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Posts: 105

Governor

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Q: Anyone ever had a good experience eating buffet in China?

I've been to some pretty fancy, 'face-giving' buffets around, some going upwards of 300 RMB per person, and some more casual, lowkey places.

Without exception, each and every single one ended in disaster. Toilet disaster, I mean. Rarely was the food ever fresh, the places always skimped on (good) alcohol, and always too much sauce.

Culinary experiences are rarely, if ever, entirely one-sided, but from all my time in China, I never tasted a decent buffet.

Which is hilarious, considering how expensive and high-class many Chinese seem to think them.

12 years 3 weeks ago in  Food  - China

 
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Posts: 1630

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For me, I can't get past the overall greediness of the locals as they load up their table as if there will not be enough food for them. I can tolerate almost any behaviour here but for some reason this one really pisses me off. They spend more time running around and filling up their table than they do eating and of course there is always the customary hoardes of leftovers that have never been touched. WHY????

Regarding the food, you are right. Their attempt at duplicating western buffets is downright embarrassing while the chinese dishes are pale in comparison to the traditional Chinese restaurants. There is a new, favcy buffet opened here in my town now and it has even gone a step further. Each food item has a little sign on it telling us what the Chinese name and English names are. But.....most of the English names are wrong! I kid you not. For example, I go to the ice cream section: the sign next to one flavor has a chinese name (can't read it, I suppose it says chocolate but who the hell knows?) while the English name of the ice cream is Octopus. How about Tiramisu fish, tuna tea or lamb cake? Case closed. 

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12 years 3 weeks ago
 
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Safest places to get a buffet with worring about nature calling, eat in the nice hotels.  I know a handful of businessmen that refuse to eat outside of these places.  They won't be cheap (shouldn't be the most expensive either) and they won't have as big of a selection as some of the other place, but most of their customers are those staying in the hotel.  So they are used to dealing with softer stomachs, and serving not so fresh food would not only cost the resturant future business, but the hotel as well.

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12 years 3 weeks ago
 
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I must agree that I've seen rather horrendous behavior at buffets...  I went to a fairly pricey hotel buffet and saw some people take huge servings of food, only to sit down, take a bite, spit it back onto their plate, then take the plate back to the buffet and dump it back on top of the food.  I guess they didn't want to waste it...

I'd give better advice if I had it, but the best I can give is avoid buffets.

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12 years 3 weeks ago
 
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goldehans my spelling is off, never had a problem there and great beer 

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12 years 3 weeks ago
 
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I;ve only been to a couple, but they were at the classier restaurants in the town I was in,,, and the one here. Twice in a 5-star hotel, once in a ..???

The one on the ??? hotel was crap! Not even decent coffee!!! (which was cold..) I can't remember what else was crap about it - other than everything!

The 5-star hotel buffet's were nice. Only issue I had was when I wanted my meat cooked... the concept of 'medium-welldone' is just something the local chefs have no idea about! Same also with variations of sushi (though, to be fair, I'm not so sure that I've had real Japanese sushi back home, either! Even if they do have Japanese chefs prepare it).

(btw, I love piling my plate up Laughing out loud Don't worry, I finish it /them!)

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12 years 3 weeks ago
 
Posts: 316

Shifu

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yes many restaurant and some fast food brands have it, thats delicious as well, i have eaten big pizza,origus. there was a chinese restaurant i do not remember the name, that was also delicious and prices are all affordable. eat as much you can eat. there is alot of tasty food..... no limit to it

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12 years 3 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1091

Shifu

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You have single handedly ruined the dream of a weak Yuan for me.

My thoughts 

Dude fifty dollars a person there is a Brazilian restaurant where I live where for less than forty they will feed you a whole cow if you do not stop them. All you can eat sushi meat chicken hearts yum salad and all the fixings, through the drinks are not free bastards. And the best part is they bring you the all the food to your table for frree and they have the world’s tallest waiter.

My answer

If they all suck stop trying them, the Chinese only eat at those places so they can feel they are beating the system.  Those places make money in the west because they can save money by bulk buying preparing large amounts at once while getting rid of most of the stock fast. Plus most people do not eat more than the average they need to make a profit. China does not work that way so why would you think that the food at their buffets would be good if they are using a broken system to make the food.

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12 years 3 weeks ago
 
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I might eat at the Sheridan buffet more often, everything was great and the desserts were worth it. I still question comments on chinese food being good. i went for hotpot, My impression of the food in China is its all scraps. heads and feet and bones almost cleaned of meat is what i see. Who gets the good meat? With the hotpot, what i thought was beef was arteries, an uneatable rubber to me. Most dishes I get to suck some meat of a bone, something I would have thrown away at home.
 I went shopping at the biggest store in Guilin and there was 3 pieces of beef on display, don't know what cut it was. There was 5 rows of packaged noodles. I've been everywhere looking for tomatoe sauce or spagetti sauce. If i show tomatoe they show me ketchup. I managed salt and pepper but no spices. I'm glad I brought my own tea bags, no sugar yet, but I have honey.

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12 years 3 weeks ago
 
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