And what type of name is that for a main restaurant in a 5 star hotel in Hangzhou? It sounds like some place a crack smoking battle rapper would hang out with his homeboys in the Bronx

I was down in the hood smoking d’ crack
When the coppers broke in and grabbed d’sac
So I punched him d’face and told him d’rules
For coppers d aint no buffet at D’Cafe

Seriously though. D’Cafe isn’t actually a hotdog place in the Projects. Far from it. With the marble clad reception of the Dragon Hotel large enough to park a whole NBA teams’s worth of Hummers this place is more fitting to be seen drinking Crystal Champagne than chasing the dragon. With all this awe and glory and chandelier on the way in, it is slightly surprising that D’Cafe isn’t done up to the nines as well. This restaurant is simply comfortable, with a huge amount of light coming in the floor to ceiling glass walls, leaving views of the gardens outside. Coming in from busy dirty Hangda Road, the peace and simple clean lines and light of this dining room is perhaps the restaurant’s greatest success.

We had a table for 18 people booked for 11am Sunday Brunch. Traipsing in at 11 or 11.15 we were greeted by every single member of staff, of which there is a veritable gang, every which one of whom wanted to ask about the weather, enquire where I was going, say hello, Welcome, have I been the the new Dragon before that by the time I made it across the foyer and around the Veranda Restaurant to D’Cafe, I was out of breath from replying to all the pleasantries. All sweet and polite but doesn’t a nod and smile suffice?

And after all the niceties we get to business: claiming our 11am booking.
“So sorry Sir, but the restaurant doesn’t open until 11.30am,” said the receptionist
“But we have an 11am booking”
“Yes Sir, I know”
“Nobody thought to warn us that we wouldn’t be allowed into the dining room until 11.30?” Without an invitation to take a table, we sat in the hall.

Gigantic is a word that Dragon seems to have taken to heart. There is a gigantic amount of money being spent on the renovation. The hotel is gigantic with 500 rooms and 2 serviced apartment blocks; D’Cafe is gigantic; and you guessed it, the spread of food is gigantic. But it isn’t laid out very well, pretty but not very logical. And very Chinese choices to eat. Nothing wrong with that, but I was hoping for some good sunday brunch goodness. Fish bar is the best in town without a doubt, with oysters galore, huge crab legs, mussels and more. Roast beef, if you could find it nestled amongst the bread section, was pretty tasty too. There’s a parma ham to slice (mangle) yourself, a chocolate fountain and then of course all the Asian stuff. Gigantic too is the wine list, pages of it all at surprisingly low prices.

I am sure I will be back at D’Cafe. I might not choose it myself, but while there are free-flow oysters included in the 140Y set buffet, somebody will want to go.

-

-