By Margaret Sheard ….
A weekend of extremely nice food! We started with a Valentine’s Night event and followed this with Sunday Brunch at MC Palace Hotel in Catalkoy.
Friday the 14th February was Valentine’s Day, and luckily we completed our week with the CyprusScene online Enewspaper in plenty of time to join others at MC Palace Hotel to enjoy a really nice evening to celebrate St Valentine. As we were not sure if we would be able to make it, we hadn’t made a reservation but thought there would be plenty of room for us to join the same table as a group of friends. How wrong can you be? However, the hotel pulled out all the stops and managed to include us at our friends’ table.
The dining area had been moved to the area where the bar is situated and we understand there were 180 guests that evening. A tall order for the chef and kitchen staff with a 5 course menu! Although there were some delays between 
courses, we could not fault the standard of cuisine we sampled that evening and, with many of the guests arriving without making a reservation, we compliment the kitchen on coping with such a huge number of diners for their first major event.
We started with a cold plate which was very decorative, followed by a hot appetiser, then salad, then the main course and to top it all a huge heart shaped dessert. My compliments to the chef, I had asked for a vegetarian option, but then learned it was to be sea bream, oh dear I do not eat fish either, but the chef prepared a lovely spicy bean dish which was delicious, so I was more than happy.
The hotel has a very large open plan area and the dining area for the evening was very nicely decorated with hearts and flowers, and lots of red balloons, and all the ladies were given a rose on arrival, a nice touch.
There was music from Brian Delaney followed by a trio playing mainly Turkish music, Brian had a further spot and then the trio played for the remainder of the evening. Many of the guests decided to take to the dance floor.
It was a very enjoyable evening spent in nice company and we made our way home, feeling extremely full, at around 12.30am.
We had decided to indulge ourselves that weekend, so on Sunday 16th February we went along to MC Palace Hotel again to try their Sunday Brunch. This time we were in the main dining area. Brunch is from 10am to 3pm and although we didn’t arrive very early there was still an abundance of food available and a great many choices – cereals and breakfast items, 2 different soups, hot food which included several meat dishes, cheese and spinach boreks, potato wedges, rice, stuffed peppers and more, there was also salad, and lovely desserts, and fruit, we discovered many garnishes and a large selection of bread and rolls.
We spoke with the chef – Oktay Bey who was very welcoming and he showed me all of the hot dishes and explained what they contained, he was very helpful. As a vegetarian there was plenty to choose from and also a good range for meat eaters as well. Being a buffet style brunch, it is nice to be able to eat as little or as much as you like. We were very impressed with the choice of food available.
The waiters were very attentive, refilling our coffee cups and water glasses and making sure we were comfortable.
After our lunch we wandered around the vast area and eventually we were taken to view the Spa facility by a nice young lady called Nuray. We started on the lower floor where there are sauna facilities, massage rooms, and a hammam. When we entered this area we were amazed to see a huge seating area and off this is another very large room where conventions and weddings can be held. Everywhere is very tastefully furnished, as is the main hotel open plan area.
Next we took the elevator to the top of the building to find a massive roof area where there was a bar and a raised covered walkway virtually the length of the roof. Nuray said this could be used for many different types of functions including fashion shows and this could be visualised as an ideal venue for such an event.
We have yet to view some of the rooms of the hotel, but seeing what we have so far I can only imagine they are something very special and we are sure there will be a big surprise, as we are continually finding in this beautiful hotel.
