So, you're in town, and you're near the bottom end when you suddenly feel the shaky weakness that is a crippling hunger. What do you do? Do you crawl back up into town and hope to get served within 30 seconds flat? Do you call a cab and pray your housemates have magically sensed this danger and cooked you a proper roast dinner? No, friends. You go to Crown Buffet.
This happened to me. I was feeling rather faint, we were straggling down that end, and before us was this gem. Steaming out tempting smells and cooing us with ready made plates of stuffage. A dream come true. And an odd location for a massive buffet. But who cares? It's hot and it's there.
Now, I don't often partake of buffet because no matter how much my eyes tell me I can eat, my stomach disagrees. I just can't eat huge portions. But today was the day to really test this! You go in, order a drink, and waste no time. I love it. The waiter had strong aftershave, no problem, the food smelled even better. There are three whole sides to walk around, with everything from curry, sweet and sour, satay, seaweed, chicken balls, chips, duck pancakes and more. There's even a Mongolian buffet, but we didn't make it to that. I filled my plate twice, and noted the ribs and chicken balls as particularly good. The crispy chicken bits are sweet too, but too many is a bit sickly sweet.
And then there's the darling pudding trays. Mini coconut jelly, fruit, cheesecake and more - all convincing you to come back and keep going. So much so I ate my jelly with a fork. And it worked. Weird. Of particular note are the little toffee sesame dough things. No idea. Loved 'em.
Space wise, it's huge. And clean. And not too kitsch. But I wasn't paying attention, I was stuffing it all in. Basically, it's fantastic. About a tenner means you can eat all you want, and whilst it remains that I can't eat much in one go, that's still a decent amount for a tenner. Even cheaper on a lunch! Give 'em a go. It ain't the likes of Red Chilli, but it does the job. read more