Sample the Freshest Catch at Novotel Yangon

By Lwin Mar Htun 5 November 2018

YANGON—In Yangon, hotel buffets are fiercely competitive, and all the popular hotels try to outdo one another by adding special foods, services and different styles to promote their buffet packages.

Most recently, Novotel Yangon Max relaunched its popular seafood buffet on Friday nights with a new concept, “Hooked On Seafood”, on Nov. 2 at The Square restaurant on the fifth floor of the Novotel Yangon Max. The buffet is only available on Friday nights.

My partner and I were invited to attend the relaunch of the special buffet night with other in-house guests at The Square on Friday night.

What makes this seafood night special are the chef’s stations including the Fish Market, Sushi and Sashimi, Peking Duck and Steak Table. All the chefs are ready to prepare the dishes fresh, right in front of you. This kind of service is only to be had at the Novotel Yangon Max.

Unlike most buffets, in which pre-cooked dishes are transferred from the pot to your plate, this one is more of a fine-dining experience.

We started our long buffet tour at the Cold Bar, which was full of all kinds of the freshest seafood including Alaska king crabs, Ngapali lobsters, large oysters, mussels, clams, smoked salmon, salads and other cold foods. The popular king crabs and Ngapali lobsters were huge and amazingly fresh.

Various sauces including mint and tamarind were available at the Cold Bar.

At the next counter, a chef was busy preparing sushi, and cutting salmon, tuna and octopus sashimi. The orange color of the salmon proved how fresh it was and drew crowds of people to the counter. There were many different sushi rolls to choose from as well, and these featured top quality soy sauce and wasabi.

At the steak counter, chefs served lamb and beefsteak sliced to order and presented on the plate in fine-dining style.

Another popular chef’s station was the Peking Duck. At the table, a chef rolled Peking-style duck pancakes in front of the guests, and roast duck and roast-duck salad were served as well. I fully recommend the Peking-style duck pancake. Guests can order the dish at the counter. The Peking Duck Table adjoined a Scallop Table.

If you are not a fan of the Cold Bar, no worries. A Fish Market counter serves various kinds of fresh fish of different sizes, along with grilled tiger prawns and other seafood.

All you need to do is choose what you want and they will grill it in front of you. If you can’t wait at the counter, just give the table number to the staff and head to the other counters; it will be waiting at your table.

The dessert counter was heaven as well after all this seafood. Their homemade ice cream, cakes, bread, mousses and puddings were beautiful and made for a happy ending to the seafood tour.

“Hooked on Seafood” is not exclusively about seafood: You can partake of the free flow of beer, wine and cocktails as well.

The buffet has two options: USD37 net with unlimited soft drinks, coffee and tea; and USD45 with unlimited wine, beer and cocktails.

Overall, Novotel Yangon’s seafood night is a fabulous time and it’s worth spending a Friday night at the hotel buffet with your friends and family.