> Quick view: Deepavali buffet at Latest Recipe, Le Meridien Putrajaya, 1 to 15 November 2026. Brunch 12pm-3:30pm at RM168 nett per adult, RM84 per child; dinner 6:30pm-10:30pm at RM198 nett per adult, RM99 per child. Prices are nett. Book at +6012-823 4101.

Deepavali falls on Sunday 8 November this year, with the replacement holiday on Monday in most states, and Putrajaya's lakeside Le Meridien is making a proper occasion of it. The hotel's "A Festival of Flavours" celebration runs from 30 October to 15 November, opening with a lighting ceremony on 30 October: associates in traditional Indian attire lighting diya oil lamps around an elaborate kolam in the lobby.

The buffet

From 1 to 15 November, Latest Recipe lays on an Indian-led spread across two sittings:

  • Brunch, 12pm to 3:30pm: RM168 nett per adult, RM84 nett per child
  • Dinner, 6:30pm to 10:30pm: RM198 nett per adult, RM99 nett per child

Nett pricing deserves a word of appreciation: that is the final number on your bill, with no 10% service charge or SST stacked on top the way "++" hotel pricing works. An RM198 nett dinner is cheaper than an RM178++ dinner elsewhere (RM178++ works out to about RM207).

The menu leans into regional Indian cooking rather than generic "festive" dishes: Biryani Golkonda, benne dosa (the buttery South Indian crepe), Chingdi Macher (a Bengali-style prawn curry), keema kofta and murgh makhani, the butter chicken that empties chafing dishes everywhere. Desserts go traditional: carrot halwa, rasmalai and channa dal payasam.

The RM20 question

Here is the comparison the brochure does not make. Latest Recipe's standing seafood and carvery dinner, outside festive periods, is priced at RM178 nett from Sunday to Thursday and RM198 on weekends. The Deepavali dinner is RM198 nett every night. So on a weekday, the festive label effectively costs RM20 extra per adult; on a weekend it costs nothing extra at all. If you are going on a Tuesday purely for value, you are paying RM20 for the Deepavali menu and atmosphere. Worth it for the biryani and the kolam? Probably, but now you know what the RM20 buys.

The brunch sitting at RM168 has no standing equivalent to undercut it, and at RM30 less than dinner with a 3.5-hour window, it is the better-value festive pick, especially for families (a family of four with two kids pays RM504 at brunch versus RM594 at dinner).

Beyond the table

The hotel is running kolam-inspired colouring activities at a kids' corner, kolam floor displays through the public areas, and guests receive ladoo as a festive gift. It is one of the fuller cultural programmes among this year's Klang Valley hotel Deepavali offerings.

Reservations are encouraged: call or WhatsApp +6012-823 4101, or book through the hotel's online reservation page for Latest Recipe.

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*Image: Le Meridien Putrajaya (official press material)*