CNY Reunion Dinner 2012 at Grand Copthorne

My CEB and I hit upon the brilliant idea of having our first reunion dinner as a married couple at a hotel restaurant. This would save both parents having to prepare, cook and wash, and also spare us the thankless task of eating two dinners on the same day and having to rush from 1 place to another.

Both MILs love buffets so 2 weeks before CNY, my sis and I went down to Grand Copthorne Waterfront hotel to pay up in full for the reunion buffet for the 7 of us. We were informed that Cafe Brios was fully booked but the hotel would be opening up a second venue (the function rooms) and the same type of food and service could be expected. I was disappointed that we could not secure a table at the restaurant and rather apprehensive what the experience might be given that we would be eating at some alternative venue.

However, thumbs up for Grand Copthorne for pulling it off very well using their function rooms. We were shown to our table (the tables were arranged wedding-style) and were pleasantly surprised to find that the table had been thoughtfully decorated with ang pows, gold foil chocolate nuggets and coins and even an ang pow containing a 25% off discount card for future visits to Cafe Brios.

The spread of food was superb for the CNY reunion dinner - there were loads of sashimi (no shortage of tuna, salmon etc) and sushi. And oysters, scallops in shells, prawns (both the normal type and the river type with the big head), and even crab legs at the cold counter area. There was also a dragon beard candy counter (that had a really long queue each time).

The lobster bisque was extremely creamy and delicious, as was the black herbal chicken soup. For a buffet especially. Hot dishes-wise, there were just too many to choose from ranging from Indian curry chicken which my sister found mouthwatering good, to otah which I simply loved, and even sambal stingray and grilled seabass etc. There was also a counter serving beef (ribeye) and salmon wrapped in cheese. Oh, and there were pineapple tarts, tang yuan, red bean soup, jelly and even durian cake for dessert. Perfect. Just perfect.

And the price for all that food? Just slightly under SGD400 for the 7 of us. Money well spent and value for money. Grand Copthorne even had a Cai Shen Ye ("God of Fortune") go around the tables shaking hands and everyone at my table shook his hand for good fortune :)

With such a fabulous experience at Grand Copthorne for CNY reunion dinner, I'm definitely going to be making my reservations earlier for CNY 2013 at Grand Copthorne's Cafe Brios!