IF YOU are craving carbohydrates and feel like indulging in Hainanese chicken rice, laksa, sliced fish beehoon soup and glass noodles with shredded cuttlefish all in one sitting, the new degustation menu of local delights at the Coffee Lounge in Goodwood Park Hotel might be just the thing.
The cafe is using the French concept of a degustation menu, where a wide variety of dishes is served in small courses, and applying it to Asian food.
There are four-, five- and six-course menus available, featuring tasting portions of popular hawker fare.
For example, a typical first course of chicken satay comes with just two skewers. Likewise, the Hainanese chicken rice consists of a dainty rice ball and a manageable portion of the silken poultry.
The last course is a buffet dessert that features between 12 and 15 items, including Western cakes and pastries, nonya kueh and local sweet soups such as pulut hitam (black glutinous rice) and bubor cha cha, a sweet potato and yam concoction.
While the French degustation concept is not foreign to Asian cuisine as seen in Japanese kaiseki, it is not common for Singaporean delights to be served this way.
The hotel's marketing communications manager, Ms Teh Choon Ling, says the unusual degustation menu was launched recently to complement Coffee Lounge's new look.
The 30-year-old eatery underwent a $500,000, two-month long renovation at the end of July.
The tasting menus replace Coffee Lounge's international buffet which used to feature a range of Western and Asian dishes such as pastas and sushi.
Engineer Jay Hoh, 32, who has tried French degustation menus previously and recently had the six-course set menu at Coffee Lounge, says the portions of the local delights are well-balanced.
'The serving sizes are not too big so it doesn't feel carbohydrate-heavy. But they are also not too small, such that I'm left feeling dissatisfied.'
The local degustation menu at Goodwood Park Hotel's Coffee Lounge is available at $28, $32 and $36 for a four-, five- and six-course menu respectively, from noon to 2pm and 6.30 to 10pm daily.
