|
 When you’re
looking to eat out and treat the kids on a Sunday, it would seem
at least half of Milton Keynes has only one venue in mind. As we
approached the busy restaurant floor of Red Hot World Buffet &
Bar in the Theatre District, there was hardly a spare seat in
the house. Almost all the tables had a family occupying every
inch of space available. Thankfully, the four of us (my partner
and her two boys of 13, and 18) had booked a table. As we
approached our seats we couldn’t help but notice the lively
music and the buzz from literally hundreds of diners enjoying
their meals – welcome to the party!
A subtle but
welcome change to the table settings at Red Hot sees two sets of cutlery
provided per diner. If the waiter clears your plate and happens
to take your knife and fork too; at least there’s a back up in
place!
The boys
rushed off to the buffet area and although the youngest had
problems communicating with the ‘Live’ Noodle Bar, he eventually
returned with his choice of chicken and noodles in a barbeque
sauce. This is a favourite of his and at this stage he neglected
to sample the Children’s Bar (with burgers, chips, chicken
nuggets and more) unlike the adult on the table next to me! This
particular buffet is currently only available during the school
holidays but judging by the number of grown ups getting stuck
in; you sense it will be here to stay.
 Talking
of burgers and chips - the eldest had also started with noodles
and moved to a main course of chicken tikka masala. Once this
was finished he returned with a burger, chips, sausages and
sweetcorn. I asked him how on earth he could eat all of the
latter on top of a curry? ‘Because I can!’ was the response
before he asked me ten times to sample the amazing sweetcorn.
Whether completely healthy or not, this has always been the
success of Red Hot – no matter what you fancy eating and no
matter what order you wish to eat it in, the choice is entirely
yours.
It’s all very
well serving what seems hundreds of dishes to give variety – but
the quality of the food needs to be of a reasonable standard too
and this is what puts Red Hot apart from many other buffets. My
choice to start was chicken tikka, a helping of fresh salad with
a mint sauce. This was probably a tad predictable of me, but it
was totally delicious. I then moved to a chicken korma for main
course. Despite the chicken being very well prepared (every
piece broke easily with just a fork) this particular curry was
lacking a little in terms of flavours – even allowing for the
fact it was only a korma. A little more coconut would do the
trick!
My partner
noted how there appeared to be many more vegetarian options
available and decided to try the Thai vegetable green curry.
Unlike my korma, this tasted quite authentic and my partner
enjoyed this immensely. This had a pleasant and not overly
strong kick to it. She also continually took a couple of the
savoury mini tartlets every time she returned to the buffet –
these are yum! If you are a vegetarian, you will not be
disappointed with the greater choices now on offer at Red Hot.
As you walk
around the buffet area you cannot fail to be amazed by the
amount of choices on offer. Red Hot is clearly not resting on
its laurels. This hugely successful and popular restaurant seems
destined to be even more popular with diners as they continually
strive to improve what they do. The comments card that states
“Help us, help you” and that as good as shows that the team at
Red Hot are keen to not only listen, but act on what you say.
As for the
service – it surely cannot be easy accommodating so many diners,
no matter how many waiters there are, and with all things
considered, the team perform admirably. We took some
time to allow our food to settle a little. It really is
impossible to walk out of Red Hot in Milton Keynes and not feel overwhelmingly
full and content. As I left, I asked the question, ‘Is there a
better family restaurant in Milton Keynes than this?’ I very
much doubt it!
|
