Long time since I posted anything here, but since a lot of the earlier themes are food related, this seemed like an appropriate (and harmless) place to document these thoughts.
The Jabbama Restaurant of the AUN Hotel debuted a brunch special today. They haven’t opened for lunch or dinner yet, but have been offering breakfast. There is hardly any room for complaint about the atmosphere, but the food and service was not at all impressive, especially for a big debut event such as this.
I was reluctant to go to begin with, as the promotional advertisement for the opening brunch dates as very uninformative to begin with—and as it turns out also misleading. Once I learned of the price (I was told 4000 naira, though it turned out to be 3500—at least the misinformation was a pleasant surprise) and was assured that Wifi would be available, I decided to give it a try.
Before even heading there, I questioned why something called ‘brunch’ would start at 12:30pm (1/2 hour after the beginning of lunchtime). Anyways, in theory, this is not a huge issue since most people probably don’t get to brunch until closer to lunch time. But it is called brunch or a reason, friends. Breakfast + Lunch, right? Not only in terms of timing, but more importantly in terms of what is offered. The poster below suggests they would be on the right track. And in fact my stomach was looking forward to the waffle and pancake options. However, not a single one of the food items in this poster appeared at the Brunch buffet, and the only sign of any sort of egg dish was in the fried rice. The only item from the poster that was available was the orange juice, but I only got a ½ glass of that (as my second complimentary drink) from the dregs of the juice dispenser that was not refilled for as long as I was in the restaurant.
When we arrived (a friend accompanied me to check out the place—I’m not referring to myself with the royal ‘we’ lol), we lingered at the entrance waiting to see if anyone would welcome us or seat us, and there was no sign indicating whether to seat oneself or wait to be seated. I finally went and found a seat. Shortly thereafter a waiter came along. When I asked for the Wifi code, as I wanted to test this out as a working/dining environment, he rushed off as if in response to my inquiry, but then disappeared for some time. He eventually came back with the Wifi code. After I got that set up I sat around for a while trying to get someone’s attention to verify how to go about the buffet. I assumed I was just to help myself but I hadn’t been welcomed to do so yet. Finally, the waiter reappeared and confirmed the procedure.
So, I proceeded to check out the reported “indulging” array of “more than 50 items.” What I found is listed below. The naming is my own handiwork; there were no signs. For the most part, I’ll end my narrative here and add evaluative notes about some food items within this list.
(1) Green beans – Didn’t try these. Standard fare.
(2) Steamed cabbage & carrots – Certainly not a highlight, but this was actually a welcome item that isn’t often found in other buffet events.
(3) Grilled/fried fish filet – A standard item found with all buffet events organized by the hotels junior partner, the AUN Clubhouse. Quality was same as that of the Clubhouse over the past couple years. Very soggy. When I first moved to Yola 4 years ago, the clubhouse served a fish fillet that was more solid (not too try, not too soggy). I would hope the hotel (and clubhouse) would aspire towards that quality of fish filet again.
(4) Steamed? Or Baked? Fish – Didn’t try this. One fish dish at a brunch buffet is enough for me.
(5) Baked tomato slice – Nice item
(6) Mashed potatoes – Overwhipped I assume. In any case, very plasticky, almost to the point of pounded fufu consistency.
(7) Large penne pasta in alfredo sauce? with cheese – Decent item (though I personally always prefer marinara sauce with pasta)
(8) Spicy chicken wings – This is a promising treat, but the meat was undercooked. So, I just nibbled the meat off the edges and didn’t risk eating the pink stuff that stuck to the bone.
(9) Fried rice – This was a high quality fried rice with visible bits of egg and large chunks of chicken, but still fried rice is so predictable as a menu item in all Nigerian restaurants. I’m looking for something new and impressive and I’ve almost come to the end of main dishes.
(10) Nigerian style collard greens (“vegetable”) – Good quality. I stood around waiting for a spoon. I guess they didn’t expect anyone to want to scoop up the Nigerian dish? I finally had to just borrow the spoon from the chicken wings.
(11) Green salad with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers – Good quality.
(12) Potato salad with tomatoes - Decent, unique item (but basically boiled potatoes with tomatoes and some basil).
(13) Rolls – Didn’t try them.
(14) Croissants – Not a fan of croissants, but I tried one. This was a nice unique item.
(15) Yellow cake (bread style) – The cakes I tried (yellow & chocolate) were good. But they would have gone better with a coffee of tea. I didn’t feel like ordering this separately, as I was surprised that tea and coffee were not part of a brunch buffet that was billed as offering two complimentary drinks. As it was, by the time I was finishing these cakes, I was worried I was going to choke because my juice was finished and the ½ glass of water that I was served was also empty. Throughout my stay (and I took my time, since I was uploaded grades while I ate), no one came to see how I was doing or to refill my water.
(16) Chocolate cake (bread style)
(17) Velvet cake (bread style)
(18) Chocolate cake (muffin style)
(19) Orange juice – As noted above, I got a half glass of this. I added cranberry juice to it make a sunrise cocktail, so I can’t judge the quality directly, but it looked hearty.
(20) Cranberry juice
(21) - (24) several other empty salad bowls with remnants of tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce; I don’t know if this counts other items, or just additional bowls of number.
(25-28)? Additional plates of the breads and cakes – Obviously this doesn’t count as new items. I’m just digging here, trying to see how the hotel expects us to count up to 50+ items to indulge our appetites. Also, technically the 50+ items should exclude drinks and cakse, since the advertisement reads “over 50 items, a dessert bar, and 2 complimentary drinks.”
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