Food Capital Grand Corpthrone Riverfront

Grand Copthorne Waterfront is one of the few hotels situated along the Singapore River. It belong to a chain of hotels managed by the M-hotel (Millennium hotels) group. Their line of hotel chains including M-hotel Cafe 2000 and Orchard hotel. Also, Millennium hotels are known for good quality international buffets, offering an excellent spread of seafood. Let’s check out their hotel restaurant, the Food Capital at Grand Copthorne.

Grand Copthorne is no exception either. The hotel is situated along Havelock road. You may remember it being beside the now defunct “Zouk” club. Inside, general restaurant ambience is spread out in a circle in a funfair carnival style setting, decked out with party themes and mannequins.

Also, the restaurant is set in the open lobby of the hotel. You can follow the noise of crowd chatter and the clink of food cutlery upon entering the hotel front entrance. It won’t be difficult to spot.

Being situated in the lobby, however, has it limitations in terms of actual floor area. There isn’t much seating table space available. It can get rather packed especially during weekends and when the restaurant are running discount promotions.

Cooked food selections

International buffet selection is pretty good. Choices includes Japanese, Indian, European and Chinese, with the last 2 cuisines being the restaurant’s biggest offerings. Also, when there, you will come to realize that the hotel lobby has a theme comprising of several circular “islands“. These are used as overhead storage throughout the ground floor lounge and bar.

Additionally, this layout is similarly reflected in the buffet serving areas. Food counters serving the various cuisines as part of the international buffet are segmented by these circular quadrants. The setting is clean and proper with clear demarcation of the food and dining areas.

Local Singaporean and Asian favorites

Moreover, there are a couple of notable counters catering to local delights, such as Chicken rice. I found the servings tad small. There are also soups (Daily Double Boiled Soup) and noodle dishes available. This is on top of your regular offerings of Asian-style cooked meats and vegetable offerings served in your typical buffet food lidded pots.

However, I found the Asian selection was tad lacking in terms of varieties. I particularly enjoyed the Indian food offered by their in-house Tandoor Oven. On the table are satays as well as roti-prata bread, a personal favorite of mine. Moreover, on the menu here are Tandoori Chicken, Tandoori Fish and Fresh Naan Baked in traditional styles.

Also, on weekends, you have the option to have a taste of the Signature Grand Copthorne Waterfront Laksa. These are served in small bowl servings. But I found it quite over hyped and not as overly fantastic to say as more specialized offerings in Singapore. Like those from Sungei Road Katong Laska at Jalan Berseh.

Roast and European

Moreover, I particularly liked the European section. The roast section was good, offering lamb, roasted beef as well as chicken. They are all served with a selection of pre-made meat sauces at your choosing in accompany to your dinner. Signature dishes includes the Rotisserie Roasted Farmed-Fed Chicken, Oven-Baked Strip Loin with Premium Red Wine. You can enjoy them with heaps of potato or seasoned vegetable sides. Very European indeed.

Moreover, the Japanese section has on offer a Sashimi mix of freshly Sliced Sashimi of Tuna, Salmon and Mackerel. Though, it is one of the smallest section in the buffet spread, it is still adequate for it’s quality offerings. Here, fresh Sashimi and Tako (Octopus) are the things to go for here. However, you might need multiple trips for more due to the small servings given by staff.

Simple but quality Seafood selection

Additionally, in addition to the Sashimi, the main selling point is the seafood selection. You get an assortment of Alaskan crab legs (wow), oysters, crayfish (baby lobsters), mussels and freshwater prawns as part of their Seafood on Ice display.

The oysters are really fresh- no watery or discoloured or yellowed ones here. They are all bright and very good quality. Also, I particularly enjoyed the free flow of Alaskan crab legs. Moreover, they were all prepared and ready to eat with really soft shells and really meaty, semi-frozen interior. They are so tasty you can eat it on it’s own.

Funky Dessert selections

To top us the food offerings is the Dessert selection of cakes, tarts, salads and fruits. Moreover, the dessert section greets you at the front of the buffet decked in cheery carnival style livery.

Even the staff members will scoop up the ice cream for you. There is also a free-flowing Chocolate fondue with a selection of marshmallow, tarts or fruit cubes and strawberries of your choosing.

Go only with promotional discounts

Food Capital employs a staggered pricing model in-sync with the variety of food offered. The spread on the weekends are usually more premium with greater myriad of choices. Buffet items are however, available on rotational basis so don’t expect to see the same spread each day. The standard buffet Pricing are as follows:
Sundays to Fridays: Adult: $64++ (Saturdays $2 more)
Mondays to Thursdays: Adult: $76++ (Fridays, Saturday and Sundays: $84++)

Furthermore, on price range Food Capital is not necessarily cheap for an international buffet offering. Still, at times, the restaurant will sell out sometimes even 1 month in advance. This is particular when there are on-going discount promotions. 1-1 credit card offers are one example. Hence, such offers can effectively halve your dinner cost for groups over 2. It makes dining at the restaurant extremely value for money.

All in all, dining at Food Capital Grand Corpthrone Riverfront was a rather pleasant experience for me. The quality of the food is excellent and ranks up there even in the likes of more expensive hotel buffet offerings in the market. That, coupled with excellent discounts make dining here an offer hard to resit. I would see myself visiting the Food Capital restaurant again.

Food Capital Restaurant

Ground floor Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, 392 Havelock Rd, 169663
Opens at three times daily:
Breakfast 6:30am – 10:30am
Lunch 12:00pm – 2:30pm and
Dinner 6:30pm – 10:30pm