Chinese buffet restaurants

Oh no, not Dominoes?? Only time I ever had one it was uncooked dough in the middle and raw peppers and onions on top because they were desperate to meet the delivery time quoted. Never again!!

About all the cat discussion - I have no idea how you would tell the difference.

However, when I lived in York, it really is true that lots of people where I lived were complaining of their cats going missing, and when it was investigated into it was actually proved that the Chinese takeaway had been taking the local domestic pets and serving them in the takeaway. Not sure how much meat you would get off a domestic pet either!?!? Needless to say, the takeaway was shut down, but then reopened with 'new' owners as a Chinese takeaway!!!

Thankfully I did not have my cats at the time as I would have been mortified had they been served up in the takeaway :(

Did you have it delivered Jazzj? It never seems to be right if they deliver it - we have found that out! But has always been fine if we have gone to collect.

Yes it was delivered, and it was truly disgusting! Will take your word for it that it is better if you collect!

But not as 'mortified' as the cats, yummymummy! ;-)

I'm with you on that yummymummy I'll swap for a dominoes anytime! All this talk has seriously put me off even the occasional Chinese I did get I don't think I will for a good while!!!

Just for once, I'm being serious.

How could you tell it was cat, iha?

If I had a £1 for every person who has claimed to have been given cat in a Chinese restaurant, I'd be able to afford to eat out in a Michelin starred restaurant every night of the week for the rest of my life! :-)

OMG ... and I thought I was the clown on here ...

I've heard it before too, fruits but, as iha claims to know his biology, I wondered if he could elucidate. However, I rather doubt it.

Don't worry, Snoops, your crown is unassailable!

Omg I thought cat in the chinese was a thing of the past in jokes!!

I and Feline are asking please do tell us how do you know if your eating cat instead of chicken???

Thanks, serena, I really would like to know!

Should we not eat Chinese food, surely environmental health know the difference would premises not be shut down when they have their twice a year unannounced visits???

Hmmm. I just wonder if they do actually get the visits that regularly, serens.

Hehe Serena you may or may not remember the Chinky up at the Busby roundabout - they used to catch pidgeons in the back garden and cook em up as chicken until they got found out.

Dont think there has been one there now for a long time after they got shut down.

Nasty.......

I prefer Thai food anyway - much tastier - much classier - much healthier.....

I'm so of chinese now!!!

Been waiting to hear the difference has kept me up on night not worth the cat or chicken!!!

Thanks for the "nickname" = iha .

Construction of vertebrae in spinal column.

Oh I feel right sick now - poor pussy. But is it believable I don't think so unless proven to me.

Oh my word it would be a cat..astrophe if someone put poor pussy in front of me to eat.

Positively cat..aclysmic considering my cat..holic tastes.

Alright I'll stop now.....

Oh Lillie, keep going!!

Ok just for you Jazzy.

The Cat..erer should be cat..apulted through the nearest cat..flap for serving it!!

Lol Lillie, got to go back to work now or I'd join in!!

Oops iha! Had i known that i would've renamed you...

Ok, iha, I can totally believe that you can tell the difference by the construction of the spinal column, but most meat in Chinese restaurants nowadays is served off the bone.

I think people may have missed this little jokelet, Lillie!

Lol, how long it take you to think of that Sabre?? :)

I'm being honest (very) now Jazzj. My husband made it up but it sounded good so I used it. - cheated perhaps but I'd never personally be so rude about him.

Lol Sabre, clever hubby, sounds a lovely relationship when you can laugh at selves :)

It's not all lovey dovey Jazzj and I do call him some dreadful names - all in fun of course. Sign language comes in very handy sometimes !!!

He does make me giggle as he's very good with words and if he could type fast enough he might join us on the forum. The only thing is I don't want him telling all my secrets.

Lovey dovey all the time would get soooo boring, you need a spark, and it sounds like you've got it!

That's just as it should be Sabre!!

Thats interesting i didn't know you could walk in and ask to see the kitchen beforehand??? Does anyone actually do that? I've never seen it. I'm interested which chinese you go to i go to my local the venue and its absolutely the best better than the jasmin one...

Have to say that the worst 'working kitchens' I have been in are the Indian takeaways ... and some of the best have been some excellent Turkish Kebab shops and some of the Chinese Restaurants I visit.

I was in one Chinese restaurant kitchen when I could see the wok behind the manager had caught fire. I shouted 'Wok!" .... he looked at me confused, so I shouted again "Wok, wok"

The manager smiled at me and said "Who's there!"

Golden Kitchen used to be fantastic until it changed hands a few years ago and Greta i think it was left to go to Canada - now the spicy crispy shredded beef doesnt taste as good anymore boo hoo...

Shame the one on the old mearns road closed its been empty for a long time - it used to be a chinese , then Thai fusion etc - I had the hottest Thai green curry of my life there it was almost uneatable - serves me right for telling them i was a thai fanatic and asking for a hot hot green curry - Think they did it on purpose to see if the Farang could handle it!

Thats nothing though my best pal works for a thai restaurant in paisley - he brought me the hottest thai green curry they could make last week - it was so hot after i had eaten it i felt quite faint - Felt like I had smoked a joint actually it was that powerful.

Birds eye chillies thats the secret!

I don't think you would get out alive Serena. Have you seen their big choppers !!!!!!!!!

I've seen their big choppers in the open plan kitchens.........never had the audacity to ask for a tour of one not on display though.

Frankly I think Chinamen with big choppers is a total myth. I mean they don't have the hands to support them ...

You'd be surprised Snoops.....

I've only tried a Thai green curry once years ago and I wasn't a fan as I think there was too much coconut in it! I don't like coconut! My local Chinese is the venue and it's fantastic though when you sit in its expensive than just getting a take away but it's lovely to sit in lovely comfy booths nothing worse than school chairs to sit when your out from a nice dinner!

Something to declare, Jazzj?....

Have seen many a Chinese man wielding a big chopper........

I went into a Thai restaurant last month to discuss their local taxation affairs ...

A man approached me and said 'Hello, I am Poh-Kin, the manager'

'Okay' I replied ... 'I'll come back when you've finished' ....

Roflmao

Very good snoops not heard that one before!

Mind if I pinch it?

>o

Are you taliking about his big chopper, Omen...?

No its ok I have a very small micro-chopper of my own but I know how to use it.

>;o)

Thats all the matters, Omen you know how to use your tools....

I have been to an Indian place along the same lines feline, but can't for the life of me remember where it was. My favourite Chinese buffet place has a section where they will cook to order too, plus a huge choice of deserts! Been a very long time since I've been on a romantic dinner, but agree they tend to be chatty buzzy places!

I used to work for an Indian Doctor and he invited myself and my children to dinner one evening and we had the full Indian meal. It was beautifully cooked by the Doctor's wife and so tasty. The only thing was there was so much food you couldn't decide what to have.

Yum Sabre!

I once had a meal with the Hare Krishnas at Bhaktivedanta Manor (George Harrison's old pile that he donated to the Hare Krishnas) and the food had been 'blessed by the deities' before we ate it. It was the most sublime Indian food I've ever eaten in my life!

Crikey, fruits! How did that come about?

Crikey, this girl's been about a bit!!

It was when I was studying for my OU degree, our tutor had connections, so we spent a day there, I took my daughter with me, she was just little at the time and she loved the food too, and they gave her a sari to take home, which she still has. Fascinating day!

Wow, how interesting fruits, was your degree relevant, or did it come about some other way?

Oh, it was relevant, I was studying Art History, so did a course in Comparative Religion...helps with the art subject matter, as so much of it is religious! We did another trip to a Buddhist monastery, we tried to get a trip to a mosque as well, only the mosques wouldn't let us in!

Is it the place in Buckinghamshire, fruits? If so it's quite near wher we live.

Hertfordshire, Feline, near Watford.

Wow fruity what an experience!! Your life is so fascinating!!

She is a wunder wumman!

Not many like fruiters!

One of a kind!

Just always been adventurous, Serena, travelled a lot, and am open-minded... :-)

What an inspiration your are Fruity!!!

Omen, you flatterer! But, thanks, sweet thing to say. ;-)

Thank you too, Serena, but I just have a curious mind I think!

This sounds Great, Feline! If you go to a normal Chinese Restaurant, just say "No MSG!" and it will be done! Hassau!!

At the risk of this thread turning into another toilet related one .... I agree completely - if a restaurant can't keep the loos clean (where clearly the public will see them) then their kitchen must be horrific, where no one usually gets to look. I wouldn't use the loos and certainly wouldn't eat the food in a restaurant like that.

Redhot buffet is a chain, but I believe only operate in the Midlands.. have been to the one in MK and the food was good with lots of cuisine choices, although the main theme is Indian

there is another place in Staines .. Jimmy's Spice in Staines which is similar to the Red Hot Buffet - great food.

Interesting, HSP, I found many cuisines, not just Indian.

I love the Red Hot Buffet in MK. It's ideal for us as my hubby prefers Chinese, I prefer Indian and my son likes all sorts but nothing in particular. We can all have what we want.

Hi wendiew, you need to go to a really busy one, with a good turnover of food! The one I like refills the dishes several times during the time mit takes to eat a meal so you know its all hot and fresh! I'd also only go to one that has 'sneeze bars' over the food........

Thanks Jazzj - sadly in North Wales there's only take-aways so no buffets to try out. There's a few here in Lz but they don't seem to be busy at this time of year so I think best avoided, but it's so tempting at 5 euros per person!!! That's only £4!!

I agree about going to a busy one, Jazzj, and definitely wouldn't try anything without a sneeze-screen. Yuk!

Same here wendiew, but when I go home there's a choice of about five in the same town!

I like the ones where you can see into the kitchens too feline, I like to know its clean :)

Wendiew, have you the audacity to walk into a restaurant, look around, and make a decision to stay or go? Perhaps that may help you?

I've walked out of retaurants if I have thought them not very clean. I wouldn't be able to eat anyway if it was dirty.

Me too Sabre, and if the service has been rubbish!

I think you can tell a lot about a restaurant by how clean the loos are.

There's an Indian in our local market town where we went several times and always enjoyed the food until the time I visited the ladies, after which we never went again.

That's another giveaway isn't it? I can't bear places with dirty toilets

I hear all sorts happen in toilets they should just clean after themselves!

Not round here it doesn't........

Quite so, Jazz!

You'd be surprised! It'll be in one of Sabre's stories lol

Only thing with Chinese food is that a couple of hours after eating it you're starving again!

Quite true Jazzj but it such a joy to eat at the time. Just make sure there's a sarnie on standby a couple of hours after.

I do love the variety of Chinese food lillie, and must admit that's it quite nice to eat something that doesn't sit in your stomach like a lead balloon for hours after you've eaten!

I love the atmosphere in the Chinese Restaurants everyone looks happy and the food so tasty. I love a lot of the starters especially the duckling. When it arrives you don't know where to start it looks so good.

There is a lot to celebrate in Merthyr Tydfil, and the Chinese ORIENTAL GARDEN is one, bluej!

Exactly how I feel, Jazz .... great minds think alike. And there is nothing like squid that has been lying around for hours and has become ultra rubbery!

Agreed! If it is fast turnover, it is probably good, also! It must be relatively hard as a vegetarian to get a reasonable meal out, Jazzj.

Actually Greydo, I have always found a wealth of veggie dishes here, expecially if you love brocolli and the like. The Chinese seem to have a way to present such mouth watering veggie dishes I find. Unless you go for the 'Flied Lice' which may need a second look ...

Oh I forgot to mention one in Greenwich in London where you do have to be selective in what you choose to get the best out of it. And the staff watch you like hawks, just in case you do a runner ( and I am sure it happens there ) .... the inscrutable scrutinising Chinese!

I love Chinese food and like nothing better than a girlie night out where we can all be together sitting round the table and then all choosing different things to try. You can spend a good few hours there and it is always beautifully presented and the Chinese are wonderful with their service.

Veggie food is done really well by the Chinese and Indian community, a good choice of dishes. I don't fare so well in the local pubs here who insist fish is vegetarian, and on one memorable occasion I was told the veggie option was chicken........

That's outrageous, Jazzj! How can anybody be stupid enough to describe chicken as 'vegetarian'?

Oh feline, you would be AMAZED at the things I get offered!!

What part of the world do you live in Jazz. Fish as veg is OK.. but chicken .. I have never come across a restaurant in England that classifies chicken as veg .. although when I was in Singapore, I order a veggie dish at a chinese restaurant and got a dish with lots of meat with some vegetables. When I complained, I was told off for not specifying no meat in the dish. :-)

Sorry to disagree, HSP, but fish is not acceptable as veggie. As my, totally veggie, neighbour said to me, she wouldn't eat anything that had eyes and could have looked at her.

There are, of course, people called 'pescatarians' who will eat fish but not meat.

Jesus fed the fish to the masses so it must be ok!

>:O)

HSP, I live in the back of beyond where civilisation has clearly yet to make an impact :)

Feline, I don't eat anything that has a face, or anything that comes from it, so no fish, or gelatine or other derivatives for me or mine. Pescatarian is as you say the right name for those who don't eat meat but eat fish. Personally I can't see why you'd eat one and not the other unless its a matter of personal like and dislike.

Incidentally I'm not draconian, and have always told my children that we don't eat meat but others do. I won't cook it but if they want to try to when they're out they can, but as far as I know none of them has as yet.

Glad you agree, Jazz, think you're either a vegetarian or you're not!

Ezactly!! My daughter has a lad in her class who claims to be a veggie, but he eats fish and chicken and jellybabies..everything except red meat!

I would never class fish as vegetarian, but there are some 'vegetarians' who will eat a bit of fish. My daughter who's a vegetarian won't eat fish, which makes sense to me, as Feline says, you're either a vegetarian or you aren't.

Interesting that you don't cook non-veg meals for your children, Jazz, my daughter has two children and refuses to impose her views on her children and includes non-veg in their meals. I agree with her, as the children should be allowed to decide for themselves when they're older, they're 4 and 2 at the mo.

I think that's the best way the children should have it while their young and when they're old enough they can decide. My friend also a vegetarian and she still cooks meat dishes for her hubby and two girls and she makes thd best steak ever!! She's been a veg since a teenager

My daughter announced she wanted to be a vegetarian at 11, so I sat down and discussed it with her, and when I realised she was really serious, and it wasn't just a fad, I agreed and respected her wishes. She went off to boarding school just after that, and it was a nightmare convincing the school to provide her with vegetarian meals, but they did after I threatened to send her to a school that would! I think the potential loss of school fees persuaded them!

Gosh at 11 yrs old they certainly know their mind, Fruity!

But fruity by giving meat you are also imposing a view..and what makes your view more right than mine........? I have what I think is an acceptable compromise, that they can try it when they're out if they wish.

We'll have to agree to disagree, Jazz. :-) I don't believe that giving small children a mixed diet is a view, but giving small children ONLY a vegetarian diet is a view, because it's a diet with imposed restrictions.

I'm not saying your way's wrong, or less right than my daughter's way, I'm just saying I agree with her, because I think children should be allowed to choose for themselves, whereas your children can only choose for themselves at certain specified times, so they don't have a free choice.

I've never discussed with her what the children eat, she made that decision freely and told me about it after she'd made it, but if she had asked me for an opinion I would have said exactly what I've said here.

I'm sure she very much hopes that her children will choose to be vegetarian in the same way that you probably do though. :-)

We could argue this one until the cows come home fruity, I believe that feeding my children meat with all the additives and hormones inherent therein and the attendant health problems it can cause against their will is equally questionable :)

I'm not the type of veggie that goes out to convert everyone and preach, each to their own, live and let live, but you'd be amazed how many people think they have the right to preach to me....

We'll agree to disagree :)

Or till the carrots come home...;-)

I certainly get preached at by my daughter, as I eat only a very small amount of meat and she thinks I should just go the whole way! But I don't want to. I truly believe in freedom of choice for everyone and I respect the choices of others. :-)

It's the only way to be Fruity, am in total agreement with you. Anyone can eat what they want and believe what they want as long as they allow me the same privilege as far as I'm concerned

You, fruitcake, have lots of experiences! Always interesting to read your comments!

yes fruitcake the italian pudding are out of this world after your meal you have to make room for them

Bluej, I can always make room for an Italian pud! :-)

Me too fruits.

Interesting about the Chinese food in Frisco being really good, and I've had good Chinese in Chinatown in London too, even though it wouldn't be my cuisine of choice.

But the worst Chinese food I ever had was in Hong Kong. I think we made a mistake by deciding to go off the tourist track to get something really authentic so we found a restaurant down an alley that seemed only to be frequented by locals.

The only comment I can make was that everything we ate was totally disgusting - a bit like eating stewed weeds and undidentifiable lumps of gristly meat in grey gravy!

Give me a chicken tikka (not Masala) any time.

That's what we did in SF, Feline, it was a Chinese colleague of my ex's that recommended all the best places to us, and took us there so we didn't get lost, and ditto London's Chinatown if recommended. It's not my cuisine of choice either, but a really good Chinese meal occasionally is worth it! I really love Indian food best.

Ah yes, fruits, after the Honk Kong experience we decided not to do that again without a 'Native Guide'.

As a result we had excellent food in Cuba and in Zimbabwe, neither of which were renowned for their culinary offerings.

Local knowledge is invaluable isn't it? If I don't know anyone local I tend to do what you did feline and look for the busiest place

The Chinese are mathematically astute! He was possibly trying to cover the 1.5% Card charge, Snoopy48!

did you tip him snoopy 48

or did you tip him around the ear

We all like a bit of this , that and especially some of the other!! eh snoops!!!

What we like and what we get are often two different things....

So right, Jazz!