Nobody could accuse the Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya of sitting on their hands, waiting to see what is happening around town. Pro-active seems to be the watchword for GM Andrew Khoo and his team, so when Roland Nicolich, the F&B director invited the Dining Out Team to come and sample the new Buffet ‘DEE’ Light in their Starz Diner, I knew it would have to be something special.

The concept, as explained to me by the effervescent Roland, is to provide an Asian buffet with ‘light’ items, but yet to be particularly good and flavorsome (‘DEE’). The other parameter was to keep the price light as well, and at B. 250 (++, it is a hotel remember) this certainly makes it one of the cheapest buffets in town.

The buffet runs Sunday to Friday and is held in the Starz Diner, the large expansive dining area that runs off the Hard Rock Hotel’s foyer area (behind the lifts). It features an inside 315 seat section complete with an open plan display kitchen. In theme with the hotel, Starz Diner is bright and glitzy, rock and roll guitars and drum sets on the walls, a giant mural of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road, purple ceramic tiles and stainless steel everywhere, chrome and plastic seating and all very ‘with it’. It also has a large perimeter that makes it very suitable for buffet meals.

And just in case you think that the number of buffet items could be ‘light on’, Roland assured me that there were 130 items to choose from. However, do not expect to see grilled T-bone steaks - these are Asian items. A (very) brief run-down includes Black Pepper Slipper Lobsters and Mixed Vegetable Nyonya Style, Stir-Fried Garlic Chicken with Coriander, Oyster omelet live cooking Station, Steamed Crab with Tau Chow and Ginger Sauce and a Spicy Clam Salad. There are also some extremely Asian items, such as Bull Frog Legs with Ginseng Porridge (very good for potency they tell me, but not so good for the bull frogs), Marinated Tofu Salad, Marinated Eggplant with Sambal, or Braised Pork with Mui Choi and Dry Chilli. There are also enough vegetarian based items for any dedicated vegan to dine for many weeks!

Being such a large buffet, it was impossible to try everything, but Andrew Khoo recommended the slipper lobsters, so that was my first foray into the buffet. Slipper lobster are also known throughout the world as Rock lobsters, Moreton Bay Bugs, Sydney Harbour Bugs and probably many others, but are always one of my favourite seafoods. Done in the black pepper sauce, these are particularly good, though you have to make sure that the lobster meat is still inside the shell. I carefully carried two halves back to my table, to find that one was empty! A further trip soon remedied that situation!

I followed that up with the stir-fried garlic chicken with coriander, a beautifully delicately flavoured Thai item, plus some more slipper lobster (full shells this time) and then could not resist the ice cream for dessert, although the Royal Thai desserts were tempting.

The Buffet DEE Light presented enough choices to cover all the tastes at our table. While not a Euro style buffet, there were still plenty of items that appealed to the non-Asian palate. For the Asians, there was also enough of a choice to ensure that there were items not usually present in a ‘Thai’ only buffet. As a concept, the idea is excellent, and the end result is also top notch. There could be nobody who would not enjoy this buffet. The price factor is sensational - to get a buffet at B. 250 (++) in an up-market property such as the Hard Rock Hotel, is incredibly good value. Very highly recommended for all diners at any time (Sunday to Friday!). An ideal venue to take overseas visitors to let them experience the different tastes of Asia.

Starz Diner, Hard Rock Hotel, Pattaya 2 Road (next to Montien), telephone 038 428 755, fax 038 421 673, all cards. Secure parking in the hotel parking areas. Buffet DEE Light from 6 p.m. till 10 p.m.