Wednesday 17 July 2013

Redhot Buffet Liverpool: Review

Welcome to a new bi-monthly feature on my blog - Sparkles Life!
I have wanted to incorporate more Lifestyle posts on my blog for a while now - I will be featuring them every other Tuesday, alternating them with my bi-monthly Baby Watch posts!
The Lifestyle posts could be anything from reviews of places I've been to, family trips, cooking/recipe posts, etc - to start with I have my very first restaurant review!
Last week, I was invited along to Red Hot World Buffet in Liverpool.


The restaurant is part of the Liverpool One shopping complex, and I had heard lots of good things about it from family members so I was excited to go along and try it for myself.




Now I have to admit before I start - buffet restaurants are generally not my thing, I worry about germs and about food being left out for days on the buffet as you hear so many horror stories about them! 
So although I was keen to try this restaurant, I was half expecting to dislike it.

We (myself, Jon & my Dad) arrived at 4 pm and were greeted by one of the management team Sajen - he was very welcoming and allowed us to choose where we wanted to sit. We opted for a quiet part of the restaurant.

Sajen took our drinks order - we were being rather dull and ordering coca colas but he recommended some Mocktails to us - we agreed to give them a try and I'm so glad that we did!!

I don't personally enjoy drinking alcohol with meals and so I always assume standard soft drinks are really the only other choice, I never even think to look for Mocktails but after trying these I will certainly be doing so in future - I ordered the Sweet Kiss and Jon & My Dad ordered the Virgin Mojitos.


They were all absolutely delightful!! So refreshing and they looked absolutely gorgeous too - the presentation was fab!
Sajen introduced us to the chef and we discussed which dishes we would like to try. While the chef went off to prepare our dishes, we sipped our Mocktails and had a little chat amongst ourselves - while we were doing so I had a look around and noticed how clean the restaurant was.

I have seen many buffet restaurants where the food is all over the floors and the tables have that awful stickiness to them, but I can honestly say this place was like a new pin and the red and black decor was very stylish!


Our starters soon arrived...first we tried the chicken tikka, with a mint dip, poppadum and onion salad.


The chicken tikka was lovely - the meat was very fresh and it had a real kick to it! It was a little spicier than the chicken tikka dishes I've had before but I enjoy spicy food so this was not at all a bad thing! The mint dip was absolutely lovely - so refreshing and really tasty.

Next we tried a Mexican starter selection - including chicken quesadillas, bean salad and chilli con carne.


Quesadillas are not something I am a huge fan of, but these were very nice as far as quesadillas go - the bean salad was lovely - very fresh and tangy. And the chilli con carne was REALLY good - very tasty!! A definite favourite of mine!

While the chef prepared our main course, we had some more cocktails - this time we tried the Cranberry delight which again was beautifully presented, it was very tangy but really really lovely.


When our main course arrived, it looked extremely impressive!


Seafood risotto filled with chunky king prawns, mussels in the shell and squid and lovely rice in a saffron sauce - the decoration was lovely, with a balsamic vinegar surrounding the dish.

The risotto was so tasty - Jon is a really big fan of seafood and he was delighted with the dish. Everything was very fresh and well cooked, a real delight on a summers day!
After the main course, we were given a mango and lemon sorbet with flaked almonds, fresh berries and coulis 


The presentation was outstanding and the sorbet was TO DIE FOR - just the right amount of tang and fizz and so very refreshing!! A real winner.

Once we had finished the sorbet, I thought our meal was over and I had asked if I could have a browse around the buffet to see how everything is presented....

The buffet looks so very enticing - everything is presented beautifully and there is SO much on offer...


There are hot and cold starters - everything from chicken wings and spring rolls, to salads and sushi.






There is a huge variety of main courses available - chinese, indian, italian, japanese, mexican, english - literally pretty much everything you can think of!





There are also live stations were a chef will prepare a meal of your choice right in front of you! So if, like me, you're a bit put off by the idea of a buffet - this is the perfect answer for you!



Although I have to say - even as a non-buffet fan, I would have no concerns about eating here. The food is clearly fresh and well prepared, most dishes are covered, and you can see the staff keeping a watchful eye over everything and constantly replacing dishes with new fresh ones.

We tried a little selection of the food from the buffet just to see the standard of what was on offer (as obviously customers are not usually given food at their tables prepared by the chef but would help themselves from the buffet or request dishes from the live stations) - I was very impressed by all of it, it was all piping hot and really tasty!

The dessert selection was what impressed me the most - it was absolutely outstanding. There were so many little cakes, jellies, brownies, sweeties, etc to choose from and there was even a chocolate fountain with skewers and a variety of things to dip - such as marshmallows, pieces of cake, fruit and tons more.


There is also an ice cream counter, and a fruit flambe station where you choose your own fruit and liquer and a chef flambes it for you!

We had a little try of the desserts - the fruit flambe is AMAZING and if you do visit you MUST try it! I am not a fan of fruit based dessert but even I adored this!

Once we had tried the buffet it turned out that our meal wasn't over, as we were brought these amazing dessert selections!

We had chocolate mousse, creme brulee, blueberry cheesecake with gold leaf, and caramelised bananas.

WOW!

Everything was so delicious - the chocolate mousse was perfectly rich and decadent, the caramelised bananas had a gorgeous crunch to them with their sugar coating, the cheesecake was light and fluffy but the overall winner was the creme brulee - just divine!!

For me, the stand out dishes that you simply MUST try if you visit are:

*Chilli con carne
*Lamb rogan josh
*Mustard coated new potatoes from the salad bar
*Mango sorbet
*Fruit flambe
*Chocolate fountain with marshmallows
*Virgin Mojito mocktail

All in all I was VERY impressed with the Red Hot Buffet - it exceeded my expectations massively and I will certainly be visiting again in the future.

I would like to thank Sajen and Akhil for making us feel so welcome and giving us such a lovely afternoon!

Red Hot World Buffet are located in Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Cardiff, Milton Keynes, and Northampton.

Prices start at £8.49 for All you can eat lunch Monday -Thursday, and £12.99 for All you can eat dinner from 4pm onwards and under 10 always eat half price!

Why not take a look at the website? 

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