There are salad and dessert sections on one side of the restaurant, and live cooking stations opposite. The food is beautifully presented, carefully labelled and generally good though there were a few misses. Service was good too, with staff removing plates quickly and coming round towards the end of the meal to take orders for coffee or tea. Beverages are included in the price.
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| A tasty Mediterranean pasta salad to begin. It had apple slices and olives as well as julienned bell peppers. |
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| Roti jala is made fresh at a live cooking station. There is a curry chicken accompaniment, but I only took the curry. If you've not seen roti jala, think of a crepe made of lace, so that it is crispier than usual. |
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| A second helping of roti jala, this time paired with Thai green curry chicken. |
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| The sauted beef was a favourite, with the dish emptying as quickly as it was replenished. I thought it was average. |
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| Three flavours of roti john were available, cut into slices, and kept crispy. This is the egg and mushroom version. |
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| The barbecued stingray was tender and juicy. My portion is garnished with black bean sauce. |
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| The crab gravy was served in a separate tureen, with deep fried mini mantou piled nearby. The mantou were crispy without being greasy, but the gravy - which looked authentic - was insipid, full of corn starch and lacked any crab flavour at all. It felt like it had been made by someone who has never tasted chilli crab. A total miss. I didn't take the crab itself - too much hassle. |
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| The chai tow kway (white version) looked great but was a complete miss. The carrot cake part was average, but the egg was a dense chewy layer to one side instead of being mixed into the cake, and had been over-salted. |
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| And on to the desserts. There was a lot of choice, including durian pengat, but what really drew me were the signature Fairmont Macau egg tarts. These are mini-sized and served warm. The flaky pastry was buttery, crisp, and crumbly, complementing the creamy egg custard perfectly. |
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| The desserts really showed how much care the Asian Market Cafe takes styling the food. The lemon raspberry cakes had a curl of chocolate, an edible flower, jellied cranberries and a shaped spoonful of lemon mousse resting on raspberry cake, which was in turn resting on a coconut base. |
There are computer games near the entrance for the kids, and for mother's day, free balloon sculptures.
Asian Market Cafe is at level 2 of the Fairmont Singapore. The nearest MRT stations are City Hall and Esplanade, and it is accessible via Raffles City mall. The dress code is casual.
It is open for lunch Monday to Friday from 12pm to 2:30pm, and for weekends from 12pm to 4pm, which is more relaxed.
Dinners Sunday to Thursday are from 6pm to 10pm, and from 6pm to 10.30pm on Fridays, Saturdays and public holidays.
As a hotel restaurant the buffet is a bit pricier. A Saturday lunch cost S$55++ per adult.
Reservations are recommended. Call +65 6431 6156 or email dining.singapore@fairmont.com.