Mindful of the need to top up on our finny friends, Abu Dhabi Week went for an all-the-fish-you-can-eat feast at One-to-one with One to One being a regular haunt, we were looking forward with some anticipation to the Seafood Selection at Resto! The staff are friendly and always eager to please, and your plate is never hanging round too long – which is a blessing when you’ve gone for the “all you can eat” option (if I actually thought about how much food I consume at these buffets I‘d stop eating for a week.)
This is a restaurant which welcomes children but is designed well enough to cater for those guests who wish to divert their attention away from the younger generation. It’s a pleasant atmosphere with an eclectic mix of background music predominantly taken from chilledout lounge compilations. That makes it a perfect setting for the hotel guests there – some of them dining alone, so the sympathetic ambiance be appreciated –but equally for the locals who come to OnetoOne’s themed nights.
The seafood buffet is a feast for the eyes even before the taste buds get involved, a beautiful array of colours and choices. I started with the cold options of sushi/sashimi (not a huge selection, but enough to keep sushi lovers engaged) with the tuna steak salad, smoked salmon, octopus and—for the first time in my life - oysters!
With a drop of lemon, pepper and Tabasco, the jelly-bellied critter that slithered down my throat certainly didn’t stir any butterflies in my stomach (aphrodisiac it wasn’t) but I did recall having to swallow medicine as a child. So, onwards and upwards!
The restaurant lacked the purposemade utensils required for lobster, but we managed to extract the beautifully tasty meat with ease from the hot tails. The peppered crab was delectable, too, and the full-flavoured shrimps were exquisitely cooked. A side offering of spring vegetables was a nice touch.
To add to the spread (mussels, clams, calamari and more) there was a piquant alternative—Thai fish curry, a flavoursome coconut-based dish served with light and fluffy basmati rice and crackers. That was a welcomed spice to lift the palette after our fish-followed-byfish start to the meal.
Naturally there was an Arabic offering on the buffet, including houmus, zatar bunches and seafood sambousek among other local side-dishes. Other options were a couple of soups, one a lobster bisque and the other a straight seafood soup, for those who like to start their meal the traditional way.
After our three plates had been comprehensively demolished, leaving behind only a few shards of shell and decapitated shrimp, it was time for dessert. Resto! really does deliver a broad repertoire of sweets from around the world, but personal favourites were the chocolate biscuit cake (very chocolaty, very biscuity) and crumble (the custard is cooked inside the crumble with the fruit – brilliant idea).
If you like seafood, this is probably as good as it gets – it’s not as formal as some of the well-known fish-only restaurants in Abu Dhabi, and a buffet will never match the quality of chef cooked food in clever sauces. But it’s much easier to have a good time, the food is excellent (the Thai fish curry and the lobster tails are definitely worth the cost alone), and for just a little extra you can opt for all-inclusive beverages too.
What? Seafood Selection at Resto!
Where? One-to-one Hotel
How much? AED 180 (AED 220 all inclusive with promotional beverages)
Why? Perfect venue for relaxed dining with good service and a fabulous spread
Why not? Difficult to find a taxi afterwards
Rated: 8 out of 10
Contact: 02 495 2000
[Writer] Cath Fraser
