Breakfast at Latest Recipe wasn’t great, nor was it especially cheap either compared to other hotel breakfast buffets. We’d stick to the Asian food selection which had some decent items.
Le Méridien Singapore, Sentosa serves its daily breakfast buffet at Latest Recipe, its signature all-day dining restaurant. It wasn’t great by our standards. We did like some of the items: the fried rice and noodles, chee cheong fun, samosas, Indian curries, croissants, and the freshly-baked kaya buns brought to our table. However, for a couple of dollars more, we could have been enjoying the sprawling SGD47[2] breakfast buffet at the Shangri-la’s Rasa Sentosa Resort and Spa. Alternatively, we felt the SGD33[3] breakfast buffet at the Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa was not only cheaper but better.
We review anonymously and pay for everything. All opinions expressed here are our own and all information is correct as of our last stay or visit and subject to change without notice.
The highlight of the American breakfast section was its live station for eggs made to order, ranging from fluffy scrambled eggs to omelettes filled with cheese and green pepper. The cauliflower gratinate wasn’t bad either, its creamy sauce flavoured with a touch of garlic, though we thought the cauliflower itself could have been a little softer. The sautéed mushrooms and roasted potato were fine but unexceptional.
As for the other items, we didn’t bother with second helpings. Both the chicken and pork sausages looked and tasted processed to us while the baked beans tasted like they had come straight from a can. We also weren’t sure what to make of the hash browns which smelled greasy and came with a thick crust that was crunchy rather than crispy. The bacon was also hard and tough rather than crispy.
The Chinese food here didn’t look like especially impressive but we thought they weren’t bad. The fried noodles — technically bee hoon or vermicelli — didn’t appear especially exciting to us, but packed the elusive charred wok hei flavours that were proof of skilled wok frying. We also liked the many soft and silky layers of the chee cheong fun (rice noodle rolls). By comparison, we found the fried rice and the vegetables — a mix of eggplant, baby corn, button mushrooms, and carrots in sauce — unexceptional.
These were still better than the congee which we found to be bland, lacking flavour or seasoning and desperately in need of condiments. We’d refrain however from adding the hard, tough, and greasy you tiao (Chinese crullers) to the congee. The deep-fried fish, served with a side of Thai chilli sauce, wasn’t great either — we felt its battered crust was also thick and dry, though the meat itself was fine. For something the sweet, there were steamed buns (bao) filled with kaya (coconut egg jam), though we didn’t enjoy how the bread turned pasty and doughy in the mouth.
There was a small selection of Indian food as well, ensuring at least some options for vegetarians. We liked flaky and buttery samosas with their mildly spicy fillings. The vegetable and dal curries weren’t bad either. However, we were let down by the naan flatbreads which were nowhere near as crispy or fluffy as we would have liked.
To be precise, there wasn’t actually a line-up of Thai breakfast items (which would be a breath of fresh air in the Singapore hotel breakfast buffet scene). There was, however, a live station for bee hoon (vermicelli) in a spicy and sour tom yum soup. While the tom yum soup was milder than we were used to, it was likely friendlier to less-accustomed palates. The chicken meat that came with it, however, was dry.
We felt the croissants were a highlight — soft and fluffy inside, a little flaky outside, and infused with a delicious buttery fragrance. We were also glad we caught the waiters carrying out a batch of freshly-baked kaya buns from the kitchen — generously filled and toasted brown, this was one of our favourite items in the breakfast buffet.
Other pastries are less impressive, with a few misses. We thought the Danish pastries were fine, especially their custard fillings, though their other parts could be dry and hard. The bread and butter pudding wasn’t so much pudding as it was soggy bread while the muffins, which didn’t have any fillings, lacked flavour. Even the donuts disappointed — they were dry and tough. We wouldn’t touch the waffles either, which were stale rather than fluffy inside and hard rather than crispy outside.
The breakfast buffet included a few local drinks which may be interesting for visitors from out of town. During our visit for example, there was the bright pink bandung drink, a sweet mix of rose syrup and evaporated or condensed milk.
23 Beach View, Sentosa, Singapore, 098679, Singapore
+65 6818 3388
