Tropicana - Crowne Plaza

Tropicana is located on the ground floor at the Crowne Plaza hotel. It offers international buffet for breakfast (6:30 - 10:30 am) , lunch (12:00 - 3:30 pm) and dinner (7:00 - 11:00 pm).

We arrived at 8:15 am, there were only few people around, sitting outside. The weather was lovely so we decided to sit outside, however that turned to be a bad decision as we were attacked by flies. The waiter brought us coffee and its aroma was amazing, a change from my everyday morning instant coffee. The milk was right on the table, uncovered! to both me and Sara that was bad especially with the flies around. After few sips of coffee and a the 5 minute session to work out our buffet strategy we headed to the buffet.First we decided to have a look, familiarize ourselves with the stations, the buffet contained the following:
** assorted fresh veggies , labna, hummos, mutabl

** sausages (chicken & beef), baked beans, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, veal bacon

** noodles, pancakes, french toast, assorted spreads (nutella,date syrup, maple syrup)

** A station for omelet

** assorted breads, assorted muffins, assorted pastries

**assorted cheese, grapes, different compotes

** assorted breakfast cereals, dried fruits

** fresh fruits, cheese, cold cuts

** fresh juices , bottled water

** tom yum soup

For unknown reason we started with the latter, I liked the taste (its my first tom yum soup) but Sara thought it was okish.

First Round:

The labna tasted fantastic, the texture was perfect, and the taste was amazing not too sour or too bland. We both hated the buns, and thought they tasted a bit weird. The hush brown was too salty , the pancakes were a bit plasticy (is this a word?) and everything else was ok.

Second Round:

The hummus was great 2 , I liked how the texture was not entirely smooth. Sara fell in love with the cinnamon pastry and declared that its the best she ever had crispy yet soft. We were not impressed with the noodles or the muffins, and had nothing to say about the grilled tomato.

Third Round:

The cold cuts, cheese and fresh fruits were the perfect way to end our meal. They had a good variety of fresh fruits but we decided on the ones which were cut. Overall, the experience was not bad , the staff were very friendly and the view was nice. The only thing annoying about sitting outside were the flies, we were constantly trying swat them.

If you are into waking up early and having breakfast outside of your home (10 R.O for one person including tax and service) then Tropicana is a good place to do so. We are planning to pay another visit, and try their lunch buffets.

Shang Thai

I was suppose to do this ages ago but I have been so lazy. We enjoyed the food at shang-Thai, we went for lunch on the fourth day of Eid Al-Adha and we expected that the place will be packed but it was empty. Shang-Thai is located on top of Mirchee which is located next to Mcdonalds, Al-Khuwair, Sultan Qaboos Road.

We started with Xiang Zha Dui Xia (basically its shrimp on toast) and Dim Sum. Both went down very quickly and we all agreed that they were not bad.

Dim Sum ( 2.500 R.O) Xiang Zha Dui Xia (2.500 R.O)

For Drinks Faisal chose Lemon Fizz (1.200), both me & Abduallah decided on Ginger Lemonade (1.200 R.O) which is just like mint lemonade, but instead of mint you have ginger.

For our main course we went for the following:

Szechwan Chilli Prawn (6.000 R.O)

this dish was mild spicy, with a hint of sweetness but that was about it! I didn't like it much, However my three companions loved.

Kaeng Dang Goong (4.800)

This is Thai green curry , I know its not green color but that what it is. None of us liked this dish, we all thought it was too "coconuty". it was too hot that you could not detect any other taste, not even the shrimps!

Ped Makarm (4.800 R.O)

the Duck was my choice, I love duck meat and I have been craving for it so when I saw that they have it I ordered it with no hesitation. The dish was very sweet, there was nothing else special about. The only one who liked it was Sara, it was her favourite among the dishes.

Hakkian Noodles (3.200 R.O)

Sara decided that this was the best noodle dish she ever had in Oman! The rest of us just thought it was okish :p

Desserts:

Tempura Ice Cream (2.000 R.O) Kluay Thod (3.000 R.O)

The tempura ice cream was amazing, I don't know how they managed to fry the ice cream, its just beyond my imagination. What I liked about this dessert is that the ice cream was the source of sweetness while the batter covering it was not, this created a great balance between the two. It was the perfect ending for a good meal. Me, Sara and Faisal attacked the tempura ice cream, leaving Abduallah to tackle the Kluay Thod as he is a big fan of fried banana topped with ice cream.

Overall it was good experience, and we cant wait for our next visit to Shang Thai :)