Happy New Year!

We had asked Destination Asia to book something festive for us and they made reservations for the special holiday buffet in the hotel’s main restaurant. So we dug our fanciest duds out of our suitcases and headed to Saigon Kitchen.

They started us off with a glass of champagne.

The spread they laid out was really impressive. It started with a raw bar:

Next was the bread and charcuterie station:

There were many wonderful cheeses:

Sushi maki and nigiri:

A variety of dumplings including lobster and truffled wagyu beef:

There was a prime rib carving station and another with beef Wellington:

Then there was the largest arrray of roast meats I've ever seen in one place. There was duck, lamb, pork, guinea fowl, veal, and three different kinds of beef, not to mention the baked stuffed lobster!

There was one last savory section with dishes including lobster bisque, potatoes gratinee, a steamed vegetable medley, roasted Brussels sprouts with pancetta, steamed asparagus, paella with shrimp, and a whole grouper steamed in ginger sauce.

We ate our fill, took a short break to regroup and then approached the dessert stations.

There were three different versions of Galette des Rois (traditional, fruit, and chocolate) and a selection of ice creams and sorbets with various sauces and sprinkles on one side.

The other side offered an array of tropical fruit, matcha or red velvet petit fours, tiramisu, raspberry chocolate mousse, a chocolate log cake, passionfruit panna cotta, cupcakes, macarons, and cute little choux cremes decorated with tiny stars.

Sufficiently feasted, with a couple of hours before midnight, we decided to watch a movie.

That was fun and had catchy tunes to stick in our heads.

After the movie we went down the hall to the Sky Lounge, where we had a bit more bubbly and an amazing view of the lightshow at the Saigon Marina IFC tower.

Happy New Year from Vietnam!