Good quality Indian buffet @ Tandoor, Hong Kong

Whenever I partake in Indian buffets, the one thing that never fails to surprise me is how little food I can eat before I reach my limit. Which is why I usually try to avoid buffet at Indian restaurants. However, after seeing the large variety of good-looking dishes in the buffet room at Tandoor, and being told that ladies pay only half price for the buffet, I was sold. Tandoor is a lovely restaurant, many, many notches above the ones at the notorious Chungking Mansions, and not terribly expensive either (especially with the ladies' discount). Hubby had dinner there with his work colleagues recently, and he came home raving about the food, and said that he must take me there to try the food. I think we have found our favourite Indian restaurant in Hong Kong! We came to Tandoor on Sunday for lunch with one of the lovely girls from hubby's office (she loves our 3-year-old and wanted to see him again), and it turned out that the restaurant does a special Sunday brunch buffet (HK$228pp, half price for ladies). We had originally intended to try some of their a-la-carte dishes, but we will be back next time to try them.

There was even live Indian music for our entertainment:

The restaurant is tastefully decorated, and is quite suitable for functions/parties, family meals and even a romantic date. Service was pretty good, and the chef came out of the kitchen specially to show me which food from the buffet were safe for our boy to eat. The chef even arranged for allergy-free bread to be prepared for him. The food was good quality, especially for a buffet arrangement, and vegetarians are well-catered for in this place. I only took a little bit of everything, and I wished I could have gone back for seconds, but I got full pretty quick. Everything was delicious, and this buffet is foodie heaven for any Indian food lovers. Tandoor is a popular restaurant and it got filled up quick with the hungry lunch crowd. Majority of the diners in the restaurant were Indian people - in fact, I think we were the only non-Indians - which is a fantastic sign that the food is authentically Indian and good by their people's standards.

Various condiments, achar and chutneys were placed on our table shortly after we were seated, along with some complimentary cone-shaped papadums (not shown):

Drinks (including alcohol) were included with the buffet deal, and bottomless. Hubby and our friend ordered mango lassi, but I couldn't resist ordering a bubbly champagne:

The cold food section - aloo (potato) chat, green salad, and a chef's special salad:

The hot trays, containing all forms of meat and vegetable curries, samosa, pakora, rice and naan:

Seekh Kebab and Tandoori Chicken:

Lamb Curry, chef's special Chicken Curry, Fish Curry and Pulau:

There was even a hot-plate in the buffet room, where the chef was rolling out freshly made Masala Dosa (rice pancake stuffed with spiced potato) for everyone:

Hubby's first round (his plate is always so neat). Clockwise from left - tandoori chicken, naan and pulau, samosa, some curries, stir-fried broccoli, some pakora balls and seekh kebab:

The boy's plate, containing food that does not contain nuts, coconut, soy and sesame. It was good that allergies are catered for in this restaurant:

My plate, zooming in on the masala dosa (because the rest of my plate wasn't pretty):

The spiced potato filling of the dosa:

Cold desserts - Apricot Coconut Balls, Ras Malai (paneer poached in milk and served with pistachio), fresh fruits and mango pudding:

Hot desserts - Gaajar Ka Halwa (grated carrots cooked in milk and nuts) and Gulab Jamun (fried milk pastry soaked in saffron syrup):

Some Dahi Puri (small crunchy puri shells stuffed with boiled potatoes and yogurt), served to our table with some mint sauce. First time eating these little snacks, and loved it:

Hubby's dessert plate - a little of everything:

Little packets of mukhwas, to freshen the mouth and aid digestion. Some are quite tasty, thanks to the sugar-coated fennel and anise seeds:

All in all, it was a good lunch, the best Indian meal we've had in Hong Kong so far. I want to try out some of their a-la-carte dishes, so next time we will plan to come to Tandoor when they don't have such a nice buffet spread on.

Tandoor
1st Fl, Lyndhurst Tower
1 Lyndhurst Terrace
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +85 2 2845 2262