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Imperial Viking Sal, Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
Tokyo's legendary Imperial Hotel began buffet service, the first place to do so in Japan, in 1959 at a restaurant they called The Viking - inspired by the smorgasbord. It was pretty fundamental in postwar Japan but the very idea of an all-you-can-eat meal was so popular the place had lines outside for months after it opened, and restaurants around the country began to follow suit, calling their buffets baikingu, or Viking, after The Imperial original. In fact, now the word baikingu in Japanese means buffet dining.
The Imperial's dinner service at the Viking, now inexplicably called the Viking Sal, is about US85.00 a head and includes what seems like an endless array of excellent European specialties, from very fancy appetizers to all sorts of entrees, many made to order in front of you as you like. All kinds of fine cheeses, caviars, soups, all sorts of salad materials, roast beef, curries, escargots, breads and rolls, it's endless, and there must be at least 25 different dessert items, including Cherries Jubilee. The restaurant is at the top of the hotel's main building and daytimes has a view, but it's fairly unpretentious decor. The absolute BEST buffets I have had were at gala receptions at the same hotel, but hosted by the hotel for the diplomatic corps, Foreign Ministry, Imperial Household Agency personnel and leading international media. Gaga gala, with sushi from Nakata and Sushi Gen, lavish Japanese tidbits from Kitcho and Isecho, fine caviar, foie gras, truffle dishes and other sumptuous, extraordinary French dishes by Nobuo Murakami ( one look and one bite and you could tell), with all sorts of extravagant desserts. Japan rarely entertains like that anymore. I personally find commercial buffets are tricky, though, unless you know what to select, what sequence, with what - otherwise you get dinner plates full of things that may not go well or which sauces flow into one, etc. In fact, some hotels suggest you to go back to the groaning boards at least 6 times, to avoid such conflicts. Memorable breakfast buffets: Le Bristol, Paris; Villa d'Este, Cernobbio, Como, Italy; La Mamounia, Marrakech. |
Originally Posted by mecabq
(Post 13163163)
I am surprised that there is not a dedicated thread on FlyerTalk for weekend/Sunday brunches. I suppose that this one is the closest, so I feel compelled to post.
...the other day I ate at the new Shangri-La on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, and it deserves to be added to the list. Thanks for finding and updating this thread, mecabq. This is a good option for quite a few FTers, especially those travelling Europe->Australia on Etihad, or anyone else doing the EY transit/stopover in AUH. (Any trip reports on recent trips in the region would also be good reading, so I'll go and have a check for them in the Trip Reports forum. Have you added any recently) Now that QR is flying to Australia, I hope some other Aussies get along to Doha, too. :) Cheers, BiziBB |
My most memorable buffets:
Breakfast: Hotel de Crillon -- for the sheer opulence of the room, the service and the quality of the food. Peninsula Bangkok -- for the sheer variety of food and the fantastic riverside setting. Brunch: Sterling Brunch, Bally's Las Vegas -- free flowing champagne and quality food Peacock Alley Brunch, Waldorf Astoria, NYC -- such a wonderful setting in a historic building with tons of fantastic food Four Seasons Beverly Hills -- for the incredible range and THE highest quality food so far.... |
Originally Posted by luxury
(Post 13168957)
My most memorable buffets:
Breakfast: Peninsula Bangkok -- for the sheer variety of food and the fantastic riverside setting. Brunch: Peacock Alley Brunch, Waldorf Astoria, NYC -- such a wonderful setting in a historic building with tons of fantastic food Four Seasons Beverly Hills -- for the incredible range and THE highest quality food so far.... How long ago were the Bangkok, NYC & LA meals? Did you (or would you) go into more detail in any trip reports? A friend is about to begin a 'holiday of her life' taking in Hawaii (Oahu & Maui), LA, Las Vegas, NYC & San Francisco, so I'd like to give her some of your tips and recommendations. She's going with her brother, so it's not like a honeymoon, but to remember and enjoy the end of her 30s. :D |
Hotel Del Coronado - San Diego
Recently did the Sunday brunch at the Hotel Del with a friend and it blew me away. Our waiter started with giving us a strategy to skip things like eggs and pastries that we could get anytime/anywhere and to head for the cheese table, seafoods, chocolates, meats, pastas... All of it was fantastic. A bit pricey at $80 per person but it did include all the Mimosas/Bellinis/Champagne we could drink.
Pretty much didn't need to eat for a few days after that though. |
From the different end of the spectrum...
Probably the most of notable "buffets" I've been to in the last couple of years (apart from the Vegas buffets... but that's a whole different thread :D) is Sweet Tomatoes which is a chain. It's a pretty basic concept with a fairly extensive salad bar supplemented by made-from-scratch soups, jacket potatoes with a bunch of toppings, some pasta, different breads, etc. and even deserts. We "discovered" it researching dining options for our trip to WDW in Orlando. It provided us with a meal option that was relatively fresh & healthy compared to a lot of fatty, fried, etc fast food that we can get distracted with when on the road traveling. I think we paid around $15 for the two of us which I thought was a pretty good deal. There's very limited "meat" as while you'll find pieces in the soups and some of the premixed salads, there aren't any meat focused dishes. That might not be appealing for everyone. But I think it's a nice healthy value buffet. http://www.souplantation.com/ |
Originally Posted by UNITED959
(Post 8294988)
The only way I'd eat at a buffet is if a high-paying client invited me. Otherwise, forget it. :D
Originally Posted by BiziBB
(Post 8295373)
In defence of this thread - rather than nasty bainmarie buffets, I was thinking of hotels and some restaurants that offer decent quality meals and food that is similar to their a la carte fare.
I recall the huge buffet at the Westin in Chiang Mai Thailand had a very good buffet, lots of excellent Thai meat salad choices. |
Sudu Kuala Lumpur Hilton and Sterling Brunch Bally's Las Vegas
I used to go to Bellagio and Todai at least once per trip. Bellagio is still one of my favorite Vegas buffets but it has gone down the hill a bit. For example king crab legs seem to be smaller and not as good now (but they are still pre-cracked) as they used to be a few years ago and why did they stop serving pineapple juice? Otherwise I still would say that it is a tad better than the Wynn buffet which is similar but with fewer options. Todai is just bad. Prices would go up with every trip and premium food items would disappear. I do like the Todai in NYC much better than the one in Vegas though it was renamed and is now called Ichi Umi.
Another 2 Vegas buffets that I’d like to comment on are the Seafood buffet at the Rio (note: not the regular buffet which is also very good). I think dinner runs somewhere in the $40-$45 but it is worth it as you get all kinds of clams, oysters, shrimp, lobster tails (the small ones), etc. Now as others in this thread have mentioned the Sterling Brunch at Bally’s is the best buffet in Vegas. I only recently discovered this gem of a buffet and went there twice last year. The 1st trip I taught it was the best buffet ever and I couldn’t wait to get back. Everything from huge half lobsters to caviar to oysters, champagne, etc. My second trip was about 6 weeks later and while still great and probably worth the $85 + tax + tip instead of the half Maine lobsters they had lobster tails and they were over cooked. Otherwise still was my favorite buffet until I got to Malaysia a couple of months later. Unfortunately I only had 1 night in Kuala Lumpur a few weeks ago. I was staying at the KL Hilton. While there were a lot of restaurants at the Hilton and some if not all had very good reviews and seemed like they would be great places to eat I really was planning on eating dinner out of the hotel somewhere cheaper. However by the time it was dinner time I changed my mind went downstairs and asked the concierge for a seafood recommendation. I was told that the buffet has seafood. The buffet they were referring to was Sudu which I had no idea was a buffet as it didn’t say anything about it being a buffet on the hotel website. I think the reason was that they don’t really operate like a buffet. What you have to do is order a main dish from ~9 or so options in 3 separate price ranges (sorry I don’t remember all the pricing details but I think I paid something like ~$50) and then you have access to the buffet / salad bar. I looked around and realized that I don’t really care much about my main dish as the buffet looked amazing. Once they brought out my dish, medium rare skirt steak, it ended up being the best skirt steak I’ve even had. Now onto the buffet they had pretty much everything you can think of from sushi / sashimi / lobster tails / oysters / clams / crabs / abalone / and so on. There were also equally as many non-seafood options, fruit and desert. Everything I tried tasted amazing. Sudu is by far the best buffet meal I’ve ever had. |
Originally Posted by BiziBB
(Post 13169812)
Hi luxury,
How long ago were the Bangkok, NYC & LA meals? Did you (or would you) go into more detail in any trip reports? A friend is about to begin a 'holiday of her life' taking in Hawaii (Oahu & Maui), LA, Las Vegas, NYC & San Francisco, so I'd like to give her some of your tips and recommendations. She's going with her brother, so it's not like a honeymoon, but to remember and enjoy the end of her 30s. :D I will PM you with some more thoughts.... |
A trip to the Golden Corral
Visit my blog on this buffet experience, posted Jan. 23, 2010
http://stephanietaylorart.blogspot.com |
Haven't you ate buffet at hotel before?
Hi All,
I'm curious if you ever eat at buffet in the hotel before? We have a nice breakfast buffet by last week Thursday morning and I am very full that I ate breakfast time in the morning. I decide that we skip the lunchtime. We will have a nice dinner at the hotel. It was quite enjoyable where we have a cheaper buffet in the morning. Regards |
From today's NumLock News
BuffetsBuffets have emerged victorious from a pandemic era and inflationary crunch that threatened their very existence. Golden Corral, a company that operates 360 facilities around the country that sell infinite volumes of 150 different kinds of food for roughly $20, says that year-to-date business is up 20 percent. In Vegas, the town that made the cheap casino buffet a cornerstone of its business model going back to the 1940s, buffets are mounting a comeback. Even though the number of buffets on the Strip is down to eight buffets from 18, the casinos are investing in the once-moribund format, with the Bellagio reopening its buffet and Caesars Palace’s Bacchanal buffet getting a $10 million renovation.Kim Severson, The New York Times |
Originally Posted by cblaisd
(Post 35369888)
From today's NumLock News
BuffetsBuffets have emerged victorious from a pandemic era and inflationary crunch that threatened their very existence. Golden Corral, a company that operates 360 facilities around the country that sell infinite volumes of 150 different kinds of food for roughly $20, says that year-to-date business is up 20 percent. In Vegas, the town that made the cheap casino buffet a cornerstone of its business model going back to the 1940s, buffets are mounting a comeback. Even though the number of buffets on the Strip is down to eight buffets from 18, the casinos are investing in the once-moribund format, with the Bellagio reopening its buffet and Caesars Palace’s Bacchanal buffet getting a $10 million renovation.Kim Severson, The New York Times https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c9e043e7f3.jpg And the most recent buffet I went to was called Harvest; it's a small Japanese chain. It had some random cognitively dissonant "Asian food" theme: https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2ae8bab9fe.jpg Sweet potatoes, mackerel, and fried chicken -- sign me up. |
Originally Posted by FindingFoodFluency
(Post 35473050)
And the most recent buffet I went to was called Harvest; it's a small Japanese chain. It had some random cognitively dissonant "Asian food" theme:
Sweet potatoes, mackerel, and fried chicken -- sign me up. https://www.justonecookbook.com/candied-sweet-potatoes/ |
Originally Posted by FindingFoodFluency
(Post 35473050)
Wha? Pretty sure I ate at the Bellagio buffet last November.
And the most recent buffet I went to was called Harvest; it's a small Japanese chain. It had some random cognitively dissonant "Asian food" theme: Sweet potatoes, mackerel, and fried chicken -- sign me up. |
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