Dining Under the Stars at Kempinski

Before anything else, I got a confession to make. I love food and dining out, but I can honestly say that food blogging is my weakness. I can tell you how beautiful the restaurant looks and how lovely the food is presented. When it comes to taste description, I can only give the basics, nothing like the complex description food bloggers can give! Anyway, I just want to share my wonderful dining experience the best way I could.

Moving on, here's something special on our weekend at Kempinski Hotel Ajman: a romantic dinner at Cafe Kranzler.

Cafe Kranzler is an all-day dining restaurant. For dinner, the restaurant had exotic decors with an ethnic vibe. It was Friday night, the theme was "Around the World in 80 Ways", a night of International Buffet. I don't know why they named it with "80 Ways" though. 80 cuisines? I don't think so! I think it was inspired by a Jackie Chan movie. Hehehe! Correct me if I'm wrong. 

The buffet was overflowing with International cuisine. Cafe Kranzler have the finest salad station. The dessert station was exquisite, assorted sweets were elegantly presented. The main course buffet was satisfactory. It was the busiest part at the buffet, so I failed to take photos of it. 

beef salad, my fave of the night

other choices at the salad station

make-your-own vegetable salad

a fancy table of sweets

Mini cones of dark chocolate and fruits.
This is cute and classy at the same time.

fruits with sweet dressing on the side

Since there were a lot of hotel guests during our stay, the restaurant was full. And because we didn't call for a reservation, we waited for a few minutes to have our table arranged. We were seated at Cafe Kranzler's terrace. It was a bit far from the buffet table, but was the best spot in the restaurant. We dined under stars, beside a lush garden. It was romantic!

My petite tummy managed to have 5 full plates of buffet goodness!

Here's what I had for dinner at Cafe Kranzler:

Chicken, Beef and Turkey slices with Beef and Veg Salad

With high expectations from a restaurant in a 5-star hotel, we were
quite disappointed with the main course choices. These were the only
four eye-catching dishes at the buffet table: Pasta Puttanesca, 
some chicken and beef dish and Spanish Rice

I only had a spoon of this clear scotch soup. The taste is a bit weird for me.

Did I mention that they have the best salad station?
Because I was quite frustrated with the main course, I went back to the salad buffet
station and I got myself all kinds: Egg salad,  Corn Salad ,Tuna Salad, Caesar Salad
and another serving of Turkey Slices.

I had two trips to the Dessert Station!
I had a chocolate tart, a slice of blueberry cake, a cookie, two pistachio biscotti.

Clockwise: a glass of mango mouse, small portion of strawberry cake,
some pie with chocolate and nuts, dark chocolate in a cone and a tiny almond tart 

The best part of the evening? Our romantic dinner was for free! It was part of the deal we bought with our stay. Upon check-in, we got our dinner voucher with an option to dine at Hai Tao, a Chinese restaurant. We actually went to Hai Tao first, but they only offered a set meal which includes fried chicken for the main course and a dessert!

Among 4 restaurants, we didn't regret choosing Cafe Kranzler. Though some of the choices in the spread didn't suit our palate, the dinner buffet was still a deluxe treat. Dining under the stars is at its best at Cafe Kranzler!

Without the promotions, Cafe Kranzler's International Buffet costs 160 AED per person.