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Ronan O'Connell

Bangkok is famed for its street food but, as I learned while living in the Thai capital, its best-kept foodie secret is the hotel buffet.
Many of the city’s four- and five-star hotels offer breakfast, lunch or dinner buffets that are considerably cheaper than their equivalents in Hong Kong.
For example, the InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong currently has a lunch buffet special offer of HK$440 (US$56) per person. The sumptuous lunch banquet at InterContinental Bangkok, an IHG Hotel is 1,404 baht (HK$298/US$38) but, if booked using the free restaurant reservation app Eatigo, it can be had for just 804 baht.
Using such apps, tourists can get a breakfast buffet at Aloft Bangkok Sukhumvit 11 hotel for 335 baht (US$9), a lunch buffet at Holiday Inn Bangkok Sukhumvit, an IHG Hotel for 575 baht, and a dinner buffet at Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers for 938 baht.
The Post tried four of the best Bangkok hotel buffets:

1 Best value lunch buffet
InterContinental Bangkok
My plate looks like a culinary tribute to the United Nations.
Thailand is represented by a small portion of massaman curry, its sauce absorbed deep into chunks of beef.
France makes an appearance in the form of buttery Brie cheese.
Japan’s contribution comes via fresh salmon sashimi, which abuts three slices of Hong-Kong-style char siu, and there is a salute to Italy in the form of truffle-infused ravioli.
I separate each of its miniature courses with a palate-cleansing sip of bottled water, iced coffee or tea, all of which are included in the cost of the lunch buffet served in Espresso, the chic, mezzanine dining room overlooking the marble-draped foyer of the InterContinental Bangkok in the central Chidlom area of the capital.

I move on to petite portions of smoked chicken salad, grilled sea bass, beef stew, freshly grilled pork kebabs, stir-fried duck with black bean sauce, har gow or prawn dumplings, Bhindi masala Indian curry and carved slices of roast pork.
The finale is tiny tastes of marble cheesecake, plain chocolate mousse, caramel pudding, lemon meringue tart, fruit cake, bread and butter pudding, and six flavours of ice cream and sorbet.
Cost: 1,404 baht (inclusive of VAT and service charge)/as low as 804 baht through Eatigo
2 Best value buffet with a view

Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort
As Wagyu beef melts in my mouth, Ram Thai dancers twirl their arms and sway their hips before a spectacular backdrop. Behind them, the Chao Phraya River glistens and skyscrapers glow.
Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort owns a majestic location on the west bank of the river, opposite downtown Bangkok. Guests absorb these views, and dance moves, during Anantara’s International Buffet dinner, held on the Riverside Terrace daily from 6pm to 10pm.
For seafood lovers, there are oysters, slipper lobster, sea bass, blue swimmer crabs, white prawns, mussels, river prawns and squid. For carnivores, freshly smoked beef short ribs and Kurobuta pork.

The Thai offerings are similarly flavoursome, although in some instances jarringly spicy; from papaya salad, to stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts, beef massaman curry, pad Thai and pomelo salad.
There are plenty of Indian and Chinese dishes, too, but all that went before is eclipsed by an avalanche of desserts: apple cheesecake; strawberry cream cake; chocolate brownie; green tea cake; mango mousse … I could go on.
Cost: 1,999 baht/1,339 baht
3 Best value seafood buffet

Novotel Bangkok Bangna
Midway between downtown Bangkok and the city’s main airport, Suvarnabhumi, the Novotel Bangkok Bangna has several buffet deals each week, the most impressive being the Saturday Seafood and International Buffet.
Sat on ice is a massive mound of snails, squid, oysters, mussels, cooked prawns and rock lobster. Nearby are trays of sushi, sashimi, shrimp, salmon salad and crab stick salad.
Complementing the seafood are Chinese favourites such as roast duck, drunken chicken, roast red pork and steamed buns, British-style roast honey ham, Italian pizzas and pastas, and Irish lamb stew.

Also included are well-made desserts such as creme brûlée, blueberry cheesecake, chocolate mousse cake, strawberry panna cotta, lemon meringue pie, caramel custard and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.
Cost: 1,871 baht/1,071 baht
4 Best value luxury buffet
Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok
I would gladly eat at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok buffet every night of my life if I didn’t know I’d end up shaped like a pear. So vast and appetising are its offerings that I find myself wandering and staring for the first five minutes.

In upmarket Ratchadamri district, this five-star hotel’s International Dinner buffet is hosted beneath the lofty ceiling of its Dining Room each day from 6pm to 10pm.
There are oysters ice, along with clams, shrimps, sea snails, crab, lobster and mussels. Salads include Niçoise, octopus and smoked salmon, and cheeses range from smoked and blue to Parmesan, Taleggio and provolone.
Pizza flavours change throughout the week – my two slices of chicken pizza are addictive, as are the freshly made carbonara pasta, roast pork roll, beef bourguignon, duck à l’orange, and seafood gratin.

This buffet’s dessert section can only be described as a sensory bonanza. I have double servings of tiramisu, vanilla panna cotta, mango pavlova, Biscoff cheesecake, pear mousse cake, lime basil meringue tart, hazelnut Paris-Brest and chocolate passion fruit tart.
Each is so carefully made that I have no sugary aftertaste, just a wish to return and start this buffet all over again.
Cost: 2,398 baht/1,440 baht
The writer was hosted free of charge by the above hotels.


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Not just street food in Thailand – hotel buffets are Bangkok’s best-kept foodie secret

Novotel Bangkok Bangna has a great value seafood buffet. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

The Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok has an astonishing dinner buffet. It’s among the four best hotel buffets in the Thai capital. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

Desserts and fresh fruit at the InterContinental Bangkok lunch buffet. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

InterContinental Bangkok has an array of stir-fried dishes. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort has a scenic waterfront location. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

Prawns on ice at Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

Novotel Bangkok Bangna offers plenty of variety at its buffet. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

Seafood dreams at Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

Sushi at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

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A plate of The Chairman’s char siu. Photo: Instagram/@syllawskitchen

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Hong Kong-style French toast is the perfect sweet-savoury finish to any feast. Photo: Shutterstock

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Mutton biryani at Cahaya Baru in Medan, Indonesia.  Photo: Aisyah Llewellyn

The handmade noodles at YY Mie Pangsit, served in soup with pork, are one of the must-eat dishes in Medan, Indonesia, where the breadth of the food served reflects the diversity of the city’s population. Photo:  Aisyah Llewellyn

Medan is Indonesia’s fourth biggest city by population. Photo: Shutterstock

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The lontong pecel at Lontong Kak Lin comes with a peanut sauce drizzled over greens sitting on slices of rice cake. Photo: Aisyah Llewellyn

Malini owns Little India’s Cahaya Baru restaurant in Medan with her husband Ronald and cooks recipes handed down by his great-grandmother. Photo: Aisyah Llewellyn

Cahaya Baru’s mutton biryani comes with condiments such as pickled pineapple and curry sauce, along with Cahaya Baru’s famous cheese naan. Photo: Aisyah Llewellyn

Johnson cooks noodles at YY Mie Pangsit. Photo: Aisyah Llewellyn

YY Mie Pangsit serves handmade noodles topped with pork, greens, a fried wonton and half a duck egg. Photo: Aisyah Llewellyn

The secret to good Chinese food? It’s in the sauce: ready-made condiments have the power to transform any dish

Amoy and Lee Kum Kee oyster sauces. The secret to cooking great Chinese food is the ready-made condiments, Andrew Sun writes.

Customers buy sauce at a supermarket in Fuyang, Anhui province, China. Condiments like these are the secret to good Chinese food, writes Andrew Sun. Photo: Getty Images

A jar of Lee Kum Kee’s hoisin sauce. It is neither made from seafood nor used for seafood. Photo: Getty Images

Different varieties of soy sauce on a store shelf. Photo by: Universal Images Group via Getty Images

A collection of Amoy and Lee Kum Kee brand oyster sauces. Photo: SCMP

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Powei Lee, 31, owner of Vent Bar, on Quemoy, Taiwan, with his Pick and Eat cocktails. His drinks celebrate local ingredients, and are named after historical events on the island near mainland China. Photo: Reuters 

Powei Lee, owner of Vent Bar on Quemoy Island, Taiwan, is a champion of local produce. Photo: Reuters

Lee prepares a cocktail using traditional Kaoliang, a spirit made from sorghum grown on the island. Photo: Reuters

Lifestyle

Travel & Leisure

Food & Drink

Unable to decide between sushi, curry, seafood or Thai? Have them all at a reasonably priced Bangkok hotel buffet – we try four of the best


Hotel buffets cost as little as US$9 in Bangkok, and even supreme all-you-can-eat banquets can be had for less than US$25 – think oysters, sashimi, lobster, roast meats and more.


Food and Drinks

Thailand

Bangkok