International buffet: a classy fare at Le Vendome

Abu Dhabi: I don’t like huge buffets that make diners go in circles looking for their favourite dishes. Drifting rudderless from one station to the other, you end up stuffing your plate with more than you can eat.

No such culinary chaos at Le Vendome, the international restaurant at the lobby level (fourth floor) of Abu Dhabi’s iconic Emirates Palace. You will not find a dizzyingly array of dishes which are there for no rhyme or reason.

The buffet is neither a replication of the lavish opulence that leaves you breathless at the gilded Emirates Palace. Instead, the careful selection of the menu shows a more streamlined approach, limiting the spread to the best and must-haves of international cuisine.

Cheese and meat quiche, roast cod with olive and tomatoes, beef stroganoff, pomme gratin, chicken fricassee and spinach cannelloni are some of the A listers on the menu. The salad bar features the regulars: Ceasars, Greek, fatoush, pickled onion, gherkin (pickled cucumber) smoked salmon and some veggies served in small portions. A great accompaniment to the salads was the compressed watermelon — a cold soup that doubled up as a great thirst quencher and an appetizer.

The tomato puree soup was exactly to my liking: Fine textured and not loaded with cream. When seasoned with a dash of fried garlic, the mildly sour soup tasted even better. The garlic flakes are also something you can try out with the traditional konjee, also available in chicken and other varieties.

The crispy fried prawns we bit into as we savoured the soup was a little soggy, but a dash of sweet crab chill sauce redeemed the dish and made it enjoyable.

Before heading for the main course we stopped at the seafood station where the smoked salmon, sprinkled with herbs, tasted fresh so did the clams and prawns mixed with capers and shallots.

We gave the Arabic cold mezzeh a miss and dashed straight for the cheese and meat quiche and some yummy dim sums. The puffy pastry, stuffed with meat and cheese, was baked to perfection with a golden tint. Despite the cheese overload, my friend found the dish light and she simply couldn’t stop with one. Beef stroganoff, when had with rice, was yet another delight as the thin tender strips of beef floated in creamy, sour mushroom sauce. Equally enjoyable was chicken fricassee, a mild stew which is a melange of well-cooked chicken and vegetables.

There were more dishes to tantalise our taste buds in the form of spinach cannelloni and pomme gratin to name a few. But we stopped right there to leave enough space for desserts. With sweet varieties such as lemon thyme pana cotta, chocolate crunchy cake, summer berry trifle, bitter chocolate and praline mousse shooter and tonka bean creme brulee, it was indeed a royal treat.

La Vendome’s buffet may not be sensational, but it is certainly a cut above the rest.