ingredients

we were staying at thehotelso decided to try the in-house breakfast and boy were we disappointed. everything on the breakfast menu was average, there wasn't a single item on the entire buffet menu which stood out.
if you are staying at the hotel, i would highly recommend ordering breakfast from another place, since this restaurant's breakfast wouldn't be a good start to the day.

this is a cool breakfast outlet located in the anantarahotelof eastern mangroves. the outside seating here totally does justice to the location!

we went here for breakfast during our stay. this restaurant is only open in the morning, so perhaps they should keep the buffet open till a bit late. we sat outside on a table facing the mangroves and creek. the breakfast spread was good. eggs like you want, yoghurts, fruits, cold cuts of salmon & turkey, assorted breads, thai & chinese variants is just some of the items. my most favorite were the waffles and more so the syrup options to go with it. the service was good too.

i have had better breakfast buffets in terms of spreads, but this one has it's own charm mainly because of the location. do try!

ambience: 4.5
food diversity:5
service:2.5
we were seated outside, it was a beautiful table location with the dock & mangrove view.
the food diversity was exquisite! from seafood, to live cooking stations, shawarma, roasted duck, pork, steak, mexican food stand, sweets section. all was perfect, food looked delicious, tasted good, and charging plates were generous.
the only drawback (and hence the 4.0 instead of 4.5) we encountered was weak service. we had to remove our finished plates & glasses by ourselves after several attempts at calling several waiters. when we complained, we were politely & apologetically informed that our mishap was due to fewer than usual waiters, and there was simply not enough of them to wait the outside area! not a smart answer for a 5 starhotelcharging 326aed per person! but i would visit one more time just to be fair.

last week i was able to enjoy a lovely lunch at the eastern mangroveshotelrestaurant, named ingredients. we were a large group of over 40 ladies, since it was a weekday lunch, there were little to no other parties in the restaurant. the staff was kind enough to guide us from our conference room to the ingredients restaurant. once we arrived, i felt like i had to seat myself and no direction was really given on which tables were reserved for our party.

tried the breakfast buffet at this restaurant during our stay at thehoteland were very impressed with the massive spread and the variety of options. they had pretty much everything you can think of .. live cooking stations for eggs, waffles and pancakes, separate counters for arabic, asian and continental breakfast dishes, choice of fresh juices and other beverages and great selection of breads and cheeses. we certainly had a delightful start to our day.

i was surprise when i saw ingredients popping up as the list of restaurants that i have rated but not written a review on coz i remember clearly writing a very detailed review on ingredients right after i visited them (which is now months back). i have no clue how it got deleted from zomato! however, since ingredients is one of those rare places which gives you lifelong memories, it isn’t hard to rake my head to write about them again.

i have had the pleasure to stay at anatara eastern mangroves a couple of times. i would recommend thishotelto anyone who is interested for a getaway in uae as more than the ambiance (which is out of this world offcourse), the staff here treat you like royalty. the rooms are huge, the pool is amazing, the staff perfect and ingredients? just the best. i should admit that ingredients was one of the major reasons my stay at eastern mangroves hits a 100 on 100!

i don’t know if i should call their breakfast spread as just breakfast or brunch. when i entered the restaurant for my breakfast i was pleasantly surprised at the spread. there were counters everywhere. i know what one would say – that’s how a breakfast spread looks at any star hotel. but let me correct you right there – you couldn’t be more wrong. their spread was unlike any i have seen before! they had counters for asian (which had a wide variety of noodles, dimsums, and rice including sticky rice), sushi, arabic breakfast, cold cuts, hot appetizers, cheese counters, seafood section, salads, a pancakes & waffles station, an egg station along with the droolworthy dessert station to top the fruits and juice bars. it was a food paradise. a special mention has to be made on the food quality here too because quantity can never beat quality – the pancakes were soft and delicious, the sushi perfect, the eggs fluffy and every dish i tasted topped the previous one. love!

the restaurant is very spacious and this helps in creating an air of freshness around you. it overlooks the mangroves and this makes your breakfast experience even more special.

i would recommend ingredients and eastern mangroves for anyone who is looking for a change from the usual crowded hotels. the staff is extremely friendly, the ambiance great and food spectacular.

we were taken away for a surprise – lets leave dubai for a while – valentines weekend trip last week and ended up staying at the beautiful anantarahotelresorts and spa, in abu dhabi. as we heard so many positive things about thehotelbefore, we were excited to check in and start our weekend trip.

up on arrival we were greeted friendly, welcomed with cold, scented towels and an iced date juice. one of us was asked to show the passport and to fill out the forms before we were escorted to out beautiful room at the second floor, overlooking the mangroves of abu dhabi.

as it was quite late already, and we were hungry we ordered a small snack with room service and went to bed, looking forward to the breakfast next morning.

the breakfast was served at ingredients, the all day dining restaurant of the hotel. being located on the ground floor of the hotel, it was easy to find and one could smell the scent of freshly brewed coffee, pastries and eggs already when exiting the elevator.

the restaurant is huge, and most probably can be filled up with around 250 guests at a time inside as well as outside on the terrace. we were welcomed by a friendly hostess who asked for our room number and if we preferred to sit inside our outside.

given the opportunity to get a bit closer to mother nature, observing the mangrove’s wild live and being kissed by the sun, we chose to sit outside, left our keys and mobiles there and went back inside to discover the buffet.

while helping ourselves with the freshly squeezed juices and pastries, a asian looking gentleman approached us to ask if we wanted any kind of eggs for breakfast.

we ordered scrambled eggs with him and continued to storm through the buffet.

when our plates were filled up and we went back to the table, we found our coffees as well as the eggs waiting for us already, and linh, a gentleman from vietnam, pulled the chair for us to sit down, while wishing us a good morning and a nice breakfast.

not only linh, but all of his colleagues had something special about them.

from the check in – to the check out – everyone, and we mean everyone was super friendly, assertive, paid attention to details, acted pro-active instead of waiting for guests to ask for them and one could actually feel that everyone working in thishotelenjoys the job.

it happened many times that we checked in somewhere or went for dinner and one or two of the service staff was either smiling or generally good with guests, but everyone in the entire hotel, that was something new and impressive.

we also went to the spa and for dinner on this day, but keep our experience and stories to ourselves until being revealed through another review.

keep exploring,

seb

i had the pleasure of checking out the ingredients restaurant for lunch a couple of days back as i attended a conference and i had a great time. i had the feeling of spaciousness when i entered thehotellobby as it was not "cluttered" looking as any otherhotellobby with their fixtures quite minimal - which gave thehotelof a very relaxed ambiance. the little "falls" as i call it smack at the center of the waiting area with beautiful flowers adorning it is just very calming with the soft trickle of water being heard. the big glass windows that lets you glimpse the mangroves on the other side, the bright blue skies and the calm water is just a picture perfect for relaxation.

ingredients is a kitchen packed with a lot of choices and flavor. upon entering the restaurant, it would be the beverage section where bottled water of your liking is there, then a few steps from it will be sweets section which is strategically placed as it is the first thing you see and you just want to jump to dessert immediately. across the room is the little japanese section - with a few choices of sushi and maki, which i hope they could have like an "order station" where you can ask whatever roll you might want (i, for one, was looking for a dragon and firecracker roll which sadly they do not have). that corner also has the oyster and mussles as well as big shrimps and crab legs for those who might want to have a challenge. :)

moving along, they have this one area where they have all kinds of sea salt on display and i think this area is the arabic section - which sadly i did not have the time to taste any.

of course, no buffet is without the chinese/asian cuisine, which is at this time flocked by dimsum and noodle lovers. their soups are fantastic - as you get to almost create your own with their chicken broth and their choices of noodles, mushroom, spring onion, fried garlic to combine it with. the staple of manchurian chicken, sweet and sour fish and some other favorite chinese goodies are there which i all loved. their dimsums are also fantastic as they just steam them when you get to order them - or maybe yet i was the last in line and have to wait for mine to be steamed. then again, the dough is soft, the fillings are tasty enough and big enough to satisfy that craving. they have this skewered seafood too and other meat that you could ask to be grilled on the spot.

the dining space is cool enough - but what made this cooler is that they those tables prepped outside for that al fresco dining overlooking the mangroves and the brightly colored kayaks against the blue waters. with the great weather now, eating outside with that fantastic background just makes the dining her fantabulous.