Buffet Dinner at Radisson Blu, Tala Bay - Al Aqaba

I've always been a fan of buffets at hotels. It helps in rating the stay from its culinary side, which I think is the most important aspect. A good buffet reflects professional staff, an organized kitchen and a dedicated team working with love and passion. I mentioned that the Radisson Hotel is perfect on many fronts, but unfortunately I can't say the same about the food.

The resort's Aqaba restaurants feature everything from breakfast favorites and local dishes to international staples and snacks. Open all day long, anyone can pass by to enjoy a stylish atmosphere in an indoor or outdoor space. That night’s choices were many, good looking and fresh, I was so excited to try everything. So I took a large plate and grabbed a bite of everything... Yes, literally everything... and ate nothing. The buffet choices for tonight:

• Cheese salad
• Carrot salad
• Red beans salad
• Sweet corn salad
• Green beans salad
• Noodles salad
• Cheese platter
• Hummus
• Moutabal
• Kishkeh
• Salad bar and cucumber salad
• Mouhammara
• Beef salad
• Cold cuts
• Pasta salad
• Vegetable ratatouille
• Potato Boulanger
• Seafood termidor (mix of seafood with white sauce)
• Kofta wi potatoes and red sauce
• Lamb shakryeh (meat with Laban)
• Olives rice
• Fish salad
• Pineapple salad
• Chicken salad
• Caesar salad
• Bread and green peas soup

 

Desserts:

• Fondant au chocolat
• Cheese cake
• Chocolate pudding
• Mango mousse
• Coconut with mud chocolate cake
• Strawberry mousse
• Mint with chocolate mousse
• Pistachio with sponge cake
• Strawberry mousse
• Yogurt mousse
• Chocolate bavet
• Hazelnut mousse
• Fruits

 

Live stations:

• Chicken maklouba
• Grilled chicken
• Pasta (three choices, three sauces)

Let's eat:

• Cucumber with Laban, thinly cut with a thick consistency and no garlic. The mouhammara was different from the one we know, thicker but offering the same flavor; it lacks some finesse. The different salads were beautiful to see, colorful and mouthwatering, but too complicated. The pineapple and mortadella is bizarre, the fish salad complicated, the beef salad was more of a canned corned beef mix. Anyway the salads are things people eat to fill their stomach, but nothing close to fine dining. So I set my plate aside and moved to the real thing.
• The Sharkiya lamb was fine, pieces of meat in a yogurt sauce but the meat was way too chewy. The rice with olives needed more consistency and more flavor; I didn't feel the olives. I will be trying that at home, my way. The Kafta was dry and cold. The fish mix was "bof"; I didn't taste the different fish choices. Unfortunately nothing made me want to finish my plate. I stopped eating, sending two plates back to the kitchen and moved to try the desserts.

The desserts were literally inedible: Ten different choices of cakes, all mousse cakes, gooey and sweet. Even the chocolate fudge smelled burned. Unacceptably bad! I tried the yogurt cake, it was inedible, the coconut cake and the chocolate cake both tasted cheap and commercial. It's clear that no effort was put into those dessert.

 

I tried everything and didn't find one single thing that was enjoyable. Unbelievable, it had to be one of two things, the chef needs to be changed and doesn't know what he's doing, or that the ingredients used are mediocre. To have a clear conscious, I asked everyone on the table -and we were 8- about their experience, which turned out to be the same: disappointing.

 

Unfortunately, the food was not as good as breakfast this morning. I was expecting to be amazed or at least eat something with some consistency. Good looking, yes, but the taste is not up to the standard of my stay until now. The chef needs to work more on the details. The food needs more body and more flavor. If you're staying at the Radisson, plan to eat somewhere else.