RWS Durian Festival 2016: All-You-Can-Eat Durian Buffet Featuring 5 Types of Durians

If you’re as big a fan of durian as I am, then you’d be delighted to hear that there is a huge all-you-can-eat durian festival happening for a stretch of four nights here at the lion city. Hosted by Resorts World Sentosa, this is a large-scale event that you have to experience at least once in your lifetime.

I mean, what’s better than enjoying durian with other thorny fruit enthusiasts? You could taste different varietals of durian together then maybe, just maybe, you’ll even change your mind about who is really the king of Kings (I know I did).

I walked in thinking Mao Shan Wang was my favourite but walked out concluding that Hong Ha was my new favourite durian.

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The event is held at the open-air Coliseum. Spacious and bright, you’ll see a huge stack of durian as you walk in, poking you to line up before even grabbing a seat.

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No worries though, there are tons of durians, and even staff to assist you in opening up those spiky goodness and in throwing them away whilst you tear away the fleshy meat from the seeds.

The staff were really friendly, some even recommended how to go through the durian experience: starting with the milder D13 and ending with a Mao Shan Wang.

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As time went by the event became more and more full and thankfully, less hot as the sun went down.

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There were five different types of durians available at RWS Durian Festival 2016: Jiu Feng, Mao Shan Wang, D13, Bamboo and Hong Ha.

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At the festival, you have to line up to pick up your desired durian. Upon reaching the endless supply of durian, you will be asked what type of durian you want and directed to your assigned durian picker.

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Your durian picker will also cut it open in front of your eyes and ask if you want one or two durians, depending on the size. It’s an all-you-can-eat, so they’re probably going to almost always recommend taking two durians anyway.

You can also line up as many times as you want until the last order, which is 15 minutes before end of the session.

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Then it’s time to get messy on the tables.

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Not all durians are the same. All in all, we had two Mao Shan Wangs and one tasted a lot better than the other. Creamy and slightly bitter, the Mao Shan Wang was huge and undoubtedly delicious and fleshy, filling you up in no time.

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The D13 and Jiu Fengs we had our hands on were slightly wetter and sweeter. Here, the Bamboo variety also had a wet texture, a lot less flesh and more bitter taste. The three species all had slightly paler colour than the Mau Shang Wang.

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The Hong Ha durian, on the other hand, stood out the most for me. Slightly orange in colour, it was easy to decipher the species. The Hong Ha was plump, fleshy and not as fluid.

Its taste is sweet and slightly bitterness. It was really, really fresh.

After all that eating, cool down with some…

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Coconut Water…

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rambutan…

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mangosteen…

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or even some jackfruit or longan. The latter seemed to be the least popular.

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Overall, if you attack all the mao shan wang durians, then you’ll hit ticket price of $80 – $160 worth of durians, if not the price might be a bit high to justify – it is however, a unique buffet experience to try all the different species of durians leisurely.

The atmosphere was also really easy-going with a room filled with durian lovers. No one talked smack about this spiky fruit’s smell – how rare is that? So before the festival is over, buy your tickets!

Expected Damage:

2 x Durian Fest Adult Tickets + Free RWS Invites Silver Membership | $160
2 x Durian Fest Adult Tickets + Free Renewal of RWS Invites Silver Privileges | $160
RWS Invites Member | Adult $80, Child $40
Public | Adult $98, Child $48

Dates: 18 Aug – 21 Aug
Tickets for 18 Aug, 6pm session can only be purchased at RWS Invites Counters and Hotel Lobbies.

Time: 6pm – 7.30pm or 8pm – 9.30pm depending on session

RWS Durian Festival 2016: 8 Sentosa Gateway, Singapore 098269, The Coliseum™, Hard Rock Hotel® Singapore | Website

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