The Red Hot Buffet follows the usual buffet style, but is unusual in that it has a wider range of…read morefoods: Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Italian, Indian and Mexican!
The restaurant floor is large, and the place is often fairly busy but not full. The waiter takes you to your table and takes your drinks order: you then go and help yourself to the food at the buffets. The food range is, as you would expect from the countries listed, large:
Starters include: spring rolls, crab claws, chicken wings, crispy duck, samosas, chicken tikka, sheikh kebab, pakora, onion bhaji, pizza, nachos, tortillas, potato wedges.
Mains include: sushi, salads, breads, Thai curry, sweet & sour pork, beef with black bean sauce, mussels in wine, Cajun chicken, chips, chilli, chicken tikka masala, lamb rogan josh, naan bread, assorted rice and noodle dishes.
In addition to pre-cooked dishes in large tureens and chill cabinets, there are some live counters where you can have some food freshly cooked including pasta, noodle and Chinese dishes.
For puddings there are a large selection of fruits, cakes, ice cream, mousses and even a chocolate fountain and a range of sweets (candies).
The range of dishes available is huge, bigger than I have seen anywhere else, and perhaps because of this the quality of the dishes is rather variable: some dished were good, but some rather disappointing. Some of the hot dishes were not very warm which is worrying, but we didn't suffer any food poisoning consequences so perhaps I am over-cautious. I suspect if you go often you will get used to which are your favourite dishes and avoid the more disappointing ones.
The pricing is good value at around £13-15 per head depending on the time and day. Drink prices are fairly typical for a restaurant. The venue is in the middle of the theatre district, so parking is widespread but mostly chargeable.
Recommended, but choose with care.