This is probably the first hotel buffet I know that is willing to conjure up anything the guests want although the dish is not officially on the menu nor served at the buffet, such as this:
The Pavilion is the international restaurant at JW Marriott Surabaya, where guests have their breakfast at in the mornings. The restaurant is a circular area, surrounded with tall glass windows, which promise good lighting during the day (a favourite feature for those who take photos of their food like me). The center of the restaurant is a slightly raised pavilion, where a goddess statue rests overlooking the diners.
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| The lavish pavilion at the center of the room |
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| Breakfast and lunch overlooking such lush green, pleasant isn't it? |
Breakfast
Hotel buffet normally offer various international and local dishes and several live cooking stations with a chef assigned to cook the food on the spot. But what if I tell you that you can request for anything else not served at the buffet for breakfast? Executive Sous Chef Andry Aryono shared with me that for long-term hotel guests (talk about staying at the hotel for weeks even months!), sometimes they get bored with the buffet food selection and hence to break the routine. The chefs would sometimes scour the tables to ask or their experience dining at The Pavilion and even offer special dishes for no additional charges or hidden cost!
Possibly the most unlikely dish you will find at breakfast in a 5 star hotel; Rujak Cingur. Rujak Cingur is a traditional delicacy from Surabaya, fresh salad with sweet shrimp paste sauce called petis, and topped with sliced beef nose (yup you heard it, the nose *sniff sniff). The Rujak Cingur of The Pavilion, in fact just recently won an award, quite impressive right!
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| Rujak Cingur |
While I personally will never request for Rujak Cingur, other possible special requests include pizzas, satays, granola, bircher muesli, or perhaps Rawon soup. As long as your request is not over the board, such as Russian Borscht or Turkish Borek, Chef Andry will do his best to fulfill your early morning cravings.
Rawon, a beef soup with dark brown (sometimes black) broth cooked with the notorious keluak fruit, served with sides such as shrimp crackers, mung bean sprouts, salted duck eggs, and sambal. Keluak fruit is poisonous in its nature, but our ancestors have mastered the art of harnessing its distinctive flavour to make dishes such as Rawon Soup
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| Rawon for breakfast |
There are several live cooking stations such as eggs (eggs benedict, anyone?), french toast and noodles. Take a look at the breakfast buffet selection:
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| Cereal and dairy selection |
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| live cooking noodles station |
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| Fresh French Toast! |
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| Left: live cooking eggs station Right: Bircher muesli (available on request) |
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| Fresh pastry |
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| Indonesian food cart serving traditional dessert (fried pineapple fritter, kolak soup. etc) |
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| Eggs Benedict |
Dinner
Dinner is a casual yet serious affair at The Pavilion, with plenty of food to choose from as well as live cooking pasta station, soup, and others (every night changes). The Indonesian food is particularly my personal favourite, as the dishes are tasty and authentic. Apart from that, the western dishes are quite good as well.
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| Bread and cheese table |
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| Dessert table! |
Breakfast at The Pavilion got pretty packed as the hour goes by, so wise diners will come down early to avoid shuffling for food with other guests. Considering the price, variety and quality of food here, The Pavilion makes a smart choice to sate your buffet cravings.
Buffet Price:
Breakfast: IDR 185,000 nett
Lunch: IDR 250,000 nett
Dinner: IDR 330,000 nett
The Pavilion International Restaurant
JW Marriott Surabaya
Jl. Embong Malang 85-89 (click to open in Google Maps)
Surabaya Center - Indonesia
Ph: +6231 5458888
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