Buffets - a brief interlude

You may have gathered that we like our buffets. We do like to try out other restaurants too, but buffets offer such value for money and when you’re saving hard, buffets are the best value.

I guess my love of buffets started in PE when we used to regularly go to 'All you can eat night' on Tuesday nights at Pizza Inn on Cape Road. They very sneakily only gave you thick-crust pizza which meant you filled up quickly. I'm pretty sure 21 slices was my absolute best.

Arriving in the London opened up a whole new world of buffets and for a South African with limited funds, this was great! A place called 'Deep Pan Pizza Co.' offered all you can eat pizza, pasta and salad and I went there often.

We have since moved around the UK and experienced a whole variety of buffets - which I have listed below.

We mostly seem to go for chinese buffets and have tried at least one in the following cities: London, Durham, Newcastle (Metrocentre), Southampton, Portsmouth, Aldershot, Dublin, Belfast and Chester. Its hard to pick a favourite, but we do know that Mr Wu in London, with its choice of just 8 dishes, really doesn’t compare anymore.

These are other buffets we have tried out:

American Style – Big Lukes at the Metrocentre, Newcastle
We were drawn to Big Lukes as it offered things like hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and spaghetti bolognese. Unfortunately everything was really tasteless and disappointing

Japanese – Zen in Southampton
Zen had a buffet on Sundays for people to try various different Japanese dishes including sushi. The sushi was extremely tasty. The main dishes were very similar to chinese food, dishes like chicken skewers in satay sauce, vegetable tempura and beef in black bean sauce

Thai – Kutis in Southampton
Kutis offers a very nice selection of Thai food at its lunchtime & dinner buffets. The buffet is very well set out so you can start with salads, then onto starters & soup, then the main dishes and then dessert. They change the dishes often too so you don't always get the same dish each time you go. They once had a fish soup which was really tasty - but I never came across it again.

Chinese AND Indian – Ghandi’s Chopsticks in Southampton
We had to try this one out as it offered a selection of Chinese and Indian food. However, Indian buffets are extremely filling as most dishes have potatoes in them. It was a nice experience, but I remember being too full to move afterwards.

Indian – Bombay Dreams, Montrose, Scotland
I really can’t remember much about this one, but I do remember it being a tasty indian buffet. One of my favourite Indian dishes is a spinach and cheese dish called Saag Paneer. Paneer is an unaged, non-melting cheese made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice.

Indian - Moore Street Mall, Dublin
This buffet was in an international food market area in Dublin which included an African food buffet. The food was very authentic and very tasty. The best was the biryani dish.

Italian - Puccinis in Southampton
This was an interesting one and extremely filling. Dishes included garlic bread, pasta & sausage, Bolognese, lasagne and pizza. There was also a salad bar.

Spanish – La Tasca in Basingstoke
La Tasca offered ‘Tapas for a Tenner’ where you can order as many dishes from the tapas menu as you can eat (3 at a time). Unfortunately the dishes weren’t all that tasty – but we did manage to try them all. The choice included olives, garlic bread, albondigas (meatballs), patatas bravas (potatoes in tomato sauce), paella, mixed seafood and a selection of spanish meats. My favourite was the tomato & mozzarella dish as it was very refreshing.

Pizza - Pizza Hut - various locations
Pizza Hut offers a lunchtime buffet where you can eat as much pizza, pasta and salad dishes as you like. Pretty standard - pretty tasty.


SOUTH AFRICAN BUFFETS
South Africa also has its fair share of buffets and PE has some really nice ones. You won’t necessarily find a chinese buffet, but the buffets you will find are very nice. We have only been to 2 in PE and 1 at Spier wine farm, near Cape Town but we know that there are more waiting for us.

What is nice about South African buffets is that they tend to consist of a selection of your favourite South African dishes.

BUFFETS IN PE

PE Golf Club
There is a Sunday Family Carvery Buffet lunch every Sunday at the golf club and it is amazing! You just quite simply want to try every single dish and so you find yourself going back for more and more. Desserts were amazing here too and you have to try get to the desserts early as it seems its some people’s favourite part of the meal! I'm sure some people skipped the mains and went straight for the desserts!

Bayside Pantry (dinner)
Described as a gourmet buffet that includes salads, seafood, stir fries, carvery and desserts. It was another painful experience in that we were too full too move afterwards. Bayside also has a breakfast buffet which we look forward to trying out soon.

BUFFETS IN CAPE TOWN

Spier Wine farm
We spent a couple nights at Spier Wine farm during one of our holidays back in SA. Spier has changed and expanded since we were there - around May 2002. At the time there were 2 restaurants. We stayed 2 nights and tried them both out. The one restaurant offered a buffet and it was incredible – it consisted of South African and Cape Malay dishes. I wish I could remember it all, but I do remember that even though I was too full to move, the desserts had to be tried – all of them!

There is now a new buffet option at Spier called Moyo – which we also look forward to trying. It is an enormous outdoor restaurant with dishes like steaks, potjies, salads, fish, breads, calamari, and desserts.

I hope I have made you all hungry - and not ill from the thought of all that food!! I know I am hungry and dreaming of the next buffet experience!