Whilst I was in the UK recently, struggling to keep warm and dry (yes in June!) I was delighted to receive an invite on my Twitter Timeline to have dinner at Yalumba with a number of other people from the world of Twitter.
I’ve dined at Le Meridien quite a few times over the last few months, but as yet had not been to Yalumba so I was pleased to accept the kind invitation.
Each evening there is a different theme for the buffet and the theme for Monday evening was Mediterranean. The restaurant interior was nice and bright and not overly busy – possibly because there was a big football match on I’m guessing ?
Having met everyone at the table, some new people and some previous twitterati pals, I made my way around the extensive spread of food to get some pictures and also to decide what to eat. I always have to do this as frankly I suffer from the common syndrome at buffets of ‘eyes bigger than the belly’ ! and then don’t have space to try what I really want to.
I tend not to go to buffets very often so this was a real treat and I was literally spoilt for choice with the array of food on offer. There were lots of choices to suit most palates and although the theme for the evening was Mediterranean, I have to say that I wouldn’t have necessarily picked this up by looking at the food that was on offer. Having said that everything looked well presented and there was plenty of choice.
For starters, I had a plate of mixed seafood including some tasty smoked salmon 
with capers and horseradish as well as a little prawn cocktail. For mains I headed to the pork counter and had some belly of pork which was served in a barbecue sauce and some chicken. The pork was lovely and tender, although if I’m honest I would have preferred some crackling with it. As it was belly of pork, it was also a bit fatty but belly of pork does tend to be a fattier joint. The chicken was served in a tasty cream sauce and was beautiful and succulent.
Pudding was the highlight of my meal as the 
pastry chef, Rasika made a fresh mango crepe for me with nuts, which I topped off with a side of strawberry yogurt ice-cream which tasted was tart and delicious. I also had a small mango and cream desert which was lovely as the cream was fresh and not the fake cream which is often served in Dubai and is not to my taste.
After the meal I finished with a cappuccino which didn’t look the prettiest that I’ve had but tasted good and strong.
Thanks to Yalumba Chef, Milroy who guided me around the buffet area and helped me with some of my selections, to Pastry Chef Rasika and to the staff at Yalumba and Le Meridien who made our visit possible.
As I only sampled a few of the dishes available – take a look here to see some of the other food choices available.
If you’d like to know more then follow Le Méridien on Twitter or on Facebook or check out their website
