The interiors of the restaurant are sparse except for a flatscreen TV on a wall. The dinner buffet at Hotel Horizon's Orion restaurant was supposed to start at 7 p.m. but by the time the buffet was laid out, it was 7.30 p.m. The dishes, mainly Indian, although limited, look promising.
The welcome drink, however, was lacklustre. A lime and ginger drink, it would have been better if it were served chilled. As we were feeling famished, we head for the soups. The sweet corn chicken soup was piping hot. Although the soup had more corn than chicken, the soup was delicate in flavour and the bowl was soon emptied. I then decide to hit the salad table which had varieties of salads with interesting names like Pathosh and Tabbole, for instance. Both Pathosh and Tabbole had too much parsley in it. As a result, the crunchy bits of parsley overpowered the taste of the other ingredients in the salads.
Ground chicken with hot spices was the pick of the lot from the salad sections. This dish had pieces of chicken, minced onion, and fiery bites of green chilli.
Hot and tasty
I then fill my plate with a masala stuffed kulcha, egg halal and chicken wings, tandoori style. The kulcha was excellent. It was soft, had the right amount of masala potato filling, and went well with the egg halal and chicken wings tandoori style. While the egg halal comprised of boiled eggs lightly fried and topped with sambol, the chicken wings had well marinated chicken cooked to perfection on the tandoor.
As the Hakka noodles looked promising I decide to try it out. Although the fish Manchurian (cubed pieces of boneless fish in a medium spiced gravy) did go well with the noodles, which had shreds of carrot and capsicum, I enjoyed the dish's fusion with the spicy, coconut-oil-fried netholi fry.
I steal a bit of tapioca and chammanti from a friend's plate and although both were delicious, I decided to head to the dessert section.
The Caribbean banana proved to be a hit and we went for refills. The dish had steamed slices of ripe plantain flambéed in a caramel honey sauce that had bits of grated orange rind for added flavour.
This buffet dinner on only during the weekends is priced at Rs. 295 plus taxes. The dishes on the menu change each week.
