iftar buffet

Last Friday, for the first time since I've spent Ramadhan here, we went for an iftar buffet at a hotel in Kh0bar.

When we were living in Malaysia, we go to an iftar buffet at least once during the month of ramadhan, either because Sm1th sponsors one, or we are invited by one of the other service companies. It is almost always fun, with a myriad of choices of food for breaking our fasts, main dishes for dinner and desserts to cleanse our palates with. The larger buffets would have all sorts of traditional malay fare from all sorts of noodles cooked in all sorts of ways and all sorts of rice cooked in all sorts of ways and all sorts of meats cooked in all sorts of ways.

The one we had on Friday was at Le Gulf Mer1dian, which is one of the more expensive hotels in Kh0bar. The price per person was much much more expensive than in KL. I think if I paid the same amount of money in KL, I would be dining in Carc0sa, or Ist4na. The banquet room was really nice. Each table had one of those arabesque lamps, a jug of zam-zam water, a pot of mint tea, a plate of dates, a plate of dried apricots, and decorated with a vase filled with white orchids.(sorry, they didnt allow taking pictures) Each party was given their own table, even if you're just a party of one (they give you a small table of course), I guess because the ar@bs really like their privacy. Fortunately though, there were no enclosed booths :).

I was a little dissapointed by the buffet spread though. The appetizer section had several types of hummous, tahinis and dips, salads, tabouleh , fried eggplants, smoked salmon, poached salmon and shrimp cocktail, but .. meh.. maybe I was haunted by the food in Malaysian buffets, so I wasnt really impressed (but I still ate a lot of smoked salmon! muahahaha) I kept yearning for mee rebus or something. The dinner buffet spread had Laham Mandi (lamb cooked in rice), which was yummy, several choices of grilled meat dishes and the obligatory breads and samosas.

What redeemed this buffet offering was the dessert selection. Oh. My. God. You would have gained 5 kilos just by looking at it. Lots of decadent cheesecakes, syrup laden pastries, cream smothered khunafa porridge thingy, cream filled puffs, and puddings in chocolate, custard or fruity flavours. The piece de resistance were 2 fondue fountains, one with white and the other with dark, chocolate. I had skewers of peaches and strawberries and marshmallows drenched in chocolate. The kids had a field day with the bask1n-robbins ice cream.

Towards the end of the iftar, they had a lucky draw with gifts sponsored by businesses around kh0bar. That is quite different from what we usually have in M@laysia, and it was kinda fun. The kids were dissapointed that we didnt win anything though :)

All in all, I thought the buffet was okay. Nothing much compared to those offered in Malaysia though ... tee hee

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Sakit hati tengok:

1. Satu family bukan agama kita ni, datang iftar buffet, tapi belum waktu berbuka lagi, diorang dah ambik makanan dan makan! Bukan nya kita terliur pun, tapi sungguh tak menghormati tetamu lain. At least tunggu lah azan sekejap sebelum makan. Even my kids yang tak puasa pun tunggu sampai bunyi azan sebelum diorang jamah makanan diorang depan tetamu lain yang berpuasa. Taufik cakap "Patutlah orang marah sangat sampai nak tembak..."

2. Orang yang ambik makanan bertimbun-timbun dalam pinggan macam tak makan sebulan, lepas tu tak habiskan, pastu pegi ambik makanan lain pulak! Pastu waiters pun kenalah ambik pinggan diorang and makanan tu, terbuang ajelah nampaknya... Sungguh membazir! (Tapi my kids pun gitu sebenarnya, and guess who yang selalu end up habiskan makanan diorang?? Mak jugerrrkkkkkk.... how to kurus liddat?)

3. Budak-budak yang ambik cawan and tadah chocolate at the fondue fountain. I jealous sebenarnya.. nak buat jugak, tapi malu.. heh heh.