Ramadan Buffet

One must-do thing in KL over the Ramadan month is to try one of the many Ramadan buffets.  For those who don’t know, Ramadan is a month where Muslim’s fast to reflect on life, practice self-control, and give charity. Although the aim is to abstain from food, in the modern context, many restaurants and hotels monopolise on the sense of community and food during the month to market all-you-can-eat buffets. In Malaysia, they range from standard Malaysian fair, like nasi lemak, beef and chicken rending and satay, to more international cuisine, including rack of lamb, pasta, and smoked salmon.

My co-workers decided to have a girls-night-out, and picked the Dorsett Hotel’s spread – primarily because there was a pretty good ‘Everydaydeal’ (similar to Groupon) that offered a steep discount.  The Dorsett’s spread was quite remarkable: from the chef carving freshly roasted lamb (pictured below), to crab curry (which was by far my favourite) and a limited sushi bar, the Dorsett had offerings that would please everyone’s pallet. In addition to the lamb, the grilling station also offered freshly grilled fish, crab and steak – all made to order. As an extra plus, the Dorsett had an extensive chilled seafood banquet, which supplied succulent cocktail shrimp, plump smoked salmon and oysters on the half shell.

As it’s in KL there were many Malaysian favourites – 2 types of rice, multiple fish chicken, and beef curries, sautéed mussels and spicy chicken wings. One neat thing I really liked is that there were do-it-yourself bars, including the Chinese noodle soup bar pictured below. Here, you boiled your own noodles, and added the vegetables you wanted.

To top off the night, there was a nice spread of desserts to choose from – including traditional Malaysian kueh (sweet rice flour delicacies), cheese and chocolate tarts, and ABC – do-it-yourself shaved ice with unlimited topics of sweet syrups, beans, chocolate, cornflakes, etc. Aside from the dessert buffet, the hotel also had an extensive selection of fresh fruits and fried tidbits (like pisang goreng - fried bananas) and yummy chocolate banana bread pudding.   

Despite all the selection, there were some drawbacks. First, much of the food was cold – having been prepared earlier in the day. I’m not sure if the burners were not working, or if instead the food was sitting out all day, but that did take away from the overall experience. The second criticism what that on the night we went, the buffet included live music. Although that sounds fun, in reality the music was so loud it was pretty much impossible to think – let alone talk to anyone. The music was so loud that in the end we ended up leaving the hotel – possibly earlier than we would have otherwise because we were unable to sit and enjoy the ambiance.

Overall, I am glad to have experienced the decadence that is a Ramadan buffet. I’m not sure if I would do it again next year, but definitely regard it as something that should be checked off from everyone’s list.