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Red Hot World Buffet opening
Binns and Jorgensen get overwhelmed and damage a very expensive marzipan dragon
“Do you want to come to some free food thing?”
“Yeah, suppose. What is it?”
“Not sure really. Some sort of massive buffet. Probably reheated tubs of god-knows-what. Free though.”
“Ok.”
And so, me and The Boy Jorgensen walked out of Spinningfields and down Deansgate to the opening of Red Hot World Buffet, which boasts more than 300 dishes from India, China, Tex-Mex, Italy and everywhere else in between.
We were convinced the statues were edible. I pulled the tongue off a massive marzipan dragon and Jorgensen prised off a seahorse that looked like chocolate and tasted like cement.
It was possibly the most bonkers place I’ve ever been. And I’ve been to a lot of strange places.
It’s not every day you see an Eiffel Tower made of chocolate or a sailing boat made of meringue, but maybe it should be. Throw in some masked dancing girls and a Mariachi, and you get the picture.
The place itself is huge – 400 or so covers with plans to open another floor above that holding the same again. Loads of stations (with chefs behind them, to be fair) and more food than you have ever seen. And it’s not just the hot buffet stuff. There are mountains and mountains of cakes, sweets, ice cream, jelly and more. Dianne Bourne from the MEN was so overwhelmed she was on the verge of a mild panic attack until I convinced her to steal a meringue from the huge vase nearby.
When it comes to this sort of food, I like starters. I like picking. This is the problem. I’d happily eat several plates of bhajis, pakoras, spring roll, nachos, hoi-sin duck pancakes, etc. And I did. So much so, I couldn’t really face any main courses.
Jorgensen went a bit the same way but with the added benefit of a bottle and a half of rose wine. Luckily, we made two new friends, Amy and Carrie, who took it upon themselves to eat pretty much everything available. Impressive, and slightly scary.
Carrie came back from the dessert run with a plate full of jelly babies. I’d managed to get at least nine types of cake onto my plate.
On the final visit, we got a bit carried away. We were convinced the statues were edible. I pulled the tongue off a massive marzipan dragon and Jorgensen prised off a seahorse that looked like chocolate and tasted like cement.
Jorgensen was taken by a remarkably pretty girl called Nicola who we thought would be impressed with our statue high jinx until she told us her boyfriend made them.
Time to leave.
Go, though, for the madness if not the food. Just don’t touch the statues.
The prices:
Buffet Lunch (12-4pm)
Mon-Fri – £7.99
Sat – £8.99
Sun – £9.99
Evening Gourmet Lunch
Mon-Thurs (5-10.30pm) – £12.99
Fri-Sat (5-11pm) – £14.99
Sun (5-10pm) – £12.99
Follow Simon Binns on Twitter @simonbinns
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I am so jealous.
As you should be. It was tremendous. Like if Willie Wonka opened a savoury world buffet section to his factory.
Am I missing something? I realise this isnt a full review but some indication fo the price and the quality of the food would be nice. While i'm on, i've been sitting at my computer for half an hour now trying to find the page with the restaurants that are signed up to the Hero card. I was planning on using it tonight and wanted to see what my opions were. I've even followed the link in the recent email adding 1847 but the link just took me to the home page. Looks like beans on toast for me then.
Hi Em. We are doing some updates to the site and I cant seem to find it either..it may be temporarily removed while we do some work so apologies for that.
Nevertheless, but your tin opener away! If you check the email which was sent to you when you confirmed the membership there should be a link to the page. If not, feel free to email me on mark.jorgensen@hotmail.co.uk and I'll try my best to write them out off the top of my head (I should be able to in theory)
Went here yesterday and it was amazing even my two year old was impressed and she ate loads even though she is usually fussy. In fact when me and my husband were finished she was still eating. The best way to describe this place is a la carte buffet with weird decorations
Even though I'm doing WeightWatchers (boo!) I managed to eat loads of good stuff (low points, honest) so it's not just for people who want to eat loads ... it's good for those who want to eat loads but aren't really allowed to!
I was given a flyer today with different prices did you just Guess um.Anyway i am booked in for Sunday Evening Gourmet @£13.99 ( not an Evening Gourmet Lunch )