The Ocean at The Kingsbury is already known for its fare of fresh seafood and now they’ve got an All You Can Eat promotion going on. We dropped by to try it out and we think it’s completely worth the price.
For Rs. 2800 per head, you get to pick from hadalla, peeled prawns, crab meat, fish roe, cuttlefish, modha, octopus and sea crabs. It’s a big assortment that includes sides of tasty fried rice and wok fried vegetables, and you get to ask them to prepare the meats the way you like. We asked for a bit of everything, because it’s a known fact I go nuts at All You Can Eat buffets.
The offer is only during lunch, and you can call them on 011 2 421221 for reservations.
Ambience & Service
How it works is you walk up to the counter at the end of the room where the seafood is kept on display, and have a chat with the chef. You tell him what meats you want and he’ll weigh the amount and help you figure out how you want it prepared. The kitchen is right there behind the counter where you can see the chefs at work.
The Ocean at the Kingsbury has got a pleasant ambience in the day time, with the sunlight falling through the glass windows and neat formal dining, ideal for business meetings and family gatherings. You get a good view of the sky outside, but also the heaps of Port City rocks against the ocean.
In about 15 minutes from ordering, our bevy of seafood arrived at the table in a wide tray. Service was generally very good with friendly waiters, and two of them attending to ours, serving us a bit of everything and wishing us a good meal.
The Food
This is all for one person, by the way
This is pretty great value for money – our table featured 100g of seven meats, rice and vegetables, priced at Rs. 2000, which would typically have chalked up a Rs. 3500+ bill. Also there’s the fact that you can keep asking for more.
We got most things done a little spicy-sweet – the crab meat came balled up and fried in Singaporean style, the prawns were tossed in chilli garlic, and the cuttlefish was spicy and hot-buttered. This is quality seafood, the meats were plenty, juicy, and very well seasoned by a pro.
We randomly asked for the ocotopus, wok fried, because we hadn’t tried the meat before. The tentacles came chopped up in an onion fried mix and were kind of rubbery and weird, not bad but not really my thing (also they kept reminding me of Davy Jones’ beard, but maybe that’s just me).
The sea crabs are probably the best part about the buffet. We asked for a cracker and ours worked like a scissor and was less messier than for example the ones they give you at MOC. After a few minutes of that painstaking, there’s-curry-everywhere surgery required to get to crab meat, you get to some absolutely soft, sweet white flesh. One crab we asked to be done black-peppered and spicy – the meat in and around the crab tastes amazing with the rice, popping with flavour and spice.
The other crab was more interestingly prepared – with lime and chilli, so there was this fresh, sweet limey tang in the meat, milder than the other crab and very addictive. We wish we had more space in our bellies to have had more.
The hot buttered cuttlefish are worth mentioning specially. The prep is a little wet but dry enough to taste the chilli flakes and get a little crunch in your bite. If you’re an HBC fan, the buffet is a great place to sample some.
Finally the modha we got a little different from the rest, prepared in a mild Thai red curry. The modha fillet came layered in the thick gravy, bursting with that distinct lemongrass flavour and that pleasant mild aroma of coconut milk, again a great combo with our tasty side of lightly fried rice.
Conclusion
The Ocean like Curry Leaf and The Lagoon is one of the good places in the city for fresh, high quality seafood. The All You Can Eat lunch promotion also makes the experience super affordable, considering quantity and the stellar recipes used in preparation. If you’re a seafood person and you’re looking to go all out, we’d recommend you prep yourself properly (skip breakfast, go for a late lunch on an empty stomach) and try this out.
