JOHOR BARU: Every 'buka puasa' session will be a different gastronomical experience at the Puteri Cafe of the Puteri Pacific Hotel in Johor Baru.
Besides the normal buffet spread, the hotel's culinary team has come up with different thematic dishes daily for the first 15 days of Ramadan, and the dishes will be repeated again for the last 15 days.
For instance, one of the themes is 'dedaun', which involves the use of either banana or coconut leaves to wrap food items, such as 'otak-otak' (seafood marinated with spices and wrapped in coconut leaves), 'botok' (fish meat marinated with spices and herbs and wrapped in banana leaves), and grilled seafood, among others.
Another favourite theme is fried chicken, and the Chinese kitchen team will dish out some of the signature dishes such as lemon chicken, sweet and sour chicken, Thai sauce chicken, kung po chicken (chicken cubes cooked in dried chilli and green onions).
For those who prefer 'lok lok' (skewer), the steamboat theme will feature a wide variety of meat and vegetable skewers, together with various types of sauce such as peanut sauce for dipping.
As no Ramadan buffet spread is complete without kebab, the food and beverage team will roll out chicken and lamb kebab from freshly roasted meat on the spot.
Thematic dishes are also available at the dessert booth. For example, the 'pulut' (glutinous rice) theme will feature anything to do with glutinous rice such as 'serawa pulut', 'pulut panggang', 'pulut mango', 'pulut santan', and 'pulut hitam', among others.
Hotel F&B manager Mohd Shahrol Hassan said the ideas behind the thematic dishes are aimed at creating more food varieties for the Ramadan buffet spread as well as encouraging return visits.
"You will only have the chance to experience the same theme twice during Ramadan," he said.
Over 150 types of food will be featured at the cafe, which includes satay and 'kambung kuzi'.
During the month of Ramadan, each dining guest stands a chance to win a return ticket to Perth, Bangkok, Surabaya, Ho Chi Minh and Bali.
There are also room and meal vouchers as lucky draw prizes.
The Ramadan buffet is priced at RM98+ for adult and RM55+ for children aged from six to 12. For details, call 07-2199999.