The first buffet I remember enjoying was a 2004 visit to the InterContinental Bangkok. Coconut jam, omelets, lots of seafood…good times.
Whether they introduce me to a local dish I had never heard of, provide the day’s only reasonable clean source of raw vegetables (looking at you, China), or merely exist to inspire personalities for screenplays, I’m a fan.
No matter what time of day you went to a given buffet, let’s see what choices you made.
n.b. for those of you who don’t like buffets, oh, no, anyway…
To start, here’s what I had at the lebua Bangkok last month.
I have fond memories of going to the Sunday ‘family’ buffets at the American Embassy Club, where I would usually stack up on prime rib & salad (simple tastes as kid), whereas I was relegated to get extra oysters for my mom at their seafood buffets, since she didn’t want to seem a glutton & I didn’t care for them.
Breakfast buffets will have me go for the uszh — eggs in various preps, sausages, bacon, cheeses, breads or rolls, meats, etc.
THE best brunch buffet I’ve gone to was at a now defunct Italian restaurant in Berlin: tables bursting beneath the usual breakfast fare, plus various pasta dishes, grilled/marinated/roasted veg, meats, seafood… all at an unbeatable price at the time. And there’s a Turkish place that offers a large variety of warm mains and veg dishes on top of the Western breakfast options.
Then there was the famous brunch buffet at … the Wynn? Some LV hotel many years ago. While there was a lot of variety, I wasn’t all that impressed with it.
Perhaps the most impressive appetizer buffet was at one of those Brazilian steakhouses in NYC. I had to stop myself from overeating to save room for tha meatz.
Las Vegas has consistently underwhelmed and disturbed me; on a micro scale, the same applies to the Bellagio buffet. A darn shame the airport is useful to reach state and national parks, for otherwise I’d have zero reason to return.
That defunct Italian buffet sounds neat…not knowing Berlin at all, would you say buffets are common?
Asian buffets (or I should say buffets in Asia) are still the best. I haven’t been to the Intercontinental in Bangkok but was at the Intercontinental Pattaya 2 weeks ago. Their breakfast buffet was spectacular (scrambled eggs with truffles and caviar). There’s a German buffet in Chiang Mai that has such a huge variety of food that I won’t eat for 24-36 hours after that, and I don’t eat pork! Sunday Brunch at any 5 star Singaporean hotel will make you think about moving there.
That’s got to be the most annoying website ever, starting with several video snippets before the main menu, and switching to English triggered the same snippets again. I don’t remember it being like this when I first posted the link.
I don’t recall the official name but Leon’s BBQ (of SF) had a AYCE buffet near SF Zoo in the early 90s. It was a pretty basic building and not much around there. The rules were you paid at the door before you could get in, all you can eat but do not waste food. Inside were 4 or 5 steam/heat tables full of every imaginable soul food, blacken fish, greens, yams, ribs, links, pot roast, you name it. Reminded me of a church bizarre or holiday dinner. Went with a closefriend. What did we eat…just about everything. Went full glutton and had 4 full servings/trips. We were so full had a difficult time getting in the car and laughed like hell because we couldn’t move. That might be the best buffet I went to, and the last time I really gorged.
