Binge - What’s the Big Deal?

In the same way we ask where have all the good men gone, I also say where have the good deals gone? Well, it certainly looks like the credit crunch has sent many such yummies crawling out from the woodwork. I’ll hazard that once the stock markets start a sustained rise all over again (and I’m not talking about the current flash in the pan), so will the prices on the menus. My advice? When you see good value, jump on it and grab it by the horns and feast while it lasts. Good times – ie. good prices – are not likely to hang around longer than they have to.

So what has Madam stumbled upon of late? Lemme keep things short and savoury.

I just lunched at One-Ninety at The Four Seasons this afternoon, all the better to check out the menu by newly arrived Executive Chef Bruno Correa. What delights! Lunch buffet modular style! Either go the whole hog with a three-course buffet of appetizers, mains and desserts ($48++) or chop and change as you like: appetiser and dessert buffet at $38++, an appetizer buffet alone at $26++ or desserts alone at a meagre $12++. For ladies who lunch, their pretty appetizer buffet alone makes a good hearty lunch already. Consider Parma ham shaved from the leg, roasted peppers and eggplants, chicken liver mousse with brioche, hummus and baby octopus, Oriental chicken salad, mushroom salad, Chinese roast meats (the roast duck is superb), an unctuously thick tomato soup, breads and more. If you are venturing to the dessert table as well, the Macanese pudding (you’ll recognize it as the white creamy dessert in a bowl studded with less-than-glam Marie biscuits) and the chocolate tart are definite must-tries - particularly the choc tart which looks deceivingly heavy but is light as air. Bring your little kiddies along for a dessert-only lunch. That’d make a nice post-exam celebration.

Four Seasons Hotel Singapore
190 Orchard Boulevard
Tel: 6831 7250

From Monday to Friday, Shayray Punjab at Holland Village is offering an Executive Set Lunch at only $15+. This menu includes a soup, starter, main course, naan or rice and a dessert. What’s more, every Thursday is Tandoori Nite with an all-you-can-eat selection of vegetarian and non-vegetarian kebabs at only $35+ per person. This is served with dhal and Punjabi roti. To get an idea of what they serve, the restaurant’s must haves from their a la carte menu include tave di fish, tender cubes of red snapper marinated with gram flour, ginger, garlic, saffron and green chilli paste, aatish-e murhg, chicken drumsticks marinated in a smooth blend of cashew nut, spices and cream, slow cooked in the tandoor, and gosht do-pyaza ($20), which showcases succulent pieces of mutton and sweet bell peppers cooked in onions, tomato paste, Kashmiri chilli powder. Need something to wash down your grills? All alcoholic drinks come with a 20% discount. Just don’t drink and drive after that…nor try walking about in your birthday suit!

25 Lorong Mambong, Holland Village
Tel: 6468 9126

How about a bit of French in an atmospheric setting, perfect for a chic afternoon tryst? Le Pont de Vie, located off the beaten track at Kandahar Street near the Art Museum, is a quaint little French restaurant which is serving up a set menu starting as little as $12. This gets you a main course alone of coq au vin, oxtail risotto and beer battered wild seabass, among others. For $20, you get a two-course lunch of appetizer and mains, and $26 gets you a full three course. There’s the 10% service charge of course, but listen to this…no GST! Is that music to your ears or what? And an important FYI for you – Monday nights are corkage free. Pen that down in your drinks-to-do list!

26 Kandahar Street
Tel: 6238 8682

Over at the Greenhouse at The Ritz Carlton (again?!), we just heard hot off the press that guests who make reservations for the Asian Lunch Buffet ($48++) on weekdays will get discounts based on how far in advance their reservation is made. Here’s how it works: If you confirm your reservation five days (or more) in advance, you get 50% off the food bill; four days' advanced booking knocks off 40% off the food bill and so on...…until one day in advance where you get 10% off. So you see, sweeties, forward planning does pay off. Available until 31 August.

7 Raffles Avenue
Tel: 6434 5288

by EW