3in1 – Vida Downtown Dubai – Iftar

My first post on iftar for ramadan 2015. Been here last ramadan and definitely was in my list this year as well. The menu was 80% same as last year, guess they didn’t want to change the winning formula ;). Iftar at 3in1 always makes me feel at home. Quite, pleasant and just the right atmosphere for a peaceful iftar. The buffet is priced at Dhs 170 per person where you have a stretch of international and regional items followed by main course served at your table.

The interiors at Vida hotel can’t disappoint. Elegant and beautiful. Cozy seats.The best part was their games station. We got a peaceful Iftar while the kids enjoyed their xbox games. The food items are nicely displayed especially their desserts and dryfruits counter.

They had special ramadan drinks like jalab, laban, tamarind etc. I was more in love with their fresh juices such as orange and green apple juice. Fresh fatayers are made as you need them. Their cheese manakish was pretty good but I’d say for the fatayers they could improve the bread further. Although they did have one special round bread which tasted great but you know nobody is in a mood to have breads for Iftar. They had this beetroot and spicy bread as well which I don’t usually see, so had  a few bites of that one along with their wonderful hammous.  Their dry fruits and dates section were quite impressive. Love their king sized dates and roasted walnuts 🙂

They had all kinds of fruits you wanted, cut and uncut. I was impressed with their cold appetizers. The fattoush, moutabhal and other green leafy salads were yummy. The secret was it’s dressing. The quality of the hammous and moutabal were also brilliant. They have mastered arabic cuisine for sure. Actually I enjoyed it so much that I kind of over ate the cold mezzeh, leaving very less space for the mains.

The mains were exactly the same as last year. The sheesh taouk and the lamb chops were a melt in the mouth. Very nicely done. The chicken inside the chicken moulokieh(Moulokieh with chicken, garlic, coriander and lemon juice) was super tender. The lamb ouzi was ok, I’ve had better ones. I had enough vegetables from the salad bar so I ignored the vegetables salona curry entirely.

One side of the buffet is entirely dedicated to desserts. The arabic desserts was their highlight. If you’ve been eating arabic desserts you could appreciate the taste and quality here. Specially love arabic desserts with cream and cheese and made the most of it. Interestingly there were indian desserts this time, gigantic white rasagullas and malai cake. They were so many other desserts like sago pudding, mango mouse cake, chocolate pot of cream, choux , coffee cake, mouhalabiya, cream caramel, rice pudding, cream brulee, umm ali etc where at the end I just had to give up a few as I didn’t have anymore space in me. Iftar has been very satisfying at 3in1 Vida Downtown Dubai and looking forward to more of these this ramadan.

Click here to visit their official webpage. Click pictures to see them in full screen view: