Starting the day with breakfast at Raffles Café at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
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| Sweet Potato Corned Beef Hash - Raffles Café - Mandalay Bay - Las Vegas, NV |
When I accompanied Stephen on his trip to Las Vegas for a conference last fall, I had a lot of time to wander around while he was busy in sessions all day. While it wasn't my first time in Las Vegas, it
was the first time I was there for leisure rather than business, and I took advantage of not having to be up and at 'em before sunrise in order to spend the majority of my day in the convention for a trade show.
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| Coffee - Raffles Café - Mandalay Bay - Las Vegas, NV |
On our first morning in town, my plan was to sleep in for as long as my body would allow. Unfortunately, my body still thought it was in the Eastern time zone and I wound up rolling out of bed earlier than intended. After showering and dressing, the next logical move was to head downstairs to the casino level of our hotel (
Mandalay Bay) to explore my options for breakfast.
Now, before I go into describing what I ordered at
Raffles Café and how I felt about it, let me just say one thing. What I thought would be a relatively quiet and low-key meal turned into a meal of interruptions left and right. First, the table of women next to me wanted to know why I was eating by myself. Next, a group of clearly hungover guys tried to convince me to let them eat with me. When I took my laptop out to get some writing done while I waited for me order, the group of people sitting on the other side of me wanted to know what I was writing.
I'm sure you can imagine what happened when my food arrived and I started taking pictures. So much for a low-key breakfast!
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| Sweet Potato Corned Beef Hash - Raffles Café - Mandalay Bay - Las Vegas, NV |
Now, onto the food. After considering all of the options on the breakfast menu, I ultimately decided on the
Sweet Potato Corned Beef Hash ($15.00) because the pairing of the sweet potatoes with the salty corned beef sounded intriguing.
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| Rye Toast - Raffles Café - Mandalay Bay - Las Vegas, NV |
The hash featured house-made corned beef, bell peppers, and sweet potatoes and was served with two eggs (any style). It came with a choice of toast (I went with rye) and one side. To balance out the heaviness of the hash, I choice the fruit cup of fresh fruit and berries. Turns out, that was a really, really wise decision.
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| Fresh Fruit and Berries - Raffle Café - Mandalay Bay - Las Vegas, NV |
After only a few bites of the hash, I knew that I didn't want any more than that. What came out of the kitchen wasn't what I was expecting based on the name of the dish. There were only a few specks of sweet potatoes, seemingly thrown in there as an afterthought rather than as one of the main ingredients. Most of the shredded russet potatoes were still raw, and the corned beef, with its unappealing texture, just completely overwhelmed everything else on the plate.
Needless to say, I was very grateful for the toast and fruit that came with my meal. Without them, I would have left the restaurant still feeling hungry. Instead, I just left feeling cranky that I paid so much money for such a disappointing meal.
Raffles Café
Mandalay Bay
3950 South Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas, NV 89119
(702) 632-7406 |
Map
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