An alternative all-you-can-eat restaurant: Kaohsiung Ambassador Hotel’s buffet that champions health and sustainability

Text and photos byShadow

It’s been a while since I last had a buffet at a hotel, and recently the news has been buzzing about all-you-can-eat hotel buffets. On the first floor of the five-star Ambassador Hotel by the Love River, there’s also an all-you-can-eat buffet. MARKET CAFÉ officially opened two years ago at the Ambassador Hotel in Kaohsiung, offering a fresh take on international cuisine. Without resorting to flashy gimmicks, it adheres to a philosophy of health and sustainability, providing locals in Kaohsiung with fresh ingredients and wholesome meals.

There are four dining periods: breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. We chose to dine at noon, with the meal served from 11:30 to 14:00.

The salad bar offers dozens of ingredients, making it the most varied selection of leafy greens I’ve seen at any buffet so far, including some vegetables that are not commonly eaten.

Unlike typical restaurants that use ceramic plates, this one uses glass salad bowls. After selecting your vegetables, you hand the bowl to the chef at the counter, specify your preferred dressing (options include Thousand Island, Caesar, Japanese-style soy-vinegar, Japanese yuzu dressing, honey mustard, and Hawaiian passion fruit), and the chef mixes the salad for you before serving. Small glass bowls are filled with various nuts and dried fruits that you can add as you like.

Moving along, you’ll find the sashimi section — a must-have favorite among many. Sashimi is ordered directly from the chefs. Options include salmon, tuna, swordfish, and barramundi.

There aren’t many types of nigiri sushi, mostly featuring common raw fish, while rolls are available in a separate section.

The seafood offerings include clams, whelks, shrimp, and crabs, all simply blanched to let the natural flavors shine.

Condiments provided include wasabi, five-spice sauce, soy sauce, shredded radish, and lemon slices.

This section is the Asian noodle area, where you can pair noodles with a variety of vegetables and meats. There are several broth options to choose from, such as Thai shrimp soup, herbal white peony soup, and tomato burdock soup. Noodle varieties include rice noodles, vermicelli, Vietnamese rice vermicelli, salted pasta, egg noodles, and thick ramen. Noodles tend to be quite filling, so we skipped this section.

In the international cuisine section, you’ll find dishes like Balinese-style curry banana grilled fish, Moroccan-style braised lamb, rosemary-herb pan-seared chicken thighs, and Italian prosciutto pesto pasta — all less common international dishes.

[Spanish-style Seafood Paella]

[Harbor-style Lemon-Thyme Grilled Squid]

[Crispy Fried Oysters]

Next is the teppanyaki section, which focuses on made-to-order dishes, mainly featuring meat. Adjacent is the seasonal vegetable section, where you can even find roasted garlic.

The chefs serve you on-site — just tell them what meat you’d like, and you can adjust the flavor with the sauces provided based on your preference.

Featured are beef raised on selected U.S. grains, including ribeye and premium sirloin, along with sausages, chicken, and pork.

The bread comes from Le Bouquet, the hotel’s first-floor bakery, and is made using French baking techniques — crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

There are so many choices, and I’m worried about eating too much and having no room left for other dishes.

The dessert section proudly displays two refrigerated cases packed with cakes and cookies. Each item is clearly labeled, and for anyone with a sweet tooth, it’s almost impossible to choose just one.

The desserts are well-made, with a variety of flavors and textures — I almost wish I had multiple stomachs to enjoy them all.

There are about seven types of fresh fruit, all looking high quality. I’ll save these for after the meal.

Most drinks are freshly squeezed juices or fruit juices, served over a thick layer of ice to keep them fresh. There are plenty of flavors to choose from, and next to them are black tea and coffee.

Just outside the restaurant is a swimming pool, and window-side seats offer great views — they’re often in high demand. The sailing ship-themed dining area, from staff attire to seat colors, is dominated by blue and white tones, with a very clear theme. There’s seating at both the front and back, easily accommodating around a hundred people.

Glancing up, you’ll notice the ceiling is decorated with sail and wave patterns, giving the illusion that you’re dining on a boat. The space and overall ambiance are thoughtfully designed. Plus, it’s not crowded, making it ideal for those wanting to enjoy a relaxing meal.

The seafood is very fresh, and the restaurant emphasizes a healthy diet by minimizing cooking and seasoning methods that might mask the natural flavors of the ingredients.

There are four types of sashimi available, and the same goes for the nigiri sushi.

We didn’t have much foreign cuisine—just a little taste of fried oysters and shells pasta.

The teppanyaki dishes were a bit disappointing; the meat served that day was dry and tough. We mentioned this to the restaurant staff and gave some constructive feedback.

The salad was served in a large glass bowl, and the chef had already mixed the dressing into the vegetables, so you can eat it straight away. That day, we also saw a foreigner order an enormous bowl of salad and seemed very satisfied with the huge serving.

[French Onion Soup], [Creamy Mushroom Soup]

The onion soup had a slightly sweeter flavor, while the mushroom soup had a strong aroma of wild mushrooms but lacked a really smooth, well-rounded taste.

The fruits were all very sweet and of high quality—nothing to complain about.

In the latter half of the meal, the staff came around to ask if guests wanted coffee or tea. I ordered a latte, which had a strong coffee flavor. For those who don’t drink coffee, tea is a good option.

This bread was really delicious—soft yet chewy. I was worried about eating too much, so I only had a little bit to be moderate.

Finally, my husband’s favorite—the ice cream. Italian gelato comes in single or double scoops. The ice is scooped by the staff at the counter, not self-service. Flavors available include chocolate, green tea, sesame, vanilla, coffee, and milk.

The Italian gelato had a delicate and smooth texture—we ended up having several scoops. The peanut bits were added by ourselves, and there were many other nuts that you could mix in if you liked. The photo shows chocolate, vanilla, and green tea flavors.

We tried a few desserts—they were all quite good and met a certain standard. Unfortunately, our stomachs were too small to sample everything.

Prices vary between weekdays and weekends, and also depending on the dining period. Please refer to the price chart.

MARKET CAFE’s buffet is somewhat different from the traditional concept of a buffet. The restaurant emphasizes a healthy and eco-friendly philosophy, with minimal processing of ingredients—which is why we saw many dishes served mostly in their natural state, allowing diners to enjoy the original flavors rather than heavily sauced foods. While this philosophy is great and we support it, food still needs to taste good to attract customers. I feel some dishes could improve in flavor or texture. I hope this alternative-style buffet can become a future trend, encouraging people to care a bit more about the environment while enjoying their meals.

MARKET CAFE 味集厨房自助餐
Address: No. 202, Minsheng 2nd Road, Qianjin District, Kaohsiung City
Phone: 07-2115243
Business Hours: Lunch 11:30–14:00 | Afternoon Tea 14:30–17:00 | Dinner 18:00–21:00
FB:MARKET CAFE 味集厨房自助餐

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