Dining Scene
This is the buffet you don't want to miss
By Matthew Gray
Advertiser Restaurant Critic
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| The Prince Court restaurant at the Hawaii Prince Hotel in Waikiki puts on a sumptuous spread of expertly prepared seafoods, rounded out with a tempting dessert bar.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser Prince Court Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki 100 Holomoana St. Breakfast: 6-10:30 a.m. daily Brunch: 11:15 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays Dinner: 6-9:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 5:30-9:30 p.m. Fridays-Sundays 944-4494
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The man behind the scenes is Goran Streng. He grew up in Finland, in a village outside Helsinki. His strong connection to food, dating from childhood, has taken him all over the world. He earned his apprenticeship under various masters in the craft and art of cooking, learning as much as he could, and graduating at the top of his class from the Helsinki Hotel and Restaurant School.
Streng's 20-plus year career has been a colorful ride. He's been the chef for the Finnish ambassador in Yugoslavia, for La Mer at the Halekulani hotel, executive sous chef of all restaurants at the Ritz-Carlton at Mauna Lani on the Big Island, at the world-famous Raffles Grill for the re-opening of Singapore's historic Raffles Hotel, executive chef of the Kapalua Bay Hotel, and now at the Hawaii Prince.
The Prince Court dining room is elegantly appointed, long and large, well lit at nighttime, carpeted to soften sound, and encased in sparkling windows that allow a great daytime view of the marina outside. The staff is expertly trained, swift and efficient, a delightful benefit that helps set this buffet apart from many eat-and-get-out places around town.
The seafood buffet ($39 for adults, $19.50 for children ages 4-12) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings is one of the finest buffets you'll ever encounter. With special emphasis that showcases much of Hawai'i's seafood, fruits and vegetables, herbs and flowers, you'll know immediately that you're in for a treat. More on the seafood buffet later.
The "East meets West" weekday lunch buffet ($21 for adults, $10.50 children 4-12) offers a wonderful combination of tastes, much of it with an international bent. It's almost too much food, especially if you have anything else to do with your day. Items like a tomato, mozzarella and pesto appetizer, a good Caesar or spinach salad, grilled vegetables; roasted mushrooms, pasta salad, antipasto and pipikaula are readily available. The Japanese station offers several sushi varieties, shrimp and vegetable tempura, along with beef shabu-shabu and more. Other lunch choices are amazing cheese ravioli with bay shrimp and lobster sauce, and house-smoked barbecue salmon over choi sum.
The brand-new "Touch of the East" buffet on Wednesdays and Thursdays ($38 for adults, $19 for children 4-12) has become quite a success, according to our waiter. There was a sushi station where you could ask for exactly what you wanted, a roast suckling pig, assorted dim sum and incredible thick and juicy lamb chops, an unusual buffet item.
The Saturday and Sunday brunch buffet ($25.50 for adults, $12.75 children 4-12) includes crab legs and baby shrimp, omelets, egg dishes, saimin, stir-fry dishes, waffles, prime rib, pasta and lots of desserts.
The seafood dinner buffet is where they pull out all the stops. If you truly love seafood, this baby's for you. Beautiful sashimi platters, snap-and-eat crab legs, peel-and-eat shrimp, and three different poke choices await you. When you're finished with that, there are plump oysters on the half shell, perfectly grilled salmon, mussels a la Grecque (prepared with a tomato concasse flavored with oregano, fennel, coriander and basil), calamari and curried shrimp salad. The chef's station offers even more sea treats: blackened 'ahi with papaya-tomato relish in wasabi cream sauce, poached seafood, Rockefeller style (herbs and buttered bread-crumb topping), and salmon with hoisin barbecue sauce. There's a cornbread-crusted fresh catch in champagne sauce, and a scampi-style linguine with rock shrimp that rounds out the huge array of seafood choices.
Want to mix it up a bit? There are two different smoked-duck choices; one over orzo with grilled veggies and one over cake noodle. The carving station offers tender roasted pig with plum sauce as well as endless prime rib. But if you have any room left for dessert, try the excellent warm bread pudding with creme anglaise, assorted cheesecakes, macadamia-nut pie or coconut cake.
The Prince Court is top-flight, thanks to chef Streng's strong influence. I highly recommend you give it a try the next time you want a delicious buffet. Happy New Year!
Reach Matthew Gray at mgray@honoluluadvertiser.com.
