Affordable Weekend Dim Sum Lunch Buffet at WOK°15 Kitchen - Sentosa Cove
Singapore is a foodie heaven and especially so if you enjoy Cantonese food - there are no lack of restaurants here that offer quality dim sum. When I stayed over at the ONE°15 Marina Club in Sentosa Cove last month, I was surprised to find out that the WOK°15 Kitchen actually offers a really affordable weekend a la carte dim sum lunch buffet for only S$38++ per adult (half price for children). I have passed by the ONE°15 Marina Club on multiple occasions (like when I last stayed at the W Singapore - Sentosa Cove) but I never knew the restaurants were actually open to public - you do not need to be a member to dine in them!
I got there slightly ahead of time on a Saturday (since I was checking-in to the hotel that very day as well) and the restaurant was not yet open so I basically walked around the property before the doors were promptly opened at 11:30AM. After settling in and picking a table near to the window (so I can enjoy the Marina view over lunch), I started the weekend a la carte buffet lunch with a bowl of soup - the soup of the day was hairy gourd and pork rib soup. It is definitely worth mentioning that the buffet lunch does not have a single-order item that I am particularly used to in other restaurants so everything you see on the menu can be ordered as many times as you want.
I also could not resist ordering the Deep Fried Fish Skin with Salted Egg Yolk (especially since I've passed by Irvin's slightly earlier and noticed the snaking queue) which was actually quite satisfying. My personal favourite however has to be the Deep Fried Baby Cuttlefish which were caramelised slightly. There were quite a number of dim sum items to choose from which included (and not limited to) the typical siew mais, hargows, pork buns, steam dumplings, chicken feet and steamed salted egg yolk buns.
When I saw that the Sautéed Carrot Cake with Bean Sprouts in X.O. Sauce was available on the menu, I knew I had to order it. That being said, I was slightly disappointed at how little X.O. Sauce was actually in the dish but everything else were pretty good - I also liked how chunky the carrot cake cubes actually were!
Apart from the dim sum items on the menu, the weekend buffet lunch also comes with a rather extensive list of mains (approximately 15 dishes) to select from. Apart from these, there were also different types of noodles, rice, Chinese barbecue selections (e.g. roast duck, pork and chicken), congee as well as desserts. The roasted duck was probably my favourite and from what I have heard from the waitstaff, the meats are all roasted in-house each day. I did request specifically for a side of duck breast (since bones do not quite appeal to me) but they have somehow forgotten so they ended up serving me a portion with plenty of bones. The roasted duck was probably my favourite dish in the buffet lunch - the skin was crispy and fragrant but more importantly, the sauce underneath it contains all the goodness from the roast.
Having tasted some pretty amazing frog legs at the executive lounge of the Kerry Hotel, Hong Kong where I was, a week before I visited the ONE°15 Marina Club, I was eager to try out the Frog Leg Congee here at WOK°15 Kitchen. The congee had the right consistency, and the restaurant was actually pretty generous in terms of the serving size - I just wish the congee had more character on its own.
If you are looking for a dish that goes well with the congee, I cannot recommend the Braised Baby Abalone with Diced Chicken and Beancurd served in Claypot enough - that bubbling sauce that comes served in a claypot is the perfect companion to the congee (of course the beancurd and baby abalone helps too!).
Priced at just S$38++ per adult, the weekend lunch buffet here at WOK°15 Kitchen is quite possibly the most affordable Chinese restaurant in Sentosa Cove. During my visit there, I noticed that most of the customers were repeat guests (and trust me, it is actually really easy to tell). I do not imagine most Singaporeans would flock to Sentosa Cove to enjoy a value-for-money weekend dim sum buffet (and the people in Sentosa Cove are certainly not price-sensitive consumers) so the restaurant is definitely on the quieter side. While the dim sum at WOK°15 Kitchen is not one of the best that I have had in Singapore, the low price-point and the eagerness of the waitstaff may prove to be a good enough reason to warrant a second visit.
Indulge in one of the most highly-prized delicacies in Chinese cuisine - the Hairy Crab - at Yan Ting from 26 October 2020 to 30 November 2020. Available for a very limited time for lunch and dinner, Yan Ting (located within The St. Regis Singapore) is currently offering two separate menus that feature the seasonal hairy crab.