In a city that is not short on choice for large buffets, the Silk Route Café at the Holiday Inn is offering a healthy alternative that combines the joy of eating without the huge calorie intake. Words Sara Taher
Most people who enjoy eating out in the city invariably struggle with the sky-high calorie count. The sad reality is that most meals prepared at restaurants are usually packed with high fat content, high sodium and high sugar – pleasing the palate while not doing your health any favours. Luckily, city dwellers can now opt to dine at Lite Night every Wednesday evening at the Silk Route Café at the Holiday Inn. The venue has put together a substantial savoury buffet that won’t give your waistline nightmares.
The buffet has three sections; salads, mains and desserts. Each dish is clearly labelled with the calorie count and fat content per 100 grams, helping customers make informed decisions about what they put in their mouths. Everything we sampled was surprisingly packed with flavour without being weighed down by oil or fat. The salad options were really fresh, with delightful concoctions such as vegetable salad with crisp broccoli florets and baby corn. Likewise, the mains included sumptuous Asian roast chicken and dhal tadka which were superb. The dessert station had very interesting choices on it, such as the rice cakes, which had us going back for seconds without fear of being judged.
We spoke to chef Carl Moore about the great addition to the city’s buffets.
How did you come up with the concept for this?
Well, it all started with two ‘slightly’ overweight chefs (never trust a skinny chef!) figuring out how to lose weight. Pastry chef Anubhav and I were working towards becoming a tad healthier. I had just begun the Dukan diet which was showing some great results and was explaining the same to our pastry chef. During that discussion, we thought why not start a healthy food concept in one of our restaurants? The aim was not only to promote healthy and light food, but to also learn more in the process about cooking healthy food so that we could help ourselves lose weight.
Can you tell us a bit about the talks you are planning for schools about healthy eating habits?
We’ve seen some statistics featuring overweight kids recently, and I think kids really need to eat healthy from a young age so that they can take this forward as they turn into adults. I personally am particular about
what my kids eat, but I make sure their lunches and dinners are fun for them. We are hoping to educate kids about healthy eating and its benefits. We will be hosting talks which we guarantee will be really interactive and fun – so that it’s not just about ‘talking’ to the kids, but also involving them and helping them to be genuinely interested in healthy eating habits. We’re happy for schools to approach us about the talks, and these sessions will be at absolutely no cost. All they have to do is simply pick up the phone and call us on 02 657 4847.
What is the biggest challenge in making a healthy yet delicious meal and buffet?
The challenge is making it both healthy and delicious. Chefs are programmed to make food delicious and generally not very healthy. So to change our cooking methods and still produce tasty food is going against the grain.
How has the response been?
The response has been pretty good. We’ve seen the trend of people moving towards healthy eating, and quite honestly they really appreciate a nice big buffet filled with healthy options, which they can eat without having to worry about gaining those kilos.
How did you obtain the calorie amounts for the dishes?
That is quite a tedious process. We had to break down each recipe into every component and calculate the calories of every ingredient in a dish. Then we add it up and calculate the number of calories for one 100g serving, which is also on display at the buffet.
Lite Nights costs Dhs99 per person, 6pm-10pm every Wednesday. Silk Route Café, Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi (02 657 4858).
Lite Night dessert
If you are looking for a low calorie dessert to treat the family to, try this rice cakes recipe at home. At just 30 calories per 100 grams with a meagre 0.2 grams of fat, this is one sweet end to any meal!
Ingredients
500g Rice flour
250g Water
30g Sugar
100g Palm sugar
100g Dried coconut powder
Method
1 Combine the rice flour with the sugar and water and knead to yield a smooth and hard dough.
2 Take a small chunk of the dough and flatten it out on your palm.
3 Place a small ball of palm sugar in the centre and close the dough over it to get a ball. Repeat the process till all the dough is used.
4 Boil water in a saucepan.
5 Drop the rice flour balls into the boiling water and cook for around five minutes.
6 Strain them out of the water and roll in the coconut powder.
7 Cool and serve.
