Weekend brunches are nothing new at the Landmark Hotel, where its family-style Sunday brunch at the Atrium restaurant has long been regarded as one of the best value-for-money buffet feasts in Bangkok.

This lovely restaurant is a neat, family-run business, of which its recipes come from a southerner grandmother, kitchen directed by culinarily passionate aunt and niece while front of the house under the care of the mother.

Meanwhile, the Sunday roast at Huntsman Pub is also popular among expatriates who love a homey meal with some booze.

But launched just last week was the hotel's first premium buffet brunch set at its top-floor fine dining restaurant, Rib Room and Bar (RR&B) steakhouse.

The 150-minute-long lunch buffet, limited to only 30 diners at this introduction phase, is priced at 1,400 baht per person for food and soft drink, or 1,950 baht per person with free flow wine.

With the city's panoramic skyline viewed from the 31st level as the background and the grill room's sophisticated open kitchen as the foreground, the new culinary promotion features various stations of hot and cold buffet menus, along with a number of "all-you-can-order" a la carte dishes prepared by Philippe Gaudal, the hotel's executive chef, and his team.

On the day we visited, the most flocked station _ the cold seafood station _ featured Alaskan king crabs, Russian oysters, Australian rock lobsters, Maine lobsters, blue swimming crabs, and New Zealand mussels and clams. The seafood was to be enjoyed with a variety of condiments, of both Western and Asian styles.

From the carvery, the roasted prime rib was simply scrumptious. The beef was enjoyed with a variety of sauces, Yorkshire pudding, and pissaladiere _ a pizza-like dish made with caramelised onions, garlic and olives.

To fully indulge in the steakhouse's sumptuous offerings, our party of three decided to take a pause from the buffet items and oh-so-addictive bread and butter and order all of what was available on that day's a la carte collection.

Prepared with top-quality imported products by Chef Philippe himself, a parade of the steakhouse's favourites premiered with the surprising arrival of "charcoal".

A playful creation of the sprightly French chef, the dark grey blocks were in fact velvety goose liver thoroughly covered with crispy black breadcrumbs, which wonderfully kicked off the meal.

Following the scrumptious foie gras delicacy was a warm and comforting mushroom cappuccino soup served in a glass storage jar; asparagus risotto and polenta with poached egg and Parmesan.

For the main entrees, we took joy in the Steak au Poivre, accompanied by a mini cocotte of caramelised onions, and the grilled lamb chops, which were complemented nicely by the smooth and sweet romesco puree, meticulously cooked over night on a wood fire grill to yield a pleasant smoky aroma. Another dish that captured our hearts was the well-flavoured prawns with tomato and fresh basil sauce.

Chef Philippe's a la carte dessert, which changes weekly, wrapped up the meal superbly. We fell deeply in love with the freshly baked apple tarte tatin, which was so heavenly delicious thanks to the buttery pastry shell that intermingled perfectly with the chewy apple chunks and Chef Philippe's vanilla ice cream.

A decent variety of cakes and shot glass desserts were also on offer from the buffet station, as was the hotel's home-made ice cream and sherbet.