A platter of roast beef. PHOTO/Kadumukasa Kironde II
My wife and I have wonderful memories of the cooking of Chef Alexzander Pavlovic, who held fort as executive chef at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel for many years, having taken up this position at 25. Chef Alexander who hailed from Serbia with a great command of English, created an unforgettable reputation for his culinary prowess.
Seven Seas Restaurant is the venue for class dining at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel and is where chef Alexander would wax his fine rendition of wondrous food. In keeping with the hotel’s excellence in dining, we were recently delighted with their monumental Sunday buffet that is a tour de force and is guaranteed to leave even the most jaded diner awed and gleeful.
Nowadays, Kampala can rightly boast of a plethora of Sunday brunches, which in the main are highly competitive and offer a wide selection from which to choose. Over at the Seven Seas Restaurant Sunday buffet, the first offering has to be breakfast. Because brunch is intended to bridge the gap between breakfast and lunch and in this vein when discussing the former, the traditional English breakfast comes to mind with bangers, crispy bacon and eggs sunny side up.
Perish the thought; no such luck at this brunch, where cereals are the deal for breakfast, with a choice of rice Krispies, muesli crunch, granola, nuts dried fruit and honey. This is sensible considering the gargantuan feast ahead.
Coupled with these are breads galore including whole wheat, baguettes, croissants, Danish and more. On the savory side we go to the soups with a choice of a creamy or a clear one such as chicken aka consommé made from a richly flavoured broth that has been clarified and its origins being from France.
Next would be the starters and salads, which are several with some unusual and unconventional finds hard to come by in Kampala. To wit: the chicken and sweet corn terrine with spicy popcorn and orange jelly or for the vegetarians the vegetable terrine salad.
Terrines are the rich relatives of the meat loaf clan and despite sometimes arriving at the table dressed to the nines in their formal jacket of glazed pastry or glistening aspic, they are essentially no more difficult to make than meat loaf. What distinguishes them is the luxury quality of the ingredients, which may include some or all of the following: ground meat viz. veal, pork, liver, poultry or pork, often marinated in wine or brandy; diced fresh pork fat; sliced or cubed tongue, chicken, ham or game; cream, eggs, spices; maybe pistachios etc.
As was to be expected these were augmented with inter alia, the more common potato salad, avocado salad, guacamole and others. The Arabic corner naturally had chicken Shawarama, hummus and of all things baba ganoush and fattoush which are another not so common item. It has become standard practice to include Ugandan fare in any buffet worth its salt though it begs the question as to why they only limit it to matooke and ground nut sauce plus fried plantains, cassava and entula (garden eggs).
I see no reason why the chef cannot come up with a potpourri of a cross section of a ‘tasting menu’ for this fare comprising a number of regional local foods. This needn’t be in huge portions which might prove to be wasteful and costly.
There are small chafing dishes for buffets which could be deployed and the content varied weekly with the idea being to give the diners an idea of the bounty of Ugandan food which they would not otherwise have an opportunity to taste.
The Sheraton Kampala Hotel Sunday Buffet is tweaked from time to time with addition of goodies such as fresh salmon or sushi, as was the case during our visit though the main items remain constant. The level of cooking is very good with the service being par for the course and the semi al fresco setting of the Seven Seas Restaurant just what the doctor ordered.
Place: Sheraton Kampala Hotel
Address: Ternan Avenue
Smoke-Free Zone: Enforced in the public areas
Recommended items: Rocky Road desert
Service: Right on the money
Ambience: Great environment and convivial service
Open: The buffet is held every Sunday from 1 to 4
Menu: Bakery: freshly baked assorted bread served with jam and butter, cereals, rice Krispies, muesli crunch, granola, nuts dried fruits etc. A choice of two soups. Starters and salads: Roast beef with onion jam and tomato chutney and smoked tilapia .
The Crowd: Hotel residents and well to do folks both Ugandan and expats
The Bar: A good selection of wines, cocktails and drinks of all nature
The damage: Shs150,000 per person inclusive of a glass of sparkling wine or juice.
Sound level: Good
Rating: Not to be missed
Parking: Ample and very secure
If you go: The buffet is from 13:00 to 15:00 hours
RATINGS:Not to be missed, worth a visit, OK/so so, don’t waste your time.
