Hacienda Alemana (Pto Vallarta)

the spread is worlds apart from the gluttonous overcrowding of dishes standard of American and Chinese buffets

Hacienda Alemana is a bonafide German restaurant in the thick of Puerto Vallarta. I've been to the restaurant a few times for specially prepared dishes---it pays to be friends with friends of the ownder!---or just drinks and each visit was a good one, but I click my jackboots at the unbelievable fete, Buffet Alemán (that's 'German Buffet' for those too slow to parse a translation) held twice weekly from Nov to April. I've never had a buffet this good in my life: various succulent meats, soups, salad vegetables as well as cooked veggies, thick bread, grilled foods, coffee and cakes, and free flowing tap beer. Am unaware if the layout of the food is typical of Duechtland but the spread is "healthy looking" and worlds apart from the gluttonous overcrowding of dishes standard of American and Chinese buffets. At just $225 pesos it makes for an amazingly delicious and cheap date.

Operated by an authentic German man whose name I can't recall, Hacienda Alemana features lots of wood paneling and furniture, a biergarten, German beers (duh!) as well as domestic ones, and a hearty and equally tranquil ambience. When the restaurant is full it, oddly, keeps from being noisy or crowded and, yet, when nearly empty is free of the awkward silence that screams "slow business!"

I click my jackboots at the unbelievable fete, Buffet Alemán

One queer feature, though, is hearing Julio Iglesias in the background. The Spaniard does not quite compliment the decor and menu. Maybe he's the owner's favorite crooner but it still makes more sense to engage the airwaves with, say, Beethoven, Dietrich, Mozart or even a respectful nod to a Mexican ballader.

Basilio Badillo 378

Col. Emiliano Zapata

011 52 (322) 2222.071

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