So I generally do not wax lyrical about buffets, but the lunch buffet at Afraa is another thing. Located on the top floor at City Center, Afraa is a lovely vision, and the weekday buffet, with either a complimentary beer or a soft drink or fresh lime soda, is around 500/- plus tax. Since C had corporate discount of 15%, the two of us got the buffet for less than a grand.

Top left to right  – Chicken Liver Salad, Egg Salad, Potato Salad, Cucumber with Feta, Parmesan Shavings and Tomatoes, slices of pickles.

That said, let’s move on. Generally, at a buffet, I look around first, before settling to eat. My fate was sealed when I saw in the salad section, they had a simple Parmesan, Rocket and Tomato salad, a gorgeous Chicken Liver salad, Cucumber and Feta salad, an Egg salad which was awesome, and a beautiful Potato salad. Plus, they were serving chilled mango soup in shot glasses. Plus, an assortment of capers, pickles, olives, tartar sauce, balsamic glaze.

My first plate looked something like this –

The Mango Soup Shot can be seen in this pic.

After this gluttony, my second plate was messier.

Top Left to Right – Hunan Chicken, Handi Gosht, Bekti Fajitas, More Chicken Liver Salad, Mee Goreng, and Cottage Cheese Dumplings in Sweet Chilli Gravy (the round  balls)

The main courses, I felt, were sort of hits and misses galore, with some really great hits like the Handi Gosht, which melted at the first touch of my fork. The Cottage Cheese Dumplings were more like “Chhanar Dalna” with a star-anise-y sauce. The Mee Goreng was nothing to write home about, and well, the Hunan Chicken was bony and slightly under-spiced.

I still was in love with the chicken liver salad. I love offals. Especially which has been cooked to this amazing perfection. It was spicy, cold, and very, very, very nice.

The Bekti Fajitas, I thought, needed a wrap, but was quite nice on their own. C and I had requested a Tandoori Roti, and I used it to mop up the gravy.

After the gorgeous meal, we lay back, and sipped on our fresh lime sodas, and then went to the dessert section.

Oh, what a section.

Top Left to Right – Mishti Doi Tiramisu, Chocolate Mousse, Carrot Cake and Mango Mousse Cake

In this section, the mishti doi Tiramisu was an interesting take on the dessert, substituting Marscapone cheese with Mishti Doi, and resulted in a coffee flavoured, very sweet yoghurt with a cakey base. I was not blown away by it, but it was nice.

The carrot cake was all right with the light, airy topping, but I felt the cake was a bit too dry.

The chocolate mousse weirdly enough reminded me of Cafe Coffee Day’s triple chocolate mousse, something I used to like, and so, I was quite okay with it.

But the dessert that stole the show for both me and C was the Mango Mousse Cake. It was spectacular… thin, airy sponge, sandwiched between layers of lightly flavoured fresh mango cream. We were charmed. C had a second helping. I would have, too, if I was not so full from the liver already.

We waddled around Shopper’s Stop to shed calories.

Day well spent! 

Get our best blogs right into your inbox!

By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy.

0 Responses

  1. Yep, not bad at all. Next time you hit Kolkata, do try them out! Not sure whether they will be on the buffet menu, but if I am not mistaken, they are on the regular menu of Afraa.

  2. Ohmygodddd! This is a visual treat for sure! If only i cud dip my fork into the screen and steal a nibble (giggle). Ur writing style makes this all the more appealing. Very well written poori 🙂

Leave a Reply

About Me

Hi, I’m Panushwari

Welcome to my blog which is mostly about Food, Travel, Lifestyle and Beauty. I generally review restaurants and hotels in Kolkata and my work as a Restaurant Consultant and Food Critic in Kolkata allows me to maintain this blog as a showcase of my work. I am also a published author and have been a panelist at many events.

Follow & Subscribe

Get our best blogs right into your inbox!

Unsubscribe anytime you want.

Categories

You might also like

You have made it till the end!

No post here!