Friday, 17 July 2009

Oriental Buffet, Grand Buffet Whitworth Street, Manchester

I have no reason to supposed that the Oriental Buffet and Grand Buffet are connected other than by being in the same building and by the fact that we visited them for lunch and dinner respectively on a day so wet that walking to discover more options was not practical.

The Oriental Buffet was, to judge by the growing crowd of patrons happy to sit at its formica tables, well known and certainly good value. There was plenty of choice though it always irritates me to see such incongruous offerings as curly fries for the unadventurous. Shouldn't they just go to some fast food restaurant and eat out of a bucket?

The Grand Buffet offering "authentic" Indian food was neither grand nor authentic, merely adequate. Good value again with reasonable if often watery choices and more of the incongruities found below in their Chinese counterpart. I don't believe I have ever seen such a noodle dish (macaroni in goodness knows what sauce); its parentage reflected an unhappy marriage. Of the accompaniments none seemed to be quite cooked, everything unduly floury but it was a nice touch for a buffet when one of the suspiciously non-Indian staff brought round the freshly prepared "garlic" naan to the tables.

Oriental Buffet 7.5 out of 10 for variety; Grand Buffet 6 out of 10 for cross cultured confusion and lack of effort.

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