Lebanese, Moroccan, Chinese, Indian and Japanese cuisines are the stars of this lavish buffet that should be in the spotlight this Ramadan.
With only a few locations in the capital with a reputation for iftars worth having, the hotel’s Ingredients restaurant overlooks the magnificent mangroves and provides guests with an iftar experience they will keep talking about even after they leave, and here’s why.
Each cuisine is made by a chef belonging to the country from which the food is from, with a total of 55 chefs. This means a Chinese, Vietnamese and an Indonesian chef cooking the Asian cuisine – providing diners with one of the best sweet and sour dishes in town (I filled up my plate three times!).
Meanwhile, a Syrian, a Lebanese, and a Moroccan head up the International food station, while an Indian chef takes over his part of the buffet and a Japanese chef and his Filipino assistant run the sushi bar, which has over 10 types of sushi.
“This is the best sushi I have ever had, and every single type is spot on. I have wasted a lot of money trying to find a restaurant that sells really good sushi but this is where the jackpot is,” said Yemeni guest Hanan Al No’man at a preview.
Despite being a luxurious five-star hotel, the secret that makes Ingredients so welcoming is that its ambience is fancy, yet homey; spacious yet private.
There are two parts to the dessert section: the traditional Arabic sweets loved by many during Ramadan, and another area dedicated to those with a bigger sweet tooth.
Placed in enclosed displays, which only visitors are allowed to open from the inside, shelves of mousse, tarts, lemon-flavoured gels, strawberry infused cakes and quite a lot more lies just within arm’s reach after iftar.
Because I am usually disappointed by desserts when they look tremendously mouth-watering and well decorated, I did not expect much from the selection. However, this was the best disappointment I have ever felt in my life.
Almost every single thing I tried was better than the next. Although I struggled to finish them all, I knew I had to.
Another interesting fact about the restaurant is that its chefs do not make the buffet food in bulk.
“This therefore means, that less food is left over and even less is thrown out. I estimate that only about two per cent of our entire buffet might be thrown away but we normally reuse all edible food to create other dishes and feed our hungry restaurant and hotel staff at the cafeteria,” said Ingredients’ Moroccan executive chef AztTaj Eddoukani.
