and feuillantine.

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The Conrad Centennial Singapore Supercharged Sunday Brunch is available every Sunday, starting on April 3, 2016, from 12.30pm to 3.30pm, at Oscar’s Restaurant, located on the lobby level.
During Sunday brunch, Oscar’s serves up Louis Roederer Brut, NV Champagne, assorted wine, beer and sparkling juice in its free-flow package.

For reservations, call +65 6432 7481 or email [email protected].
You can make your online bookings here –> http://www.connoisseur.sg/oscars-sunday-brunch.html

Pricing details:
Adult:
• SGD 98++ per person
• SGD 118++ per person (free flow of sparkling wine, house wines and selected cocktails)
• SGD 158++ per person (free flow of champagne, house wines and selected cocktails)
Child:
• S$40++ per child (6 to 12 years old) / Children aged 5 years and below dine for free.
All prices are subject to prevailing GST and service charge, other otherwise stated.

Address: Lobby Level, Conrad Centennial Singapore,
2 Temasek Boulevard, Singapore 038982
Contact No.: +65 6877 8188
Opening Hours: Open 24 hours
*Ala carte menu available all day.
Buffet lunch: 12:00 – 14:30
Buffet dinner: 18:00 – 22:00
Sunday Brunch: 12:00 to 15:00