Are you a glutton who just can’t be satisfied after appetizers, mains and desserts? Buffets are the best value for money options! Do you have a big gathering coming up and not sure what type of cuisine would please everyone? Buffets have a little something for everyone! Buffets are the best destination for varieties. It also provides a relaxed dining environment where you can dine as much and as long as you want, without worrying about how much the bill will total. Here are a few of the buffets which are worth starving for the night before just to maximize your enjoyment! (Some of the establishments below are not halal.)

1. Best Premium Japanese Buffet: Hanare @ Intermark

Free-flow wagyu beef! Yes! You heard that right. Hanare is a premium Japanese restaurant in KL and only serves buffets on weekends. Even if it comes at a slightly above average price as compared to other buffets, it is worth every single cent. Each customer is entitled to a chip which can be exchanged for 3 slices of toro – premium grade tuna belly with fantastic marbling and texture as soft as tofu. 3 slices of these babies are worth almost the price of the buffet itself! The center of attraction for this buffet is the teppanyaki grill, especially the grilled wagyu beef. The light and refreshing Japanese desserts are a great way to end the meal as well.

2. Best International Buffet: Lemon Garden Café @ Shangri La Hotel

The Lemon Garden is crowned Best International Buffet in KL for a reason. It is stellar in all of its International sections such as Japanese, Western, Chinese, Indian and Malaysian. The seafood/Japanese section is heaven sent for seafood lovers with its array of juicy, fresh and large range of seafood. For the meat lovers, we would highly recommend the Satays and daily roast. Dessert freaks please do save ample space to stomach the awesome variety of crumbles, unique flavours of ice-cream and the black-and-white twin tower chocolate fondues!

3. Best Buffet for Desserts: Contango @ Majestic Hotel

Just like most contemporary dining venues, Contango in KL features an open kitchen with an interactive dining concept. Start off your meal with thick, juicy and premium-quality cold cuts and raw fish. Then, warm up the tummy with a hearty bowl of soup which is thick and rich. Last but not least, Contango places great effort in preserving freshness and presentation of its desserts by storing them in coolers. There’s a whole fridge of house-made ice-creams. There’s also a section dedicated to macaroons and cake pops. Don’t miss out all the cakes, crumbles, tarts, eclairs and puddings as well! We applaud Contango for its great variety, high quality and great efforts in presentation and preservation of the desserts.

4. Best Japanese Barbeque: Rocku Yakiniku @ Pavillion

We Malaysian loves a good Japanese BBQ buffet. However, the tropical weather just doesn’t agree with us. Rocku Yakiniku is a great in-door BBQ concept cum entertainment centre in KL. Brownie points goes to its odorless BBQ which ensures that patrons can enjoy the BBQ process without sweating and smelling like BBQ after. The entertainment acts changes quarterly. For now, patrons will be swooned by the Jazz night every Wednesday and entertained by the Magic night every Friday. BBQ wise, it has great variety for each of the following categories: beef, pork, lamb, chicken and seafood. The seafood, in particular scallops, are juicy and sweet. Meanwhile its beef is of high quality and comes all the way from Australia. We also love the smoky hints of barbequed pork bacon.

5. Best Variety: Cinnamon Coffee House @ One World Hotel

Amongst its many stations, the Cinnamon Coffee House boasts after its Japanese, Indian, Pasta and Dessert sections. The whole buffet line has plenty of interaction with patrons. Amongst others, it has a Live Grilled Corner, Live Cooking of Special Noodles of the Day and Live Pasta station. The pasta station seems to be the greatest hit, dishing out a continuously flow of piping hot pastas from a selection of Pasta a la Royale, Pasta Vongole, Pasta al Funghi, Pasta Arabiatta, Pasta with Pesto Cream, etc. To keep things interesting, Cinnamon Coffee House in PJ has a monthly evolving theme for dinner. A sneak peak tells us that the “Perak and Pahang” flavours and “Spanish” theme may be coming up soon!

6. Best Budget Japanese Buffet: Mitasu @ Central Plaza

A fulfilling Japanese meal could easily cost around RM50 these days. So why not top it up a little bit for an all-you-can-eat experience in Mitasu? Mitasu is an ala carte buffet in KL, which ensures freshness, quality and presentation of the dishes are still intact when it reaches your table. Wonderfully thick cuts of salmon, tuna and butterfish are served on ice. If you’re lucky, you may chance upon the yellow tail sashimi availability or even get a whole plate of salmon belly! Other dishes worthy to be highlighted are the Deep Fried Scallops, Agedashi Tofu, Assorted Tempuras and ice-cream.

7. Best Chinese Buffet: Noble House @ Imbi

Noble House’s popular brunch every Sunday and on Public Holiday has been on-going since 2003 and is still fully book 2 weeks in advance until today. It is also featured in our top 10 Chinese Restaurants in KL & PJ. There are 2 prices and each comes with a bowl of shark fin soup - RM49++ (Braised Shark Fin with Crabmeat and Crab Roe) and RM59++ (Double Boil Chicken Wing Stuffed with Shark Fin). Contrary to general expectations for buffet, the shark fin soup comes in a large bowl and has a generous amount of shark fin. As for the cuisine served in the buffet line, it includes Chinese, Western, Japanese and Malaysian. Amongst the most popular dishes are the Alaskan Spider Crab with Cheese, Roasted Pork, Peking Duck, Salt-baked Salmon, Shanghai La Mian and Malay Cake.

8. Best Korean Buffet: San Nae Deul @ Setia Walk

It is a common fact that a dish of BBQ meat in a Korean restaurant easily costs RM30 for a tiny portion. Meanwhile in native Korea, BBQ buffets can be found at similar prices! San Nae Deul brings the Korean BBQ buffet concept to town with a Malaysian twist. With as low as RM25 for lunch with an additional RM10 if you would like to DIY-BBQ, this is a miraculous discovery! Its buffet line is divided into ready-made food and raw BBQ ingredients. From the ready-made buffet line, a variety of Fusion, American, Malaysian and Korean dishes, such as Korean Pancake and Bimbimpap can be found. Meanwhile, from the BBQ selections, we recommend first trying the non-seasoned meat first prior to trying the seasoned-meat. They serve pork, beef, chicken and some seafood.

9. Best Dim Sum Buffet: Tai Zi Heen @ Prince Hotel

Dim Sum is a typical Sunday-brunch tradition and is best eaten with a large crowd. What a better way to enjoy Dim Sum than an all-you-can-eat Dim Sum buffet? What’s more? It’s pork free. We would like to highlight the smoked duck and roasted dishes here. In particular, the Char Siew Chicken is glazed with sweet and savoury sauce that is highly commendable. Wok-Fried Radish Cake with X.O sauce is crisp on the outside and compact with mushed up radish on the inside, perfect texture! Meanwhile, the soup of the day is also flavourful and tasty.

10. Best Budget Buffet: Secret of Louisiana @ Kelana Jaya

At the price of an ala carte pasta or just below RM20, you can enjoy an all-you-can-eat ala carte pasta buffet and a buffet line comprising of soup of the day, garlic toasts and garden salad! Secret of Louisiana’s pride and joy lies in its Cajun style cuisine and also specialties in seafood and steak. It is strategically located by a lake which is quite nice at night when the lights come alive. Altogether, there are 9 types of pastas to choose from for the pasta buffet. Our best picks are: Chicken Smoked Sausage, Creamy Pesto Fish, Cajun Garlic Shrimp and Vongole Clam. Click here for the Chinese version of this article.