Mini-restaurant review: Elements, at Fairmont Bab Al Bahr

Elements is a buffet restaurant and has a pretty great Friday brunch I'm told, but we went there for my birthday dinner. All I can say is: oysters and shrimp and sushi. LOADS. Don't bother with anything else actually - it looked pretty passable to me. Five cooking stations blah blah blah. I think I might have taken a piece of cheese and some moutabel, but other than that I just gorged on seafood. And then entered the dessert room. Everything was delicious (not like other brunches where the desserts just look delicious but rarely are) and I loved how it was all cut up into tiny portions for you. No more passing on a cheesecake because it has been rendered unrecognisable by the heavy hands of those who came before you.

It was my birthday and I was with my friends, so this meal gets :) :) :) :) :) automatically, although it's not cheap: with a few drinks it was well over Dh300 per person and like all buffets, I can't be entirely sure it was worth it. Also, and if I can head off just one buffet meal at the pass here by saying this, I will be happy: do you really need to gorge yourself? Wouldn't a restaurant where you can order off the menu do just as nicely? I thought so.