Amari Watergate enters the Sunday brunch scene
East-meets-West plus surf-and-turf, you can’t go wrong
The popularity of Bangkok’s buffet brunch scene is once again unmistakable thanks to a recent launch of the Amaya Food Gallery. Beginning its operation a few weeks ago, the highly-invested new dining venue of the Amari Watergate hotel reflects the management’s eagerness to step out of its comfort zone and not rely on merely in-house dining guests. The tourist-centric hotel is now looking at another promising type of customers — buffet-hunters.
On a daily basis, the 450-seater set on a sweeping open space on the fourth floor offers lunch and dinner buffet on different themes.
On Sundays, however, the venue is turned into a grand display of world-class street-food flavours, combining various cuisines of the East and West.
Amaya boasts a spacious wine cellar-cum-European cheese room and a sweeping cold cut bar where classic charcuterie options are offered with comprehensive helpings of condiments.
Six well-built food stations enrich the main dining hall. You’ll find from the allopen Italian kitchen the likes of à la minute pasta dishes (spaghetti with white cream sauce prepared in a Parmigiano Reggiano wheel is not to be missed), fresh-fromthe oven pizza, as well as some delicately crafted bruschetta.
The Western station is where a selection of meat (Australian wagyu, lamb, pork chop and poultry) and seafood (river prawn, salmon and New Zealand mussels, for example) is flame-grilled upon orders. Not to be missed is the pan-seared French foie gras. On the day I visited the firm and pudgy slab of the duck liver came nicely dressed with fruity balsamic reduction sauce.
Seafood fans also can enjoy chilled French oysters, lobsters, Alaskan king crab leg and tiger prawn with condiments from a seafood on ice section. From the nearby carving counter, roasted wagyu prime rib provided me a culinary contentment. The tenderness of the beef was extraordinary.
Another section I found myself repeatedly frequenting was the Indian kitchen, which is manned by a substantial team of Indian chefs. It offered quite an extensive line-up of Indian delicacies including chicken biryani, rogan josh (lamb curry), choices of tandoori roasted meat and dal (lentil soup) that went marvellously with garlic-cheese naan bread.
On the far corner across from our window-side table was a large station dedicated to Thai and Cantonese fare. You’ll be pleased with a variety of freshly made yum (sour and spicy Thai salad), noodle soup and local-styled grilled meat, to name just a few, as well as Hong Kong-style roasted meat including honey-glazed barbecued pork loin, roasted duck, crispy pork belly and suckling pig, and a few variation of dim sum.
Sushi addicts won’t be left unfulfilled as the restaurant has quite a presentable selection of sushi and sashimi.
While the dessert arena, offering a halfand-half proportion of local and Western sweets, promises to wow you with a colourful collection of traditional Thai desserts, mango with sticky rice, shaved ice with flavoured syrup and the works, cakes, pastries, chocolate fountain and ice cream. Most of them proved unexpectedly luscious.
The brunch buffet is priced at 1,800 baht per person for food only (a selection of fruit juice is offered in the buffet line) or 2,999 baht per person inclusive of wines, soft drinks, water and freshly-squeezed juices; and 3,500 baht per person (with additional offer of Champagne).
At this opening stage the restaurant offers a special “come four pay two” promotion when paying with a specific credit card. Reservations are recommended.