Roasted pumpkin, goat cheese and walnut salad, part of the iftar meal at the Intercontinental Hotel. The National.
Roasted pumpkin, goat cheese and walnut salad, part of the iftar meal at the Intercontinental Hotel. The National.
Roasted pumpkin, goat cheese and walnut salad, part of the iftar meal at the Intercontinental Hotel. The National.
Roasted pumpkin, goat cheese and walnut salad, part of the iftar meal at the Intercontinental Hotel. The National.

Ramadan treats: Lamb thereed


  • English
  • Arabic

I had the chance to savour yet another iftar on Sunday night, this time at Selections, Intercontinental Abu Dhabi’s all day dining restaurant.

I haven’t eaten at Selections before so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this was a buffet with a view. It’s on the third floor of the InterCon and it offers beautiful views of the beach and marina.

The restaurant was packed for iftar, which is always a good sign. As I wandered around looking for something new, I needed to look no further than the salads.

Selections has many more salads than you’d expect at a buffet and I was happy with each one I tried. There were a few that stood out: a small, fresh crab salad in a shot glass; the roasted pumpkin, goat cheese and walnut salad and the watermelon, feta cheese and balsamic vinegar salad.

I was told most of the salads are not unique to the iftar; that these are available during regular hours as well. That will warrant more trips to Selections in the future.

Ready for heartier food, I sampled the meats and found some great flavours in the lamb thereed. I have to say this is one of the tastiest thereeds I’ve had. And then I tried the feteer meshaltet — this alone is worth a trip to the iftar at Selections.

This Egyptian speciality is a flaky, layered dough that’s baked pizza-style. Once baked, it’s topped with cheese and honey. I went back for seconds and I would have gone back for thirds had I not stumbled into the dessert section. There are plenty of sweets to choose from — I had a pistachio/yogurt combo that didn’t take long to devour.

The food at this iftar is a little more interesting and has more depth of flavour than the food I’ve tried at many of the other iftars. This is clearly a result of the executive chef’s experience.

Intercontinental’s executive chef is Danny Kattar, who won Gourmet Abu Dhabi’s Executive Chef of the year in 2013. His culinary excellence and know-how shows in the wide range of dishes on offer. I was full and happy at the end of the night — this is definitely an iftar to remember.

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