Cafe Coco Review

Cafe 'o' plenty at lunch

Preparations for eating lunch at Café Coco at the Cairns International Hotel:

· Do not eat for 2 days prior to dining

· Organise a group of friends who love to chat and have a good time

· Reserve 3 or more hours for lunch, then ensure the rest of the day is free to recover

I wish someone had told me these rules before I spent a Sunday afternoon gorging myself on seafood, pasta, meats, antipasto, vegetables, omelettes, desserts, coffee and daiquiris. This buffet lunch could be rated as the best of its kind in Cairns, and as long as you have enough time to bask in the precarious glory of your tummy on the verge of breaking open, then this is the place for you.

Adjacent to the Cairns International Hotel Grand Lobby, Cafe Coco offers casual buffet dining for lunch. It's an excellent place to take a group of friends, or to meet with relatives you haven't seen for a long time. If your mother-in-law starts blabbing about your partner's adolescent flings, head directly for the dessert bar and grab a few créme caramels.

The buffet, by any standards, is excellent. The presentation of the buffet is impressive, the amount of food available is staggering, and the selection is wide. There is something to suit all tastes, from small children to pedantic fine diners. The buffet features fresh seafood and a vast array of breads and salads. There is an extensive hot and cold selection, plus wonderful desserts. The seafood buffet has become famous for its quality and variety, and it's easy to see why: fresh oysters, Balmain bugs, large prawns, mussels with chilli and various types of fish.

For $42 a head, you need to make sure you're going to get your money's worth. By following the rules set out at the beginning of this review, this should be no problem. And to add to the benefits, diners receive bottomless champagne and frozen margaritas, and strawberry or mango daiquiris.

But that's not all folks! For no extra charge, Café Coco will throw in an omelette chef who will cook your eggs to order. Just point out the ingredients you want thrown into your egg mix, and the egg flipper guy will cook you a feast.

The desserts at Café Coco are just as extensive as the seafood selection, including crème caramel, cheesecake, fruit salads, chocolate cake, and jelly champagne.

Café Coco service is fast and attentive. The waiters scoot around the restaurant topping up drinks, overseen by serious looking men in suits whose eyes constantly scan the restaurant for empty plates. The Sunday lunch begins at 11:30 and concludes around 3:00. Live hotel-foyer jazz emanates from the lobby bar, but if it weren't for all the food around me I'd think I was in an elevator.

With good friends, interesting conversation and a flexible belly, Café Coco is a great venue for Sunday lunch. Enjoy the air-conditioning and the endless food.

- Diner Diller

Cafe Coco	Cairns CBD
Adjacent to the Cairns International's Lobby, Cafe Coco offers casual brassiere style dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Choose from the A La Carte menu or Buffet and enjoy quick and quality service at any time of the day.
cuisines: Contemporary features: A la carte, Buffet, Family Friendly, Licensed, Mastercard, Visa open: Daily from 6:00 to 22:30 review: Cafe 'o' plenty at lunch (21/3/2003) contact: (07) 40311300 | 17 Abbott Street
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