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Decor & Ambience  |
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It's basic, but then that's part of the charm and indeed the very purpose; a place to eat, not dine. And there's a huge place for that in the world. I personally find that the ambiance in such casual places often stands up to most fancier places, despite their humble demeanour.
Sitting in the very corner at my little table for one, I could enjoy an OTT feast whilst sat in what was actually, the best seat in the house! Observing service and overseeing the diversity of customers whilst taking in the coming and goings of people was one of the highlights of this visit, not to mention feeling hidden away in said corner whilst gorging. It won't win any awards for décor, but then why would you want it to?
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It's basic, really basic, and has to be scored accordingly, regardless of how happy I was there and how well that level of basic fitted the occasion and of course, the price point. But I'll come to that.
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Value  |
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After finding myself in town with a couple of hours to spare, I was pottering about looking for somewhere to eat solo, and after about 15 minutes, despite knowing the city's offerings as well as anyone, wasn’t having much luck finding anything which I actually fancied based on the occasion.
Passing by places in Chinatown, main courses were knocking around the £15 mark at most places. Fine, but I just wanted something quick, cheap and easy, where I could eat well enough whilst not feeling too conspicuous when eating alone. I noticed a sign outside China Buffet quoting £17.95 per session, so following a quick peep in the window to see a broadly empty dining room, I was sold.
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You'd need to be a real skinflint to question the value for money really, just as I'd need to be equally as daft to criticise the value for money one iota. |
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Food & Drink |
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It's a compact yet solid collection of all your British Chinese favourites. The starter section contained spring rolls, mini samosas (for some reason), along with some excellent juicy, self-saucing chicken satay skewers, siu mai dumplings, some very decent sweet and sour chicken balls, price tag defying salt and pepper king prawns, spare ribs, and even duck pancakes! Not crispy duck, but more a Peking duck style bird; juicy and topped with a slightly rendered fat cap, which is fine for my tastes. I gladly worked my way through duck 4 pancakes, and everything else on the starters section with no real quality grumbles at all.
Onto the mains and there was some very decent sweet and sour chicken, beef in black bean, honey roast pork, and a good old chippy style chicken curry, along with plenty of veggies. But I didn’t fall into that trap. Similarly, as pleasant as they were I plated minimal fried rice and noodles, using the carbs merely as barrier to stop conflicting sauces from touching, because I'm a total pro at buffets based on my excessive love of them back in the day so I never fall down the carb overload pothole at buffets. Load me up on the protein to achieve maximum value for money.
And if you're not done after that little lot then there's a full dessert section too! I swerved most of it largely because I was already stuffed, so just went up for a portion of soft serve. Twice for transparency. Once they were downed it felt a suitable time to leave, after a solid half hour of getting my money's worth and enjoying the surrounding buzz whilst people watching, sitting in the corner and internally judging others for their sloppy plating and conflicting menu choices.
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The sweet and sour chicken's sauce was a bit thin and it lacked peppers/onions. But then usually it’s the protein that’s lacking at buffets so I can't moan. The spring rolls and samosas were all pastry and contained no filling other than fresh air. They were like little saboteurs, designed to fill you up prematurely on cheap filler. These guys have to make a profit right so it is what it is, but still.
Based on the prices being asked, there really wasn’t anything else that overly stood out as being an error.
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Overall  |
I remember the days when Manchester had a ton of buffets sporting several cuisines. They were all over the place and you could routinely pick up an all you can eat lunch at most of them back in the circa 2015 days, for about a six quid, or a tenner for dinner. Peking Court was always my favourite and it was there for years before closing. They even offered crispy duck pancakes at lunch, for that price point! Unless you spent another tenner on drinks it made no financial sense at all for the venue/s even back then. But then maybe that's why China Buffet is now the only Chinese buffet left in the whole city.
I loved the buzz and diversity of service. People where there from all backgrounds, for all occasions. Another solo diner 20 years older than me and half the size, yet somehow out-ate me by some margin. Late-middle aged couples who looked like regulars on a date night. Business attired guys who arrived half cut yet were the kind of people who routinely go to predicatable 3 Starred venues for their anniversaries, although on this evening likely just wanted a quick feed which despite savouring will still keep quiet from their 'foodie' colleagues. There were also larger groups on Christmas parties whose employers perhaps had a paltry Xmas party budget. And then me, an occasionally greedy middle-aged man who just wanted a quick tasty, cheap, no brainer dinner in a place where all are welcome and treated equally. I got exactly what I signed up for on this occasion, only better quality than I expected for the outlay.
I'd be really surprised if they made any money from me on this visit to be brutally honest though, one because I put a fair amount away, and two because I didn’t order a drink. 'Just the buffet???' was the lady's question when I declined a drink upon payment of the food. I could see it in her eyes that she thought that I was cheap. She was entirely correct.
But to be fair, in this kind of financial climate where being cheap is a talent of survival for many, it's a wonder that we've not seen a resurgence in buffets to be honest. But for now at least, China Buffet remains the city's only option for those in seek of an excessively large sit-down buffet meal for the same price point as a takeaway. It's one that well worth taking a look at. What else are you spending £17 a head on? A Five Guys? Case closed.
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16 Nicholas Street, Chinatown, Manchester, M1 4EJ
0161 236 2021
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World Class! 
= FANTASTIC 
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GOOD 
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OK 
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Poor
