Ramadan Buffet 2011 – Santapan Buffet Delights @ Latest Recipe, Le Meridien KL

“The bountiful buffet spread at Latest Recipe keep patrons coming back yearly. Consistent cuisine quality & decorations resembling a bustling night bazaar allows one to enjoy hearty traditional delights & international fare in true muhibbah spirit.” 

– says the press release as provided by Le Meridien.

I certainly concur on the bountiful spread. After all; key selling points of buffets are value-for-money, sheer variety and the freedom of choice in addition to the copious amount of food you may partake for the hours you are present at the venue.

For a 3-digit priced Ramadan Buffet (so far I have sampled Dorsett KL & Maytower Hotel where each are priced at <RM80/pax), Latest Recipe does deliver the works.

There’s the requisite roasted lamb for starters; which to me it’s a must for Ramadan buffets!!

Still, I opined that the lamb could do with better or longer marination as I found it to be rather bland. Well, at the very least, that could be fixed with some mint sauce. The rice suffered the same fate; not lacking in colour obviously, but in taste & aroma.

The perennial lux items like fresh oysters, seafood & Jap sashimi made their appearance of course. I had expected nothing less than stellar quality seafood & I wasn’t disapppointed.

The Japanese favourites of freshly made california rolls, sushi & makis were plentiful to please the dining crowd.

Zooming in on the sashimi, I gleefully heaped my plate with cuts of butterfish, salmon & tuna!

As expected the Japanese live station was the most popular among diners.
There was a perpetual queue for the teppanyaki station, where you can opt for beef, chicken, scallops or prawns to be cooked on the spot for you.

I observed that the chef at the station didn’t get any break at all the whole night.  

I was aiming for the cod fish of course, but the queue put me off & I went on the attack the Indian station instead.

But if the locally spiced grilled seafood & meats are more up your alley, just next to the Japanese corner another chef dutifully grills chicken wings, fish, lamb, beef to your liking.
I didn’t sample any, as I couldn’t find any of the items displayed that night. I saw the action each time I walked past, but didn’t see any cooked meats displayed on trays/plates etc for the guests.

Not to worry, there were more to distract me. Breads are a no-no for buffets since they are such tummy-fillers, but I couldn’t resist as they looked really good. From my past visit to Favola, the breads were fantastic & I assumed that the same chef baked these below.

Yup, still as good as before & I stuffed some cuts of imported cheese into a bun while waiting for my pasta.

Chef Antoine Rodriguez is the executive chef for Le Meridien and he also helms Favola the Italian restaurant here. The moment he steps behind the pasta station, a queue formed; as everybody wanted their pasta to be prepared by him.
He asked each diner “So, how do you want your pasta?”. Everyone replied “Give me your special one Chef.” LOL!

Moving on, I spied the Belgian waffle station…

..and stole a shot of this little girl’s waffle…

…of which she decorated herself with the assortment of toppings & ice-cream available at the bar.

After some exploring, I settled for the Indian station & had the beef shank (which was a tad salty for me), dhal with some Indian breads ( I liked the dhal!)  before going Chinese.

** Beef shank which was alike marinated minced beef around the bone.

** The wide assortment of curries were alright.

**Indian breads – Murtabak & the good old roti canai. 

**Loads of pickled Indian condiments.

Tandoori chicken & fish.

And more curries!

Like I said, I went Chinese & found the steamed buns & assortment of dumplings to be satisfactory.

To be honest, nothing in particular stood out for me here, so I busied myself taking pictures, talking & joking with fellow bloggers at my table. Anyhow, it’s my 1st time at Latest Recipe so I won’t be able to compare the spread to previous visits. It was definitely not lacking in variety for sure, & I probably stuffed myself out too much at the Jap section to appreciate the rest of the spread.

Pictures:

Appetisers/Salads.

Cold Cuts. 

SALTS: The little delights that you get when you dine at first class venues like this; premium salts to go with your food!  

The dressings were housed in little tubes & mixed at perfect proportions to douse over your greens. Take your pick from Salsa Verde, Ranch, Strawberry & Malta dressings. Like I said, one is spoiled for choice here!

For the local salads, douse them with fiery sambals!

And here we have the local appetisers…

Tangy Malay salads – “kerabu” for those Malaysian at heart. 

Fried salted fish & floss.

SOUPS/CONGEE.

Sup tulang merah, bubur lambuk.

MAINS – HOT DISHES.

Noodles station.

Chicken Rice.

Individual hot dishes.

Desserts.

Chocolate fountain! BOTH DARK & WHITE CHOCOLATE!

TRADITIONAL & local sweets.

DURIANS!!
Serawa Durian. Subtly stinky & wonderfully creamy, meant to be paired with the roti jala. 

No ais kacang for me this time, but Chendol instead. The chendol here comes with freshly steamed glutinous rice!

Stuffed? End your gluttony meal with some fibre.

For a heart-warming buka puasa, invite family and friends for dinner at Latest Recipe for RM 118++ per adult and RM 59++ per child or with additional Ramadhan, seafood, and grilled specialties at RM 128++ and RM 64++ on Friday and Saturday.

With a minimum of 50 people, guests can also entertain business associates for RM 128++ per adult and RM 64++ per child at the Grand Salon, level 8 or the Ballroom, level 6. All Ramadhan buffet dinners are accompanied with free flow kurma juice, teh tarik, sirap bandung, sugar cane juice and soy milk.

Starting from 01 – 26 August 2011.
Time starting from 6.30pm – 10.30pm.

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All pictures are:

Le Meridien Hotel, ramadan buffet