Hotels and restaurants are offering exclusive dishes in the buffet spreads to attract customers. Pictures by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 7: Buffets spreads offered at various restaurants have become popular among the people in the capital.

To make the experience more enjoyable, the hotels and restaurants throughout the city, have come up with innovative dishes and special offers.

While some restaurants bank on the love for Chinese food, others offer lavish Mughlai delicacies, and the rest keep changing the menu every now and then.

But almost all introduce exotic dishes that seem to attract more and more youngsters.

“Be it a few dishes in the main course or an exclusive sweet dish for the dessert platter, the guests always look for something new in the spread,” says Debasish Roy, executive chef at a city based hotel.

“So we keep giving a twist to dishes by either adding local flavour or with attractive garnishing along with a unique name,” he adds.

“While we keep innovating our weekly Bengali buffet, following the choice of guests, we have also introduced a Friday Mughlai menu with dishes such as the Lagan ki Murg, Badshahi Badam Pasanda, Angare Sabzian and others,” Roy said.

Some hotels also offer special buffets for corporate employees and students.

“Most of our customers are either employees from the corporate sector or students who look for some fun and comfort while they come to eat. Since they are regular customers, we offer a special package for them,” says P. D. Gupta, proprietor of another restaurant.

Apart from introducing special themes every day or week, some also offer free drinks or a reduced package for a lavish spread.

“Most of the guests go for non-vegetarian dishes during a buffet. So we offer five different varieties such as chicken, mutton, prawn, crabs and fish for our buffet. We also introduce a special dish from Indian or continental cuisine on few days of the week such as a General Tao’s Chicken or a Hunan style soup,” said Subho Biswas, manager of a city based hotel.

Gourmets in the city too seem to love the buffet concept that offers them unlimited food from a plethora of dishes at a fixed rate as well as allows them being comfortable.

“The availability of buffets at just Rs 400 in the city is a very positive thing for my friends and me,” says Vikrant Jena, a software engineer.

“We usually work for long stretches and love to have a break by dropping in for a lunch or dinner at a restaurant that provides us with delightful platters without the process of ordering and waiting,” he adds.

“We always go for a buffet to give birthday treats to our friends or for group eat outs sessions. It’s affordable and helps us try a variety of dishes,” says Nidhi Sharma, a college student.

The various buffets offered for lunch and dinner in the city range from Chinese, Mughlai, Indian and even continental.

The price range starts from Rs 149 to Rs 1,500 at various hotels and restaurants.