On the way
When we got there, we were seated at a nicely decorated table and I was playing around with the Christmas ornaments and balloons while Slug was poring over the buffet menu.
We were still pondering over what to order when we overheard the captain telling another diner that the appetizers were laid out under the Christmas tree. You won't believe how we sprang off our seats and to the Christmas tree to enjoy some fleeting seconds of exclusivity to the appetizer table. Slug cleaned off half the tray of suckling pig morsels in one fell swoop. This appetizer was so coveted that I had to keep watch on the Christmas tree and whenever the chef brought a new tray out, I had to shamelessly play Fastest Tongs First with other kiasu combatants to seize the most pieces. The whole tray of forty pieces could be cleaned up by three people within seconds.
Our favourite suckling pig!
Christmas Eve is the best time to go for their buffets because the menu sees additional dishes that you can never find during other days. Besides the festive staples like turkey, honey ham and log cakes, the suckling pig stuff is one of them (that explains why we had to dash for them). There is also free flow of Peking duck (limited to two pieces per diner during normal days)!
To die for: fried prawn balls with salad sauce and walnuts
Peking duck bonanza
MJOW (the abalone tasted stale though)
Another to-die-for: steamed seabass Hong Kong-style!
Fried prawns with oats (with a special tinge of curry flavour)
Out of a sudden, an announcement was made and I thought they were rallying us to do some yam seng toast. It turned out to be their in-house Santa Claus and elf making their pompous entrance into the hall and distributing presents.
They gave us chocolates, sweeeeeeet!
There was a tantalizing array of desserts but I went straight for my favourites: chilled mango sauce with pomelo and longan almond jelly.
Feeling too drunken and bloated to go anywhere after dinner, we lazed around at their quiet lounge.
Nice oriental partition behind us
Under some Shinto gate
We took a lovely stroll to Esplanade, Boat Quay and all the way to Clarke Quay just to help a curious Slug locate the two statues of Stamford Raffles. Feeling pooped out at the end of the walk and wondering which bus to take home from Clarke Quay, we were suddenly ushered up a free chartered SBS bus, courtesy of Guinness. On the bus, there was a sexy elf who explained to us about the collaboration between Guinness and SBS to operate buses that will take party-goers to City Hall, Clarke Quay, Zouk and Orchard (in a loop) for free during Christmas and eve, and New Year and eve. I was impressed because it is a good initiative for drunkards whose legs may be too wobbly to drive or walk. According to the elf, there was even a booth at Clarke Quay where we can pick up free Guinness drinks. I started to whine about missing out on the free stuff when Slug stated matter-of-factly "Girls don't drink stout". Kill him and his sexist notions.
The bus took us through the highly-congested (with people) Orchard Road and we felt so lucky we were sitting in an air-conditioned bus instead of jostling with the sweaty crowd outside. Then we alighted at Orchard Emerald admist girly shrieks, frenzied spraying of foam and confetti, and loud wishes of 'Merry Christmas' from apparently 'over-high' youths.
Merry Christmas.
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