Afyä, Traders Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi
Traders Hotel has a whole new outdoor BBQ concept available every Friday at the Afya Restaurant. Guests indulge in an expansive dinner buffet with live kitchens, dessert stations and unwind by the beach with drinks and games. Bring the whole family! Read on further for my experience at their Friday Smoking Vibes BBQ.
Welcome
Traders Hotel has a beautiful beach front and I can see why this dinner is increasingly popular among families. We arrived at their outdoor venue with ample tables and outdoor sofa sets set up right by the sand. Lights were glowing and music was pumping by their in-house DJ. Be sure to reserve in advance and go before 6:30pm for the sunset. At the entrance, they ask their guests to pay in advance and provide you a wristband to identify the food vs alcoholic package guests. The food package costs AED 116 net. Kids between ages 6-12 receive 50% off.
Buffet Dinner Stations:
- Make your own salad station – extensive tables dedicated to the art of salad making – make sure you get your greens to balance all the BBQ
- Pizza Station – I watched the chef roll out pizza dough to make thin curst margarita pizzas and more, they use a real clay oven (I have to admit it really does look like an igloo in the dark!) Moreover, its freshly baked, and the kids love it!
- Shawarma Station – this one was probably the best station I enjoyed that night. The meat was tender, juicy and flavorful. The only downside was there was quite a long wait so I skipped over it a couple times. It is worth the wait ladies and gentlemen.
- Mexican Station – I was ecstatic they have this station as I love love love Mexican food. This station had hard shell tacos and nachos with so many toppings – guacamole, corn, salsa, cheese, lettuce, peppers and sizzling chili. I really enjoyed this station but a bit disappointed with the tacos as they were quite stale and the guacamole never got replenished after it was finished – so get there early!
- Hot Dogs and Burgers – this station was a fan favorite, always a line-up here. I got a hotdog and it was a foot-long!
- Biriyani – There was a large bowl of biriyani available. This one did not seem too popular and remained untouched most of the night.
- Specialty Barbeque – this is the main attraction of the night. There were different kinds of BBQ of different cuts and meats – chicken drumsticks, thighs, to huge ribs, lamb, & loads of skewers. I really enjoyed the live BBQ aspect as you could see them cook it right in front of your eyes – topped with the amazing smoky smells!
- Desserts – They had a dozen trays of caked desserts, but the most popular one was probably the ice cream cart. They only had lemon sorbet or chocolate ice cream so I had both! Enjoyed it.
Entertainment
They had a resident DJ who played music for us all night long. There was a large kid’s birthday party that was held that night too so there were tons of kids running around and enjoying the festivities. The main attraction they had for the kids was the huge bouncy castle! Definitely a fun dinner for the family so make sure you don’t leave those kids at home!
