AS THE Sun travel desk’s resident foodie, I could hardly resist trying the UK’s fanciest buffet, also one of the world’s most expensive.
The Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire went viral earlier last year when TikTok foodies discovered its Glasshouse restaurant where everyone dines en masse, but in five-star luxury.
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It even featured in Netflix‘s ‘Million Dollar Buffet’ documentary with Grace Dent.
Costing a whopping £82 per person at the weekend, there is certainly enough to choose from.
After several, overly-generous spoonfuls of caviar, a few servings of beetroot-cured salmon and seven superbly crafted sushi rolls, decorated with dainty herbs, I felt I’d made a good dent in “getting my money‘s worth” – a statement that had been thrown back and forth between my buffet partner, Mum, and I.
I prowled the platters of sizzling Asian grub arranged temptingly in tandoor bowls and loaded into terracotta dishes, before heading straight for the crispy Thai fish cakes.
The lady next to me dolloped rice onto her plate to accompany her sticky tofu, but I went for the prawn crackers, which I later used as a spoon to scoop up my tandoori paneer.
Normally, the mere idea of eating plates of sushi and rare beef produced on such a large scale would have made my stomach curdle.
However, I soon learn that this is a whole different category of dining.
It was barely 30 minutes into that evening’s service and I’d already spotted a man in chefs whites scrutinising the fresh shellfish stand, ensuring everything was positioned perfectly on the enormous bed of ice and (more importantly) that stock never fell too low.
The shellfish section was part of one of 10 dining areas at the buffet.
This includes a carving station, AKA the place to pick up your classic roast dinner and trimmings with slices of rare roast beef, flakey wellington and crispy roast spuds all laid out with gravy.
There was a sushi station with hand-made California rolls placed delicately alongside huge tubs of wasabi and seaweed salads.
The robata grill is where everything from whole seabass to juicy steaks are scorched over an open flame and there’s also fresh pasta and pizza stations.
If all this isn’t enough to wrap your head around, you can also order directly from the chefs, doting on each station, when there is something in particular that you fancy that isn’t on display.
I did feel a pang of envy when one table behind me were delivered a tall stack of bamboo steamers, presumably containing some Asian delights like dumplings or bao buns.
Luckily, the desserts – including a chocolate fountain and fruit for dipping, rows of perfectly wobbly creme brûlées and a freezer containing all manner of ice cream flavours – are in a section on their own, so you don’t even need to ponder those choices until you’ve satisfied your savoury stomach.
So the real question is: is it really worth the cash?
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It’s a thought that’s difficult to get out of my head, even though, as a self-proclaimed foodie, I’d normally spend at least this amount on a boozy dinner with friends.
But £82 does feel like a lot for what I’d previously have defined as ‘just a buffet’.
Although, if you visit for dinner mid-week, as opposed to the weekend, you can knock £17 off this price.
I’d planned what I thought was an adequate two and a half hours to properly tackle that evening’s dinner, but an extra hour would have been more appropriate if I wanted to take it at a more relaxed pace – and squeeze in an extra few hundred calories. Isn’t that what buffet dining is all about?
Still, despite the steep price, I think I’ll be booking a table for my birthday next year – and this time I’m aiming for five plates instead of four.
It’s not just The Grove that has shot to fame either.
The hotel buffet trend has soared on social media recently and now luxury buffets everywhere are cropping up on social feeds.
Even the new 5* Disneyland Hotel at Paris has a lavish version (for a similar price to this one) with gourmet towers of lobsters and freshly-shucked oysters sat on platters while characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck glide in between tables, posing for pictures.
And we’ve found a hotel breakfast buffet that is said to be the best in the world with “unlimited pints of beer and steak”.