For those lucky enough to break their fast at a restaurant or community iftar, rather than hastily chewing their way through some dates, bread or curry at their desks or in their cars, little can beat the feeling of camaraderie that accompanies the meal; the sense of shared relief after shared endurance.
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With a multitude of hotels in the UAE comes a variety of ways to enhance this feeling: grandeur and expansive hospitality is one way to go. The Fairmont chooses a different mood, though, the iftar at Elements being characterised by a festive warmth, with intimate lighting punctuated by the flash of a flambé pan in the live kitchen and the glitter of jewel-coloured water glasses.
In the main dining room the simple, colourful decor and the path laid out by the placement of the food stations defy the sheer size of the place to make the room feel small and rather cosy, with only immediate neighbours appearing on your horizon. Beyond this is the tent, a rather more sprawling affair, but elegantly executed, with simple, stretched walls and roof rather than the generously sagging swags of other tents, and Arabesque motifs in the lighting and so on. It's pretty and unpretentious, lending itself well to the more relaxed dribs and drabs of suhour guests who arrive later and stay long into the evening, picking at traditional Lebanese dishes such as exceptionally tender lamb chops, rich hummus and babaganoush and super-fresh seafood.
The iftar food was similarly understated, though plentiful and tasty. We passed by the soup station, which on the night we visited was doing a cracking trade in Arabic lentil soup and a not-so-hot trade in a mushroom soup, straight on to the seafood and salad, where a zingy and tender ceviche was the highlight of a fairly small selection that also included some rather mediocre prawns. Salads were exceptionally fresh, with crisp delicate leaves, a plethora of dressings and some hearty combinations, and of course the hummus, babaganoush, moutabal and fattoush were all superbly creamy and smoky where required.
The time it took to nibble through the ceviche was enough to guide us in the right direction for mains. Following the crowds is usually the wise choice at a buffet, guaranteeing a quick turnaround of freshly cooked food, and this was certainly the case here. While the Indian and European sections remained sparsely visited (are you really going to go to town on the tomato penne and oil-drenched roasted vegetables at an all-you-can-eat iftar?), the Arabic and meat sections were packed, with a five-minute wait for steak, thanks to its popularity.
And that popularity was justified. The huge hunk of chicken that landed on my dining companion's plate was succulent, sticky and rich with flavour, while the beef was tender and satisfyingly charred on the outside. The Arabic section, meanwhile, consisted of a number of lamb and chicken-based favourites, including a gooey Emirati lamb harees and - away in its own corner to allow room for the mammoth cooking dish - a spectacular whole lamb ouzi, aromatic, spicy and supremely comforting.
As ever, after the race-to-clear-the-buffet that takes place between 7pm and 8pm on a Ramadan evening, dessert was barely an option, but for those with room for more, a treasury of tiny, glistening, golden Arabic sweets was piled up in its own corner - and, for children, jar upon brightly coloured jar of old-fashioned boiled and jelly sweets. A family iftar indeed. Iftar at Elements, The Fairmont, Abu Dhabi, costs Dh175 per person (excluding taxes). All reviewed meals are paid for by The National.
