Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Good buffet food, good price |
| Disadvantages: |
Not sure what the a la carte is like |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
INTRODUCTIONSearching around for Sunday lunch in Brussels, myself and the lady chanced upon the Lotus Bar in the Sablon area near to our hotel. Having walked around for a good half hour looking for something that took our fancy, we thought we'd give this place a bash for the buffet. So here we are.
THE RESTAURANTThe restaurant was on 2 floors, the entrance being on the upper floor. A red curtain covered the entrance door and the décor was very dark, with black painted tables and chairs. Most of the tables were for 4, and most groups seem to comprise of about this number. The bar was to the left of the entrance, and more or less dominated the upstairs dining area. In fact it is advertised as a cocktail bar on their website, so no wonder it's so big. The loos were very modern, very clean and all polished fittings which I was quite impressed by. Sitting outside was a London taxi which was labelled "Lotus Bar Smoking Lounge", so I assume this is where the smokers would go. I liked the novelty of this. The atmosphere was quite laid back. It was quite full, and unless I'm mistaken it was mostly locals there rather than tourists, as it's a bit off the tourist trail.
As this is a buffet I can't say too much about the service. It did take a while for someone to take our drinks order at the beginning, but I'll let them off with that one. They were very friendly and I think it would have been more service oriented for ordering off the menu.
THE FOOD
When we went, there was a Sunday buffet for 15 Euros each. On offer was also a set menu of duck soup and a scampi main for 10 Euros.
On the main menu are soups such as wan tan and spicy seafood soup. Intriguingly there are also "big tureens" of soups like egg noodle soup with roasted duck which I really like the sound of. A big selection of starters has the usuals, spring rolls, Thai shrimp cakes and the like. There are also some starters for 2 such as frogs legs and "very vesy spicy raw shrimps". They really do know how to intrigue don't they. Several colour curries, spicy stir fried dishes, noodles dishes, rice dishes, sweet and sour, mild, special and vegetable dishes make a huge selection of main courses. There are also side dishes to be ordered. Phew! One that really caught my eye was "Green curry with shrimps and Thai aubergines".
Back to the buffet, which comprised of a couple of soups, chicken and vegetable, spring rolls, calamari, chicken wings, Massamam beef curry, mixed vegetable curry, red pork curry, chicken with garlic, mixed green salad, noodles, fried and steamed rice. In addition, various condiments such as sweet chilli sauce were available. For dessert there was fruit cocktail, mini chocolate mousse and little cakes.
The chicken soup was excellent; a think broth with chicken and vegetable bits in it, piquant and flavoursome. I really liked the spiciness of it. The spring rolls were nice; vegetarian, with thread noodles and some chopped up veg. The calamari was crispy and tender, so easy to eat. The mixed vegetable curry was very mild but with a good taste, the vegetables still being crispy. The beef curry was good, although I would have preferred a thicker sauce, it was nevertheless tasty. I think this is supposed to have potatoes in it too, but I didn't see any. The chicken was nice, a good hit of garlic was in the sauce. I wouldn't touch the pork so I can't comment there. I missed out on the chicken wings as well. I think when I went to get the starters they had run out of them.
CONCLUSIONThe buffet was very good, with a reasonable variety and decent quality. I didn't use the usual menu so I can only recommend the buffet, but I must say looking at the menu it sounds like a la carte would be quite an experience. I thought the informal atmosphere and friendly service was just what I needed for a Sunday afternoon.
CONTACT INFORMATIONLotus Bar
12 Joseph Stevensstreet,
Sablon, 1000 Brussels
Belgium.
Telephone : +32 (0) 2 5145059
Website (In Flemish, French and English) : http://www.lotus-bar.be/
