Another day, another Iftar! The reason I accepted the invitation for Iftar at The Gem Garden was due to a noble cause. They serve Iftar for a cause-for every Iftar meal, 4 needy children in the world will be fed. During this holy month, the hotel will donate a dollar from the revenue generated from every Iftar served at The Gem Garden.
Located at the ground floor of Holiday Inn Hotel in Al Barsha, The Gem Garden is an all day dining restaurant offering continental cuisine. They serve buffet as well as a-la-carte dishes. During Ramadan they offer an Iftar buffet featuring mostly Arabic dishes and a limited selection of international dishes.
The decor of the place is bright and minimalistic with comfortable seating area. As I happend to visit them on their annual corporate Iftar, they had invited the children and families from Special Needs Future Development Center. These beautiful children enhanced my Ramadan experience and made it an unforgettable evening.
Our table had all the Iftar essentials like dates, dry fruits and raisins. The Iftar is inclusive of traditional Ramadan drinks like Jallab, Kamardin and Tamer Hindi.
The Gem Garden’s Iftar buffet is priced at AED 109 per person. It includes Ramadan drinks as well as hot beverages like coffee and tea.
The Iftar buffet has a good selection of soups, starters, cold and hot mezze, Ramadan staple like lamb Ouzi, mixed grill, carving station, nice variety of main course and desserts. Some of the highlights were spinach Fatayer, veggie samosa, hummus, fattoush, biryani and vegetable Jalfarezi.
All their desserts were homemade and tasted as good as they looked. I loved the different types of Baklawa, cakes and pastries. Kunafa and sticky dates pudding were outstanding.
I ended my meal with a strong and hot cup of Arabic coffee.
Overall, I had a good experience. Some of the dishes were good and some of them require improvement.
Iftar timing: sunset-10:30pm
Cost: AED 109 per person
Group of 10 and above: AED 99 per person
For reservations call: 04 323 4333
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