In a previous blog post I have covered my love of brunches and the craziness of Friday brunch in the Middle East. Even though I miss them, I do not miss wasting a day of my weekend to hangovers and regret. In Shenzhen one of my favourite brunches is Crafthead because it is so chilled and the food is good, but last weekend I fancied a change and booked us into the weekend buffet at the Langham. Located on the 1st floor of the hotel (please note, I am writing this as a Brit!) you enter ‘Silk’ via a sweeping stairway and you are immediately greeted by the dessert offerings before you head through to the main dining area.

The brunch buffet is in a central area with tables and chairs spread out across the different sections. The whole area is light, bright and airy and, when we arrived just after noon, it was already pretty busy with a nice buzzing atmosphere. After helping ourselves to soft drinks we headed straight for the seafood. There was a lovely display of mussels, crab, snails, scallops, whelks, prawns and marinated seafood skewers.

Beyond the self serve red and white wine, there was a Cantonese BBQ section offering beef, pork, chicken, steak, goose and fish. Here you place your order and then the food is brought over to your table.

Our favourite section for the main course was the buffet style sushi and sliced to order sashimi. I highly recommend the salmon and mackerel, it was delicious.

Further along the buffet included pan Asian dishes, dim sum, salads, breads, pastries and a hand pulled noodle stall.

After a short break from filling ourselves with savory we headed for dessert section. This for me was the strength of the brunch, the desserts were thought out and well executed. There was a very cute ice cream stand where you could ‘create your own sundae’ with vanilla ice-cream and a variety of toppings. There was a traditional ice cream stand with cones and a chocolate fountain with fruit and marshmallows. We thoroughly enjoyed the dessert section – the cheesecake was top notch and Greg was more than happy with the fresh cream cakes on offer.

The service throughout brunch was friendly and discreet. Plates and cutlery were cleared quickly but unlike other tables we were not offered tea/coffee. I paid for brunch through the WeChat Mall and it was 268 RMB each which I felt was good value as it included all food and drinks. In comparison to the Four Seasons brunch we did not get lobster, oysters or a choice of wines, but it is also double the price so completely understandable. Personally I also felt the Langham was less formal and a bit more family orientated. Overall we enjoyed our weekend buffet. If you like seafood, BBQ and desserts in relaxing atmosphere then this is a good option!