Basilico

Basilico has been the Italian dining room of the former Regent hotel on Cuscaden Road for years, and it carried on when the hotel became Conrad Singapore Orchard. It is run largely as a buffet, with live stations, a carpaccio bar and a glassed-in cheese room. The kitchen rotates themed menus tracing different Italian regions, so the line-up shifts through the year.

Head to the cheese room first: more than 40 Italian cheeses, from burrata and fresh mozzarella to gorgonzola dolce. The wagyu beef lasagna has been on the spread for well over a decade, and the pizza and pasta stations cook to order. Antipasti cover cured meats, marinated anchovies and vegetable salads, and recent menus have added regional dishes such as Sardinian roast suckling pig.

It works for family gatherings, birthdays and long weekend brunches where everyone wants something different. Weekday lunch is the cheapest way in, while dinner and the weekend brunch include the cheese room. Book ahead for weekends. Breakfast here is the hotel's general buffet rather than Italian.