Summary
The Grand Mayfull Hotel’s Cafe Buffet is a rare opportunity to dine at a five-star hotel restaurant. Unlike the typical afternoon tea, the Cafe Buffet offers a wide range of delicious dishes prepared by 50 master chefs specializing in various international cuisines, including sashimi, fresh shrimp, fried rice, and cold udon. This completely subverts your stereotypical impression of afternoon tea. I chose to go during the weekend afternoon tea session, which runs from 15:00 to 17:00. Despite making a reservation, I decided to arrive early to ensure I could make the most of the dining time.
The Grand Mayfull Hotel’s atrium is bright and features a huge Christmas tree, creating a festive atmosphere.
Even during the weekend afternoon tea session, there were still many people dining, and I had to wait in line even though I arrived early.
Dining Environment
The Grand Mayfull Hotel’s Cafe Buffet is located on the first floor of the hotel. Since its renovation and reopening in October 2015, it offers a spacious dining area of 292 square meters, accommodating nearly 300 guests. The dining area is designed with an open kitchen concept, allowing diners to enjoy delicious cuisine in a comfortable and bright space, as if they were dining at home.
The entrance is spacious, and the restaurant is illuminated with soft and bright lighting.
The dining environment at the Grand Mayfull Hotel’s Cafe Buffet is spacious, allowing each diner to enjoy their meal in a comfortable setting.
The buffet area is designed with an open kitchen concept, so even when many people are getting their food, it doesn’t feel crowded.
During the Saturday afternoon tea session, there were a lot of diners. It seemed that more than 90% of the seats were reserved that day.
Menu Introduction
The Grand Mayfull Hotel’s Cafe Buffet offers 10 main dining themes for afternoon tea. Despite being an afternoon tea, there are still plenty of options to choose from, including a fresh seafood area, refreshing salads, Cantonese desserts, Chinese cuisine, and more. In addition, there are seasonal fruits, a variety of tea options, and freshly squeezed juices. Even after going through one round of dining, you will still feel satisfied.
â–‹Chinese Cuisine Area
The Chinese cuisine area includes freshly cooked Taiwanese noodles, roasted meats, dim sum, and Taiwanese stir-fried dishes. These dishes are closer to what people typically have for regular meals, making it a favorite area for older diners.
The Chinese cuisine area features an open kitchen design and is very clean!
The Taiwanese noodle area offers options such as danzai noodles and flat noodles, while the roasted meat area includes oil chicken and sausages.
There are various dim sum options, including red bean buns, vegetable buns, and radish buns. The crust is crispy and not greasy, making them delicious.
There are also rice dishes such as braised white radish, tofu, black pepper beef, shrimp, and mapo tofu, which are all very appetizing.
Although it looks like a regular fried rice, it looked so delicious that I couldn’t resist taking a bite.
They served beef porridge and ginseng chicken soup that day. The chicken soup was delicious, and the boneless chicken meat was tender.
â–‹Seafood and Japanese Cuisine Area
Even though it’s just afternoon tea, the Cafe Buffet still offers fresh seafood such as shrimp, scallops, and sashimi. There are also many Japanese dishes to choose from, such as assorted sushi and various California rolls.
The fresh seafood area features a variety of high-quality sashimi.
The sashimi options include salmon, swordfish, mackerel, and octopus, all of which are very fresh.
The premium cooked white shrimp is easy to peel and has a fresh and chewy texture.
The scallops are also very fresh. However, due to the abundance of food options, I only took a few.
The seafood salad may be a cold dish, but you can taste the freshness of the seafood. It’s definitely worth trying.
The Japanese cuisine area also offers a variety of dishes, including grilled swordfish and mushroom salad, Niçoise salad, assorted sushi, and squid and seaweed noodle salad.
There are three types of cold udon noodles to choose from, and they are chewy and refreshing.
The California rolls were so delicious that they were almost gone. There are four flavors to choose from.
â–‹Western Delicacies and Indian Cuisine Area
The Western delicacies and Indian cuisine areas are concentrated in the same area. They include French dishes, stir-fried dishes, and Indian cuisine. Additionally, there is freshly sliced roasted beef shoulder clod in this area.
French dishes include sausage with pesto spiral pasta, stir-fried greens, and cheese corn puree.
The baked beans, tomatoes, onions, and scrambled eggs were very popular and ran out quickly.
The stir-fried pork slices and stir-fried scallops were both tasty dishes.
The freshly sliced roasted beef shoulder clod is a popular ingredient in this area.
The chicken salad sandwich is light and thin, not too filling. It’s worth a try for sandwich lovers.
There are Indian crackers and Indian crisps, along with various special sauces and spices to accompany them.
They also offer a variety of Indian dishes to be paired with the rice on the side. However, I personally don’t have much interest in Indian cuisine, so I skipped this area.
â–‹Island Area
The island area mainly offers cold salad dishes and appetizers, including various salads, roasted beans, and side dishes. These are suitable for refreshing the palate before the main course.
There is a wide selection of salads, including lettuce, purple lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, alfalfa sprouts, celery, and baby corn.
There are also roasted beans and vegetarian goose rolls to choose from.
There are various appetizers, such as Korean kimchi, spicy shredded bamboo shoots, Korean cabbage, and pickled ginger.
Next to the island area, there is a self-service bread section with three spreads: peanut, hazelnut cocoa, and cream cheese.
â–‹Dessert Area
The dessert area at the Grand Mayfull Hotel’s Cafe Buffet is located in a semi-open booth. Initially, I thought they didn’t offer desserts because it was a bit far from the main buffet area, but luckily, after circling around, I found it.
There are also many dessert options, including chocolate brownies, mango passion fruit cake, tiramisu, cheesecake, strawberry mousse, and more.
There’s a matcha chocolate fountain and matcha noodles, with rock candy available on the side.
They serve Haagen-Dazs ice cream, including flavors such as chocolate, blueberry, vanilla, and matcha.
I grabbed a few desserts, including Portuguese egg tarts, strawberry mousse, and Earl Grey mousse. Among them, the Portuguese egg tart left the deepest impression with its layers and distinct texture.
â–‹Juice and Beverage Area
Lastly, let’s introduce the juice and beverage area. The Cafe Buffet offers a wide selection of drinks, including freshly squeezed juices, English afternoon tea, and coffee. They also offer unlimited Taiwan beer, but it comes at an additional cost ($260+10% per person), so you can decide if you want to add it.
The setup of the beverage area feels like being in a high-end bar.
There are many options for freshly squeezed juices, including orange juice, grapefruit juice, and mango juice. They also offer unsweetened black tea.
For afternoon tea, they offer TWINGS English tea and Ten Ren’s Taiwan tea series.
Since it’s afternoon tea, I couldn’t resist having a cup of coffee. The coffee is freshly ground, and the coffee beans used are of good quality, resulting in a not-too-bitter taste.
In addition to beverages, they also offer fruits such as tangerines, pineapples, and star fruits.
After enjoying the Grand Mayfull Hotel’s Cafe Buffet afternoon tea, I had a good dining experience. The restaurant’s bright interior and spacious layout create a comfortable environment to enjoy afternoon tea. Although it’s just afternoon tea, there is a wide variety of dishes, and the food is replenished quickly. Even if you treat it as a regular meal, you won’t feel hungry. This is probably the charm that attracts so many food lovers to the Grand Mayfull Hotel’s Cafe Buffet.
Grand Mayfull Hotel | Cafe Buffet Restaurant Information
Hotel Information:
- Address: No. 2, Songshou Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City (Near MRT World Trade Center/Taipei 101 Station or MRT City Hall Station)
- Phone: (02) 2720-1230
- Operating Hours and Prices:
- Breakfast: 06:30-10:30, NT$900+10% per adult
- Lunch: 11:30-14:00, NT$1,480+10% per adult
- Afternoon Tea: 15:00-17:00, NT$880+10% per adult
- Dinner: 18:00-21:00 (Sunday to Thursday) | 18:00-22:00 (Friday and Saturday), NT$1,480+10% per adult
- Official Website: http://www.grandmayfull.com
