Story of a Christmas Buffet

Tonight I was invited to The Chef's Grand Christmas Day Dinner Buffet at Dockside Restaurant on Granville Island.

The place was packed, and we were part of the last seating starting at 7:30 pm. This is the first time I go out on Christmas day and I was amazed at how many choose that option versus dinner at home.


But that was not as surprising once I saw how impressive the menu was.

The highlights of the first trip to the buffet were the Smoked Salmon Trilogy (smoked, lox and candied).

The salads were typical buffet mediocre ones. The potato salad with double smoked bacon and mustard was really good. On the other side of the spectrum, the Thai salad was not good at all.


Then came the visit to the carving station...

There was roast beef, turkey and ham. Almost everyone around the table agreed that the roast beef was the best. It was thick, juicy, tasty, cooked well. Too bad the roast beef carver was not as friendly as the turkey and ham carver.

Yes, it was so good that I could not resist a repeat trip to the carving station (my third trip for the night).

The dessert buffet sounded more appetizing on the menu than it was in real life. There were many options indeed - nanaimo bars, brownies, all sorts of squares to pumpkin and eggnog cheese cakes and pies. The Yule Logs were cut in pieces looking more like wood chips as opposed to a full log. 

The chocolate lovers were in chocolate heaven with the flowing chocolate fountain surrounded by fruit to dip into. 

All in all, a pleasant buffet experience, albeit feeling way too stuffed as I write. In fact, I'm feeling exactly like my host's cat all ready for a long nap. Good night and merry Christmas.