Can A Buffet be Sustainable? We try Doubletree Kuala Lumpur’s Sustainable Eco-Epicurean Buffet

Before we begin, all Doubletrees in Malaysia name their main restaurant Makan Kitchen and all of them strive to highlight local food. This manifests in their 3 “kitchens”: Chinese, Indian, and Malay Kitchen at the buffet.

Each kitchen will feature signature dishes relating to those cooking styles and they’re pretty conscious about featuring local ingredients and even adapting cooking styles unique to different states.

For example, at Damai Laut, there was a beef rendang prepared in Perak style and in Putrajaya there was a Johor-style roti bakar with peanut sauce and over easy egg.

Having sampled buffets at Doubletree Putrajaya and Damai Laut under their Makan Kitchen banner, Doubletree Kuala Lumpur has both of them beat in overall taste and variety. The talents of the chef in KL is clearly higher than the other two locations and the difference is apparent.

While we’re at it, the cookies were the best in KL too, a fact which we find puzzling because at each Doubletree we stayed at, they insisted that the cookies were made with the same recipe and should taste the same anywhere in the world.

What is the sustainable menu at Doubletree Kuala Lumpur?

Food is segregated into the various kitchens and they all strongly feature good quality seafood that’s prepared well in that signature style.

New menu highlights include seafood on ice, marinated farmed white perch, roasted free-range chicken in coconut milk and locally sourced sea bass varuval.

The fish were sourced by MSC and ASC certified fisheries that use the right sized nets that only haul in the fish they need which reduces the amount of accidental fishing. MSC and ASC certification is only given to fisheries who abide by their sustainable standard and we checked both the suppliers that they mentioned and checked that they were indeed MSC and ASC certified.

In terms of taste, you honestly couldn’t get fresher seafood if you had fished it out yourself. The grilled prawns in particular were such a hit that it obviously brought out some unsustainable patrons who filled their plates with quadruple portions every time the prawns came out of the grill.

The seafood on ice was another corner that constantly received refills and it’s good to know that at least one buffet in Malaysia is attempting to be sustainable. The United Nations Environment Programme 2021 revealed that in Southeast Asia, Malaysians waste the most amount of food annually per capita.

In line with sustainable fisheries, the hotel also shifted to procuring local produce only from within a 80-km radius and this includes everything from their free-range chickens to the eggs from cage-free sources.

We asked a representative to confirm they could source everything locally but they consented that premium items like wagyu beef would have to be sourced outside since there aren’t any in an 80km radius.

Food recommendations at Makan Kitchen

If you get the same menu, we’d recommend first going to the Chinese kitchen to get the steamed red snapper. It’s tasty, good for your body, and well, it’s one of the more expensive dishes.

Stop by at the salad bar and cut yourself some lettuce by Cultiveat that provides hydroponic veggies daily. We thought fresh veggies from the stem might taste better, but yeah, they still taste like veggies… fresh veggies.

Then head to the Indian kitchen to behold the quail 65, a refreshing take on chicken 65. We didn’t know what to expect, but they did in fact taste like tiny little chickens, but more tender. Of course, don’t forget the sea bass varuval that drown in the sauce but managed to stand out as good seafood in good varuval sauce.

Then, go ahead and grab some fresh baked naan and head over to the Malay Kitchen to get the flower crab in chilli paste. Soak up that naan with some crab and chilli and go to town on it.

Special mention goes out to the lamb moussaka, think lasagne but better, and the baked red snapper—same great fish but crispy.

Top off your meal with some local drinks like teh tarik, roselle, calamansi, or cincau. There’s also ice cream courtesy of Baskin Robbins, which is always a good addition.

More sustainable efforts

While you can control your food sourcing, you can’t control individuals at buffets who take a small bite out of everything and throw the rest, or who gorge on too much at the beginning and waste food at the end.

To counteract this, DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur has collaborated with Voice For Paws on a stray feeding program to reinforce charitable giving. We asked why the food couldn't go to humans and found out that it's really tricky to get leftover food to people in time and still keep it safe for consumption.

Surplus food from the buffet will also be composted and repurposed as organic fertilisers at their rooftop garden.

We asked if this new eco-conscious offering affected their bottom line and we were told that Doubletree did not have to raise their prices and that at the end of the day, it was a net gain for them by choosing to be more sustainable.

The 80km radius actually helps them reduce emissions and delivery fees while providing competitive rates as local suppliers can actually charge less than bigger multinational suppliers.

Overall, we truly applaud Doubletree’s efforts to provide some type of solution to food wastage and when it benefits local farmers and suppliers, all the better.