Kingsbury‘s Ramazan ifthar offer is that you get your pick from a buffet for Rs. 2500 per head (taxes included) – and though that sounds like a bit much at first, the tastiness and the epic range of the food offered makes it well worth it.
Ambiance
The view at the Kingsbury is obviously going to be beautiful because of the hotel’s location. The ifthar goes on in the Harbour Court and you can nom on your food here, surrounded by views of the sea and the harbour.
If the weather’s good you can take a seat outside for some sweet sea breeze.
Even the pool side is beautiful around ifthar time when the sun is about to set and the breeze blows ripples through the pool. Nobody’s going to play the azaan or the call for prayer here so you’ll have to check the YAMU Ramadan calendar or call home and check for the time for breaking fast. After your meal you can even ask the staff to show you to a room upstairs for prayers.
Congee
So let’s get down to business. We’re here for the food. The number one question at an ifthar is ‘is the congee any good?’ Congee is basically rice porridge. More often than not, people make congee too watery like soup or the meat in it is too bland or the rice is lumpy and weird. So we weren’t expecting much at all – the plan was to eat a date and sip on some congee and then just dive into the real food. But the mutton congee at the buffet was superb – it was spicy and thick, and left us wanting a second serving (which is a big deal in congee world).
The Variety
We don’t know about you but we’ve never been to an unlimited buffet that gives you this many choices. The buffet extended almost from one end of the room and into the next room. The spread included meats, rice, curries, salads, cakes, pastries and sweets.
If you’ve ever followed the ridiculous threads of troll comments on our site you’ll notice how angsty Muslims can get about halal meat – I can’t describe to you how amazing it was to have a wide range of meats available that you knew was halal and you didn’t have to ask – they had turkey, lamb, chicken, beef, crab, cuttlefish and prawns. Even if you don’t care about halal it’s awesome to have such a wide spread, so tenderly made, available in one go, without having to pay extra. All the meats were well done, the cuttlefish wasn’t that great, and we especially recommend the turkey and chicken.
The best of the lot
The crab is delicious – soft and well-done. Crabs are tricky to eat because its a lot of shell and the meat you need to hunt for, but the great thing about this is it’s an all-you-can-eat so just load your plate up with a bunch and get to it. We highly recommend the crab curry in the main-meals region of the room, it tastes loads better than the bowl of crab on the buffet table.
After you’re done with the meat samples, the salads and the cakes on the buffet table, or maybe before (we went for desserts first because YOLO), there’s a slightly interior part of the room that’s got the hot silver trays of rice and curries. The mixed rice was really good. We highly recommend the parmesan and beef, the crab curry and the sausages.
This awesome hot-plate section at the end of the room is where you can make your pick of kebabs, sausages and differently prepared meats (beef, chicken, fish), and hand over your plate to the chef who’ll get it cooked right there.
Desserts
There was such an epic range of desserts – from typical chocolate mousse and fruity desserts to french pastries.
A variety of caramel, chocolate, cheese and fruit cakes.
The wattalapam was nothing to boast of, and we think you should definitely try the french pastry plate, whatever that has fresh strawberries in it, and the small pyramids of chocolate fudge.
Conclusion
The Kingsbury ifthar is awesome. We thought 2.5K is a lot to dole out at first, but when we got there and saw the huge spread and tasted how well it was prepared, and realized we could just sit there and eat forever – man, we’d go there again for this. Regardless of if you’re fasting or not, this is a great place to take your family and friends, or just for shameless gastric therapy.
