Da Nang is a great place to relax and watch the world go by.
And if you’re ever in the mood for a gourmet buffet dinner at a 5 star resort, the Pullman DaNang Hotel offers this.
We decided to give it a go during their Mexican themed month, which promised foods including…
Salads, tacos, nachos and tortillas, with the ingredients to make your own. Plus, other dishes including chili con carne, grilled fish and pulled pork, and tangy tequila key lime tarts.
Sounds great, right? So let’s check it out to see how it fares…
Entering The Epice Restaurant
Epice is in the Pullman Resort DaNang Hotel. After we passed reception, we turned right to get to the restaurant. And once we were outside here’s the lead up to Epice…
A staff member saw us and was ready to open the door and welcome us in…
The Epice restaurant dinner buffet at the Pullman Danang starts at 5:30pm… so we arrived early rather than later to get some good photos.
The restaurant is big. There’s so many seating areas, including lots of tables and chairs outside.
They also had pretty colorful lantern decorations hanging from the ceiling…
We noticed there were several other tables with name cards on them indicating they were reserved.
Although we’d booked a table, there was no reservation sign or refresher towels on our table. We saw that other tables which had been reserved, all had refresher towels.
A small thing missed on our table, but we noticed it. Maybe they forgot?
Buffet Prices
At the Epice International Buffet there are 2 package options for adults…
1. For 980,000 VND (about USD $42) per person, this included an all you can eat buffet, including one drink.
2. For 1,180,000 VND (about USD $47) per person… this included an all you can eat buffet, including free flow wines, beer and soft drinks.
So guess which option Paul and I chose? Option 2 for all you can eat and drink! No point in doing things by halves ;-)
The Food And Drinks
As we wandered around the buffet area, there was plenty of food! It was hard to choose where to start. Let’s pick a point and see what was on offer for the Mexican theme…
On one corner of the buffet was this massive pig!
Next to piggy was a pho station with condiments, pizza, and a pasta station with 3 different sauces…
Beside that were nachos and tacos. There were lots of different ingredients to add to the tacos… including carrot, beetroot, guacamole, chilli con carne, meat, corn, lettuce, sour cream, and MORE!
As we walked around the corner there was a range of hot foods. These included a variety of warm seafood…
Then near the mammoth mortar and pestle included vegetables, fried rice, steamed fish with soy sauce, potato gratin, and more…
Beside that was roast peking duck, grilled chicken with lime leaf, roasted beef wrapped in puff pastry…
Almost Half Way Through The Buffet!
Once we turned around to the next section, there were rice paper rolls… plus a truck load of sushi and sashimi…
OMG, The wasabi was knock your socks off HOT! It was great to clear the nostrils and nasal passages ;-)
Next to that section were several different salads…
Then next to that was a bucket load of oysters and prawns on ice, with condiments…
Around the corner was a big display of mouth watering loaves of bread…
As well as focaccia with tomato, garlic and cheese. We absolutely loved the fresh and fragrant garlic on the focaccia. It was so tasty.
Next to that was a range of cold cuts, cheeses, dried fruit and nuts…
The bread was to die for! Crispy on the outside, soft in the middle and wonderfully fresh. Plus, there were so many varieties so we had to try a few!
The Sweet Ones
At the Epice International Buffet, you MUST leave room for dessert. There’s a whole section dedicated to sweets. Here’s the healthy version with fresh fruit…
Then there was marshmallows, mini cakes and cubed fruits, which we could drown with 2 types of chocolate…
And of course there was ice cream too…
To top off the dessert section was a range of cakes, churros, crème brulee, slices and more…
And if you have “little sweet ones” (otherwise known as your children), there’s a kids corner too…
Some of the “sweet” kids turned feral… And some of them ran around like wild animals! One of the children actually came up to our table and put her fingers in our water glass thinking it was funny. DISGUSTING!
Then by 6:30pm it was busy and noisy!
There was a rowdy Vietnamese family next to us, who were drinking the wines like water. LOL! And the more they drank the LOUDER they got!
Then by about 8:30pm a lot of the customers had cleared out. So the serenity was kicking back in for the home run of the buffet dinner, which finished at 9:30pm.
You’d have to agree, there’s a HUGE amount of food and variety at the Pullman Epice buffet! On top of that we had many beers, white wines and red wines. Yet, it wasn’t all rosy…
The Annoyances…
The night we went there were 4 major things that were frustrating…
1.
Take a look at this chair…
Looks comfy with the big fluffy cushion, right? Well, it would’ve been but the cushion kept sliding out onto the floor! So a suggestion Pullman is to get rid of those chairs.
2.
Paul was waiting for staff to notice that he needed a top up of beer. Yet there weren’t any staff to be seen, or they were run off their feet.
So in the end, Paul had to wave down a chef to let the waiting staff know we needed more beer!
3.
Most of the time the white wine was not served cold. We weren’t sure why at a 5 star hotel, the staff were serving barely cold white wine. Is it a lack of training or CBF factor?
4.
The final annoyance of the night was a MASSIVE one for us…
It was hot inside the restaurant. And you know when the air conditioner needs to be turned lower… it’s when you see Vietnamese people wiping their brow and face with a wet towel!
Because of the warm temperature in the restaurant… it unfortunately dampened the positive experience.
It felt like we were sweating more than in an air conditioned gym!
Would We Come Back To The Epice Restaurant For Their International Buffet Dinner?
Yes, we would… And for the price it’s great value, compared to other places within Asia, and especially outside of Asia.
Yet, there are some things the Pullman could change to make the experience more enjoyable. This includes hiking up the air conditioning… as well as having cold white wine, and more staff to manage busy periods.
The quality and variety of food was fantastic. We’ve tried many all you can eat buffet dinners… and we’d have to say that Epice puts on a great spread.
We’d love to come back, but can you fix up the air conditioning please?!
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Note: All of our reviews and comments are our opinions and no-one else’s. S0 even if we receive complimentary goods or services we share our opinions honestly.