Food review: Al Tanoor restaurant, Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa

Being a weekend, yesterday we decided to try the lunch buffet at the much-acclaimed Al Tanoor restaurant at Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa. The restaurant is located in the ground level of Al Bandar hotel, overlooking the picturesque beach.

Al Tanoor has an Omani setting with pottery and tents sprinkled in equal measure to get a feel of the Arabic way of architecture. The restaurant offers Omani, Lebanese, Iranian, Turkish, Indian and Mediterranean cuisines in their lunch and dinner buffets.

To being with, we had a round of fresh fruit juices — orange, apple and watermelon to be precise. Orange juice was done to perfection. Next, we decided to try the soup and international salad counters. The soup — cream of mushroom — was well made and tasted good. Under salads, I tried the smoked salmons, smoked tuna, prawns, etc (every time I eat salmon, I am reminded of one yummy tasting dish — salmon chunk cooked with some creamy sauce — which I gorged along with white wine in Madrid a couple of years back. Till date, salmons have never tasted divine that).

Next, I decided to try out the Iranian live counter and zeroed in on chicken and tuna kebabs. The chicken kebabs tasted great, and I polished off the juicy kebabs in a jiffy.

In the Lebanese section, I tried the sharry fish delicacy. It was too bland to suit my tastebuds. Now it was the turn to check out mezzeh counter with hommous being my all time favourite. As I moved towards my table, the waiter placed some cute looking freshly made khubs (Arabic bread). I tucked in a few.

In the Indian counter, I decided to try steamed rice with some fish curry (I am bad with names, sorry). They have a live counter for roti and naan, but I was too full to order one.

The dessert counter has a wide range of international savories as well as Arabic sweets. I lay my hands on fresh mango with cream served in a cup, orange pudding, chocolate cake and some cut fruits.

On the whole, the food was very decent, worth every penny. Nothing much to cheer for vegetarians thought. The lunch buffet costs RO 11.5 plus taxes and dinner buffer 13.5 plus taxes. Alcohol is served.

Rating:
Food: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Ambience: 4/5

Related link:
Ramadan experience at Barr Al Jissah

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