Walking through Manchester to work everyday certainly has its benefits, and getting to see new restaurants emerge from empty shell to fully functioning venue is one of them.
One such transformation took place – quite quickly it has to be said – on the corner of Deansgate and Blackfriars Road, where the new Red Hot Buffet now stands. Described on their website as ‘a food lovers fantasy’ and with rumours of queues snaking down the road at the weekend I just new it was a place I would have to try; not least because it offers no less than seven different cuisines, Indian, Italian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Japanese and English.
For someone who often finds it difficult to decide which part of the world she’d like to dine from the concept of the Red Hot Buffet is a welcome solution. The risk of food envy is also abolished. If you fancy the look of something on your neighbour’s plate you can just saunter up to the huge buffet area in the middle of the restaurant and help yourself, as many times as you like.
Red Hot Buffet is ‘all you can eat’ – £7.99 for a weekday lunch or £13.99 for dinner (prices rise a little on Fridays and over the weekend) – and boy is there enough for you to eat. Diners can choose from 300 dishes, including numerous miniature deserts such as white chocolate and ginger cheesecake and waffles, some of which are made at the live cooking stations while you wait.
Whilst we sat waiting for our drinks order to be taken, and I psyched myself up to hit the buffet, the saying ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ came to mind. However there are certain things that the Red Hot Buffet does do well, their Indian dishes are tasty with just the right amount of spice, the stuffed mushrooms were delicious and the aforementioned cheesecake was flavoursome with a nice gingery kick.
Anyone visiting Red Hot Buffet expecting fine dining will be disappointed, because that’s not what it’s about. It’s obviously aimed at families trying to please every member, students who want to eat a lot on a budget and people who are just very, very hungry! And it must be doing something right, as bookings are hard to come by (within just 2 months of opening) and people are queuing to get in.
A word of warning though, maybe choose a day when it’s a little cooler to pay the place a visit, as there seems to be no air conditioning, or if there is it isn’t very effective. You’ll want to milk the ‘all you can eat’ for all it’s worth and that’s difficult to do when your efforts are being put into avoiding heat exhaustion.
A big thanks to Laura Brown for this review. If you’d like to review for whatsonupnorth.co.uk email editor@whatsonupnorth.co.uk , we’d love to hear about What’s On in your area
*Image courtesy Citylife.co.uk
