These hotels vote yes.
On one metal tray, rashers of curled up bacon glisten under a hot lamp. Next to it, a platter of scrambled eggs, water separating from the solids, and next to that, a lineup of halved, scorched tomatoes. This is not a scene that shouts premium; this is the breakfast buffet. After all, when you have the means to order whatever you want, whenever you want, the ‘all you can eat’ offer becomes far less appealing. Because who wants a sausage that’s been left out for hours?
But, despite the buffet’s less than savory reputation, a small subsection of hotels are proving that, with a few tweaks and a little care, the experience has the potential to become a gourmet dining experience.
At Gleneagles in Perthshire, Scotland, the buffet has become one of the cornerstones of its offering. Served in the grand Strathearn dining room with views over the valley and a live-piano soundtrack, the hotel’s Scullery breakfast is a far-cry from the all-you-can-eat stereotype. “I’d normally always get room-service breakfast,” a fellow guest told me when I first stayed at the property, “but you just have to get the buffet at Gleneagles.”
The offering is extensive (pastries, fruits, house-made granolas, juices, Bloody Marys, and artisanal breads), but not over-the-top or ostentatiously wasteful. Instead, its luxury relies on serving up rare, local products that couldn’t be found back home. “The Scottish smoked salmon, hand-carved gammon, porridge, and fresh honeycomb and berries are what guests ask about,” says Conor O’Leary, group managing director of Gleneagles. “Nobody travels to Perthshire for something they could find in a city hotel.”
Freshness is a consistent – and very valid – concern surrounding the buffet, but one that Gleneagles handles easily. “Behind the scenes, the Scullery is topped up in small batches rather than large trays, so nothing sits out long,” O’Leary adds.
And, because this is Gleneagles, service plays a key part in elevating the overall experience. “Our team reads a room before they read an order,” says O’Leary, “picking up on who wants to be left alone with the papers, who’s traveling with young children and needs a highchair before they’ve asked, who needs coffee before anything else.”
Domaines des Etangs, an Auberge property near Limoges, France, takes a similar approach, turning a small room adjoining its breakfast room into a help-yourself buffet, styled as a sweet European farm-house kitchen. There’s mounds of fresh pastries and bread, a fridge with yoghurts and juices, and an attentive chef on hand to whip up eggs on the Aga stove-top.
This buffet-style breakfast leans not into excessive amounts of food, but rather the simple charm of feeling as though you’re raiding a well-stocked kitchen. Given the hotel’s reputation as a culinary destination (its main restaurant has a Michelin star), the focus on informal – if varied – dining at breakfast is notable.
This isn’t to say that the over-the-top buffet doesn’t still have its place – and few places know this better than larger-than-life Las Vegas. The Buffet at Wynn is considered one of the city’s most lavish and runs for over 12 consecutive hours per day, with 16 live stations and bottomless sushi, tacos, meats, pastries, ice creams, and more. The scale might be immense, but cooking to order and small-scale preparations help ensure freshness and minimize waste.
In London, The Ned’s Feast – £120 (approx. $160) per person, with an extra £70 ($95) for free-flowing champagne – apparently takes cues from Vegas’s OTT attitude with a buffet experience unlike any other in the city. Although based on the classic British Sunday lunch (and served on the Lord’s Day only), the star of the feast is seafood, with up to 600 lobsters and 1,500 oysters served every week.
“Guests head for the lobster and oyster station first, and often it’s the last stop before they leave too,” says Jack Cohn, food and beverage director at The Ned. “And, it’s not unusual for guests to go back for second or third helpings.”
But again, despite the scale (something to the tune of 175lbs of sirloin beef, 800 Yorkshire puddings, and 140 liters of gravy per week), The Ned is intent on making sure its buffet experience is a gourmet one. «[Our] success is based on keeping the consistency of our product at a very high level. It has come from years of knowledge and allows us to deliver to an incredibly high standard week in, week out,” says Cohn. “At The Ned, every element of the Feast is prepared to the same standard as our a la carte menus. It’s consistency, not compromise, that makes it work.»
Добавить комментарий