Goodwood Park Durian & Teochew dinner buffet

Goodwood Park's annual durian pastry buffet held in Coffe Lounge has established itself as one of Singapore's perennial favourite everytime the thorny season looms over around mid year. The last I've been there was way back in polytechnic about 8 years ago and clearly it felt like we had to make a return visit.

While waiting to be seated

We made a dinner reservation and it was only logical we opted in for the Teochew Porridge Buffet option which includes close to 30 savory dishes (though if you inspect the menu closely, I wouldn't count the appetizers as "dishes" per se) with local desserts such as suge cake, bread pudding etc on top of the durian variety.

Hits and misses but generally tasty food. Pomfret was fresh, sliced beef too chewy, prawn paste chicken tasty but a little dry. My only gripe is that the portions are predetermined by the number of pax so if you are a small eater and/or prefer variety over quantity, you are gonna feel full very quickly.

I had wanted to order sambal kang kong, french beans and beancurd mushroom but with just the two of us we had to tap down after just one round. What a waste!

Some of the local dessert selection - had to give my favourite suge cake a miss as we were way too full

Durian dessert selection 1/2

2/2

Honestly, after the the 3rd dessert bite it all tasted overpoweringly like durian without any distinction. There was absolutely no moreish factor which made me disappointed. The durian definitely taste authentic so there's nothing to fault but what I didn't like was that it was completely smooth, almost paste-like, void of any pulpy texture which is something I would very much prefer.

The fillings were curded too firmly which makes it less enjoyable. I thought a softer, plusher mousse filling would have been more pleasant.

 

I also felt not all dessert combination worked. The chendol pudding pictured above was okay though it just tasted completely like durian with red bean below but the hazelnut durian tart was just confusion.

Save for the food, the service was prompt and smiley which is unusual in a buffet settings where it's usually slow and non exsistent so that's a really fantastic service from Goodwood!