Lau’s Buffet King

My first, and hopefully my last, Chinese buffet

Food

The selection was quite varied, I actually skipped half the stuff, but I tried the following:

• Sweet and sour soup
• Fried chicken wing
• Crispy seaweed
• Crispy won-ton
• Spring roll
• Curry Samosa
• Sweet and sour spare rib
• Salt and pepper spare rib
• Peking Spare rib
• Egg Foo Yung
• Singapore Vermicelli
• Beef in black bean sauce
• Sweet and sour pork
• Pork in pepper sauce
• Lemon chicken
• Braised mushroom
• Stir fried vegetable
• Salt and pepper prawns
• Mussel in black bean sauce
• Pork & Veg in XO Sauce
• Stir fried beef with mushrooms
• Beef in black bean sauce
• Stir-fried roast pork
• Seafood & Mushroom Fried Rice
• Fried banana
• Fried pineapple
• Ice-cream with fruit salad

I only managed to eat 3 plates worth, plus soup and dessert…I must be getting old, with my metabolism slowing. Usually I can polish off at least 4 plates. Anyhow…all I can say is I had a fried taste in my mouth for a long time after that. And that’s all I want to say about it. If you are into this sort of thing, I suppose this is one of the better restaurants to be in, because of the foot traffic, you can be sure that the food is fresh.

Rating - 5

Atmosphere

Well, we visited here on Valentines Day, but it didn’t stop singles, friends, couples and families all dining here. We saw a huge line formed out the front, and that’s why we thought it must be good…It was so busy, they filled two whole floor of the space, and there were still people waiting out the front! I really don’t know the reason, except that food in Newcastle must be terrible in general, to have such a line-up of people shoving each other out of the way to get in.

While busy is great for a buffet in that you always get fresh food, it meant that you have to wait a long time in the line to get to the items you want. And as for the décor, the least said about this the better.

Rating - 1

Service

The waiter took the time to explain to us how the buffet works. Exactly how much it would cost if we leave at a certain time. They seemed to be very experienced with the common questions that they must get ask. Other than that, they took away the plates at a regular enough interval, and filled up the food when supplies ran low, what more can you ask for?

Rating - 3

C-factor

£5.50 for lunch. Extras for drinks. Not that cheap in my opinion. I thought people might be going crazy and loading up plate after plate, but most people seemed to only have 2 plates + dessert and call it a day…seems like it might be a good business idea to start up an Oriental buffet in Newcastle…

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 9.5

Info

44-50 Stowell Street
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE1 4XQ
Phone +44 (0) 19 1261 8868
Website