“Good morning, Sir, Ma’am”, greeted the doorman. We wished him well in return as we stepped into the lobby to face a lovely grand staircase, reminiscent of The Sound of Music. I half expected Liesl and the rest of the kids to come trotting down bursting into song!

“Very nice,” I whispered to Mike, my husband. I was surprised to see such a modern look from what I had expected to be an older hotel in Bur Dubai. We found out later that the Mövenpick had just recently undergone a refurbishment and its face lift created a very nice and fresh feel.
We had been looking forward to trying this Full Monty British Brunch since, as Canadians, our knowledge of British food was rather limited to pub fare such as fish and chips and steak-and-kidney pies even during our visits to England.

We were escorted to the lobby restaurant with two tables prominently displayed out front -- one featuring an array of delectable desserts, and the other full of pies, decorated with an open recipe book and models of old-fashioned cars. We were delighted to be led to our table in a cosy corner of the restaurant. Despite the restaurant being located in the hotel lobby, it has been cleverly designed to afford the patrons privacy while creating a bright, open concept.
“Here’s the menu where you can order a few a la carte items”, the smiling waitress informed us as we sat down.

 

A la carte was a pleasant surprise – not typical for a buffet. Mike scanned through the list and declared, “Let’s share the Full Monty Platter”, bypassing the fish and chips as well as the chicken liver.

Despite the very fresh array of crisp vegetables, shrimp cocktail, and smoked kipper, I skipped the salads section (there is no room in my stomach to spare for salads in a buffet), stopping instead to admire the neighbouring table. It was a display covered by the Union Jack flag, with an adorable old-fashioned red double-decker bus, and several huge cans of baked beans and other food jars. Along with the wine crate displayed with grapes and wine bottles also artistically arranged to create a warm, homey feel, this was one of my favourite displays at the restaurant.

I stopped at the carvery where the sous-chef had just launched into a description of the ingredients of a Yorkshire pudding to an American guest who had never heard of it. As I suffer from several food intolerances, which I heartily ignored during my buffet visit, I was impressed with his informative, helpful approach (as well as his enthusiasm in heaping generous helpings of food onto our plates).

After carefully selecting our meals, we sat down, hungrily tucking in! My plate was piled with tender roast beef, Yorkshire pudding drenched in gravy, cottage pie (what we call ‘Shepherd’s pie’) with deliciously creamy mashed potatoes, and a few other items I’ve never previously tried – a serving of beets which was surprisingly sweet, haddock cakes, Lancashire hot pot which had scalloped potatoes topped over meat, and an interesting swede and parsnip bake which texture and mixture of tastes I quite enjoyed. However, my absolute favourite was the Beef and Guiness Stew, with delectable buttery pastry and juicy chunks of beef and button mushrooms. These were served in ceramic Ramekin bowls topped with finger-licking good pastry and were so good, I went back for seconds.

 

In addition to some of my selections, Mike also had smoked salmon, cold cuts, and cheese and crackers while waiting for the Full Monty. Our main event arrived shortly after the ever-efficient servers took away emptied dishes. The steak, eggs, sausages, fried bread, baked beans, tomatoes, black pudding, and potatoes allserved in an enormous platter (the size of a large pizza) was plopped in front of us.The steak was lightly crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, just the way I like it, and the fried bread was sinfully delicious although I couldn’t help thinking guiltily of the calories per bite.

Despite the ever-expanding girth of our bellies, we saved room for dessert; the most important part of the meal for Mike. Although I am usually a chocoholic, I was determined to try some of the more British desserts such as bread and butter pudding, which I rather enjoyed in its sweet heartiness, as well as the apple crumble pie which kept me crunching away since I loved the texture. We also had treacle pudding, something I had read about in books as a child but never tried. Mike adored the fruit trifle as well as the chocolate martinis (a velvety smooth chocolate mousse) and jam rolypoly.

Since I have only ever heard the phrase “Full Monty” from the 1997 film of the same name, which I was sure could not have been the theme of the buffet, trusty old Google had informed me that it was the equivalent of what we North Americans call the “whole nine yards” or “the works”. Judging by the exploding sensation of our stomachs and the expansive assortment of delicious choices, we certainly had the Full Monty experience in our little gastronomic tour of England.