Semi-Buffet Dinner at Basilico Italian Restaurant, Regent Singapore

The Basilico buffet is widely regarded as one of the best buffets in Singapore. Located on the second level of the Regent Hotel on Cuscaden Road, the entrance to this Italian restaurant looks impressively grand. The plushly carpeted path with runway lights leads us straight into the restaurant from the bubble glass lift.

The buffet service takes place in the circular hall that lie straight after the entrance. The hot food preparation area is to the left, the desserts are to the right. The appetizers are displayed right in the middle on the large round counter.  This is where the most interesting part of the meal lies.

The Basilico buffet price for lunch is $55 (weekday) or $69 (Saturday). This is a full buffet including main course items. On Sundays, brunch is served ($98). For dinner, it is a “semi-buffet” that is priced at $88. The appetizers and dessert are served on the buffet counter. Diners get served a choice of main course, selected from the first few pages of the ala carte menu which essentially excludes the meat items. Confusing? Don’t worry, there are even  more permutations that include drinks, wine pairing and children etc. For small eaters there are the appetizer and dessert only ($64) and appetizer only ($50)  options at dinner time. Fortunately these details are available on the Basilico website (link below), which we suggest you consult as these things can change.

The dining tables are spread around the circular area. There are some private areas for large dining groups. For such a large spacious restaurant, the tables for two are really small, but are the strategically well-placed, closest to the buffet table.

Here are some pictures of the appetizer section of the buffet spread. There are many more types of food available. but these were the items that caught our eye – the raw fish, the cured meat section, the tomato and mozzarella and the cheeses.

Here are pictures of the dessert section. Quite interesting but not as diverse or interesting as the appetiser section.

Now we show you what we ate.   Here are pictures of some of the appetisers that we tried. The parma ham and rock melon were the stars. There were too many things to try.

 

There was a special white asparagus menu that day. This looked more promising than the ala carte menu options, especially when choices for main course as part of the buffet option was limited. And because we had brought along a bottle of red wine, the guinea fowl stuffed with truffle and foie gras with white asparagus looked like the obvious choice.

The white asparagus was the highlight of the dish. We unwrapped the three spears from the surrounding bacon to free them from the strong salty taste of the meat. By themselves, the asparagus tasted very good – clean and crisp. The guinea fowl was surprising light tasting, almost like chicken. The truffle taste enhanced the dish but we did not detect any foie gras taste. It was a good meaty and oily dish to go with the 2008 Sassicaia that we had brought along. A $40 corkage fee was charged for the wine.

Time for desserts. Here are pictures of the cheese and desserts that we had. The highlight of this section was the ice cream. There were many toppings, including bacon bits! Which brings us to the end of our semi-buffet meal at Basilico Regent Hotel Singapore. We probably ate three times more than we should. See you at the gym tomorrow.

Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 3
Value: 3
Atmosphere: 4
Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 

Basilico Italian Restaurant
1 Cuscaden Road
Singapore 249715

Contact reservations at
Tel: +65 6725 3088

Opening Hours
Breakfast: 6:30 – 10:30 a.m. (Monday to Saturday); 7:00 – 10:30 a.m. (Sunday)
Lunch: 12:00 – 2:30 p.m. (Monday to Saturday); 12:00 – 3:00 p.m. (Sunday)
Dinner: 6:30 – 10:00 p.m.

Basilico Website