Habsburg
Rosewood Corniche Hotel (First Floor)
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Tel: 2 260 7111
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Before I say anything , I just have to start out with Oh My God!. What I witnessed today at Habsburg Restaurant at Rosewood Corniche Hotel, I have never seen before in any restaurant in my life, and I have to say that I have been to a lot of restaurants in different parts of the world from the USA to England and from Egypt to Dubai.
Before I talk about the food, the atmosphere, the price, and anything else, I seriously encourage anyone who has the interest in experiencing a dining experience like no other to try Habsburg. Once you enter the dining area you find tables of different sizes each of course placed accordingly to their size and number of chairs.
The furniture itself is both classy and very simple giving you a feeling of comfort once you step foot inside, not to mention the smile you are greeted with both at the door and once you are seated. We went during lunch time and sat at a sea view table making the surrounding just breath taking. Despite the hot sun at 3pm in the afternoon, we insisted on keeping the curtains open to see the view from our table as we ate.
Now to talk about the food, the restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, however, only applying a open buffet style of dining. However, they do have special themes. For example, on Wednesday nights they have a seafood theme night. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to try it, but I am sure that I certainly would like to repeat the experience of visiting this restaurant, and hope to make it on a Wednesday night.
You start off your meal with a warm cup of soup from two options, they had today lentil soup and cream broccoli soup. I tried the latter, and it was bursting with the unique taste of broccoli with a creaminess to it, but not too heavy like other cream soups. After soup, you have the appetizers, and this is where it all starts. At the appetizer table, you are accompanied by one of the restaurants staff holding a very chic little wooden tray for you to place your pickings on. Unlike other open buffets in other hotels in other countries for that matter, the appetizers are arranged separately per serving per plate. Meaning for example the shrimp cocktail is placed in a small plate with two pieces of large shrimp covered in sesame seeds and lying on a bed of cream dressing .
This is one serving, of course you are welcome to take as many servings as you like, but you do not need to dig into large bowls of food that have been disturbed by other guests time and time again. You are the first and only person to touch the plate of appetizer arranged and presented to you like the food you see in movies, and those fancy cooking shows.
Now that I have explained the concept of how the food is served, here is a few of the appetizers I tried. Green salad plate with a choice of three different dressings, Italian dressing, French dressing, and Thousand Island dressing. I tried the Italian dressing and it was just superb, not too salty, not too lemony and not too strong, it was just perfect. They also have sushi rolls on a bed of oyster sauce, one sushi roll per serving. Smoked salmon balls with a toothpick for you to hold with. A very different look for the typical smoked salmon fillets you find in open buffets. Sun dried tomato slices with cheese alternating with basil sprinkled on top. And I do have to say, this is my first time to try sun dried tomatoes and take my word on it, definitely not the last.
These are the appetizer’s I tried out personally, however, there where at least 6 other options. All this is of course not including the regular known salads such as taboula, homos, metabel, and fatoush, which are each arranged in these cute little dishes for you to take without anyone having touched them. For the main course, you take your plate and choose by your own, not like the appetizers, but with the variety of dishes they have, it would be pretty difficult for someone to keep up with every guest.
The main dish is made up of all the food groups to entice all different types of people and different tastes. They have the different types of meat, from two types of seafood, salmon and hamour, to chicken with a grape juice sauce, to lamb chops with olive paste, lamb cubes with mint and anise sauce to veal cordon bleu. Apart from the meats you have your carbs which vary from steamed rice to wild rice, from eggplant pasta to regular paste with tomato sauce to mashed potatoes with herbs.
Then of course you have to have your veggies which included steamed vegetables with cheese sauce. After I tried the steamed vegetables, on my home I stopped at the nearest store and bought a steamer to try to make this dish. And regular steamed vegetables without any sauces for those who want to cut down on the calories. Finally, there was dessert which was once again the accompanying waiter with the tray. Dessert ranged from fresh fruit to oriental sweets to French pastries to mini sized cakes each one with its own presentation. There was something for every palate. And all this was for the price of 161SR per person including service tax but excluding drinks.
Once again I encourage anyone who has the interest in experiencing this unique style of service to try out Habsburg. Not for the food, because tastes vary from one person to another, but the service and hospitality and personal attention to each individual guest, can not be debated by two people. No one would not love this kind of attention.
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Rosewood Corniche launched maxican night on every Wednesday through the end of June in Habsburg restaurant on first floor. Exhilarate your taste buds with the finest Mexican food in Jeddah. They have new menu featured specialties such as “Ceviche” as well as classic “Quesadillas” and a flavorful variety of vivacious mocktails. And it is just at SAR 180 net per person including welcome drink. You may always pop up with your friends and family. This is place is just a family place with overlooking the red sea view. For booking you can call on 02 2607111 of visit their special offer page
http://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/corniche/special_offers/event_calendar/
The restaurant is great and serves superb quality, and exceed the guests expectation, dont forget to try seafood night on each thursday, it has the varietry of seafood items, which can be chosen and give the chef to grilled them.. and then nobody can interfare between you and a great seafood taste. …
Just note that the hotel number has been changed to +966.2.260.7111
For Saudi this place is great. I am not a fan of buffets because you lose quality for quantity but this place was actually good. The mini appitisers which you can sample in small plates on a tray is a nice idea. You try many appetizer plates but all just bite portions. Friday lunch is the largest variety when the sushi Shef and shalwar a Shef and chocolate fondue are all on the buffet. The sea view is the nicest thing about it during the day.
I agree with Ghadda.The review is by far exagerated. It is not a wowowwwwww experience. Are you sure you travelled all over the world???? I stayed at this hotel for 2 weeks, the service is very good, but thatg is what u get everywhere in the US, so it was not etraordinary to me. The food was good, not excellent, I have of course been to better places, may be for a hotel food it is very good. I am a nig traveler too so nothing really impressed me there. The dessert looked really really good, but they were ok.
Thanks
Previous review by Mohi
I needed to go somewhere special the other Friday, and an ad caught my eye advertising a Friday brunch special at the Hapsburg. As I’ve always wanted to visit the Rosewood Corniche (touted as Jeddah’s most luxurious hotel) this seemed like the perfect excuse. Passing a checkpoint that wouldn’t look out of place in NORAD, I was at the gates of the hotel and enjoyed the benefit of valet parking. I was dismayed at the begining when I was then directed to the first floor. In my mind I had already been setting a comparison table to the Hilton and the Westin with their top floor views. My fears were disperesed once I saw the actual view. It may not have had the panoramic bird’s eye view I was expecting, but it did have a more close up and intimate view of the beautiful Jeddah corniche. Like sitting on the corniche itself minus the heat and the humidity and, thanks to the early hour, no pesky tourists.
Once we were seated (after being welcomed warmly by the maitre’d) we were left to pursue the pleasures of the open bouffet. The Hapsburg boasted an international cuisine that spanned everything from eggs benedict to Arabian grills, roast beef to sushi. Whatever your (or your guest’s) individual taste might be, you’ll probably find something you like. But what really caught my attention was the mini delights table. Imagine small dishes filled with succulent little bites, like mini salads, cocktail shrimps, salmon rolls, each decorated and presented like a full blown dish, making each one of them a small work of art that you almost feel sorry to consume. The delightful tininess can also be seen in the desserts corner, which can be quite deceptive to those of us with a diet to mind. Another pleasent surprise was finding one of my favorite Indonesian fruits; salak, among the fresh fruits in offer.
The whole thing cost me SR175 (+15% service charge) per person, which I found to be good value to visit one of Jeddah’s most delightful brunch spots. Will definitely visit again.
Really i had a wonderful experience in Habsburg Restaurant.the service is excellent.Thanks to all staff of Rosewood Corniche specially Habsburg rest…..
I will sum up my breakfast experience at Habsburg at the Rosewood Hotel by saying that it was:
- overpriced
- not enough variety of food and little quantity
- waiters started closing down the buffet at 10:30 am (breakfast was advertised until 11am)
- no view although the hotel is on the corniche
However, the atmosphere is relaxed and the waiters were very courteous.
yesterday i went there with my husband & my 7 years old daughter.we had dinner i made a reservation in the morning and they handeled it very will. when we got there they were preparing us a sea view table. i can say i enjoyed it with few simple comments. First of all of course the decoration with great pillars and the fountain gives you a great feeling of luxury. Second the working staff is a real advantage to the place they add a smilly welcoming atmosphere.Third the food starting from salads (Taboula,Fattouch,Salmon,Shrimp and cheese)and across soup ( Harira & Creamy Cauliflower ) passing by appetizers (Sambousa & spring rolls)till main dish (Cordon Bleu, Rice, Pasta,Kebba Labaniah and 2 Fish kinds) Sweety end of course with deserts (Kunafa,Om Aly,differnt fruits and huge variety of Gatteaux Soire)all presented in a unique way.My comments are:
1-The variety of the main dish is still very limited specially for those who prefer traditional food offering.
2-The vegetables specially steamed is a must in any buffet but we couldnt have it there.
3-The green vegeatbles in the salade bar werent available also like (green,red,orange and yellow pepper, cucumber and lettuce).
4-The Bread was very ordinary and limited and this is really starge as the deserts were the tophead of the buffet.
We paid 450 SR and i think it was just ok. Hope you all take the adventure and enjoy.
I think this review is a little exaggerated…we’ve been to it when it first opened a couple of times, yes the service is very good…as for the food, the starters and desserts are good, but the main is nothing to write home about. Plus it’s a little pricy, more than 200 per person.
and where is the photo gallery ???
See Photo above! More Photos on the Rosewood Corniche Website – Link also Above.