Qasr Al Sharq, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel offers its diners a blend of oriental and European flavors in its iftar and suhoor menus, which suit both families and singles. Diners can break their fast while enjoying the sunset from the hotel’s windows overseeing the Red Sea.
Located on the second floor of the hotel, the open buffets at the two restaurants, Aromi, an Italian restaurant, and Mataam Al-Sharq, an oriental restaurant, are the reasons behind this beautiful blend. Diners are warmly welcomed by friendly waiters into a great ambiance and a buffet that comprises various food stations, starting with a juice counter and ending in a dessert counter.
The restaurant is luxurious with white carpets, white linen table clothes and square tables with sofa chairs embellished in silk. The restaurant is designed in two levels and seats around 240 diners at once.
Each table has a small lantern to reflect the Ramadan spirit, Arabic coffee and a plate of dates. Once diners are seated, waiters ask them for their preference in soups. There is a special variety of soup on offer every day. When Arab News visited the restaurant, the day’s speciality was Harira, a famous Moroccan soup that is made of lentil, grains and tomatoes, also known as Quaker soup.
The salad and cold appetizers bar offers a variety of Mediterranean and oriental salads, such as, Fattoush, Taboola, hummous, metabbal, stuffed vine leaves, makdous, which are small eggplants stuffed with nuts, rocca salad, cold turkey slices, corn salad and Caprese salad comprising tomatoes, mozzarella and basil sauce.
Next to the salad counter is the fresh bread corner, which offers different kinds of bread and other baked goods prepared in the hotel’s in house bakery.
On the opposite side is the main dish corner that offers an array of grills and Arabic food, from Saudi samosas stuffed with minced beef to hareesa, a preparation of mashed beef with ghee, rice with shereyya, salmon fillet, baked bamya with meat, grilled reyash with vegetables and mixed grills of chopped kababs.
A chef stands in the center and serves diners from a large plate of rice and meat. There is also a selection of the best Italian food at Aromi, which includes: vegetable lasagna, cream pasta with sea food and penne Arabiata made in tomato sauce and chili.
The dessert corner is divided into two sections: One that offers Arabic sweets and the other that offers international desserts. The former includes basboosa, kenafa, qatayef, um ali and more, while the latter offers cheesecake, chocolate cake, cream caramel and much more. Of course, there is a fresh fruit platter for those looking for healthy ways to curb a sweet tooth.
The juice bar offers fresh juices, such as, orange juice, pineapple juice, kiwi juice, strawberry juice, apple juice and lemon mint, in addition to Ramadan special juices, such as, Jallab, Qamar Eldeen, Tamar Hendi, Vempto and Karkadeeh.
At least half of the dishes are replaced with new ones every day to cater to the varied tastes of the diners.
Jeddah Hilton also offers iftar in its Qasar Ballroom that can seat up to 300 people for both iftar (SR225) and suhoor (SR180). Amwaj on the 21th floor is also open for iftar (SR280).
Hilton also welcomes its diners for Eid breakfast (SR250) after the Eid prayer in its Hilton hall that can seat up to 1,500 diners at a time.
Expect to pay: SR250 for iftar
Opening hours: From 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Email: [email protected]
