GREEDY HARTERS STRIKES AGAIN
A return lunchtime visit.
Nothing has changed – not least my ability to be very, very greedy when presented with an all you can eat buffet. I always seem to regard this “all you eat” lark as a challenge, not a suggestion. And yes, I was on my own for the following.
Starters proved to be the best bet (and when I go back, I may try and restrain myself just to having starters). There were four made-up salads and bits and bobs of ingredients to make your own. Som tum was pretty much everything I want from the classic – freshness and bit of crunch from the papaya and an eye-watering zing from citrus and chill. Another salad took ingredients such as bean sprouts, red onion and so on, mixed in thin slices of tender pork and there was, again, citrus and chilli (although not as much as the som tum). I took the stand alone ingredients – lettuce, tomato, cucumber, slightly cooked cauliflower, etc – to make another plate, adding hard boiled egg and dressing it with a spicy peanut sauce – my own version of Indonesian (not Thai) gado-gado.
There were half a dozen or so main courses and even I had to exercise some restraint – so only two plates then. One, with jasmine rice and what was only described as “spicy pork stirfry”, so I’ve no idea whether there was any authenticity – but it was really nice. I came back for the “drunken noodles” and a beef and cashew nut stirfry that didn’t have heat but did have bags of coriander leaf.
Greed returned for desserts. Now, to be frank, these are all a bit “Mum’s gone to Iceland” but bananas in caramel were rich and sticky and who doesn’t like mini-doughnuts dusted in sugar. Or jelly! But I did also have some pineapple and melon to try and convince my conscience that I’m really a good lad about not over-eating.
What I like about this buffet is that they only put relatively small quantities of the dishes, so it’s not getting cold and it’s not getting messed about with too much (and they have a member of staff constantly tidying up the serving platters and so on. Good lunch – and a siesta needed when I got home.
