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You will struggle to find anyone in
Milton Keynes who loves food and has yet to try Red Hot. To say
the boys, aged 12 and 17 were looking forward to eating here
would be a massive understatement. Not only did they ask us to
bring our booking forward by an hour; but once in the
restaurant, they left us to order the drinks as they hurried to
the buffet area.
Food
 Red Hot World Buffet give a
whole new meaning the phrase “spoilt for choice.” That is where
the secret of their success lies. This restaurant is not packed
to the rafters simply because of the amount of food on offer –
they are probably unique in offering so much choice but also,
somehow, ensuring the food is of a higher quality than you would
normally expect from a buffet.
If you’ve yet to visit this
restaurant, the one tip I would offer would be to ensure you
take a good look round before choosing to eat anything. Why?
Firstly, you might miss a favourite dish of yours and secondly,
you can start with smaller portions and give yourself then
chance to feast yourself on a variety of different dishes from
around the world. I for example, love the starters, both Indian
and Chinese and somehow missed the crispy duck!
The wine list is not overly long
but the prices are reasonable and the Pinot Grigio Vento, Ponte
at just £15.50 was our choice. Very light and easy drinking, it
proved the perfect choice to accompany our varied choices of
food.
The younger of the two boys
loves having his food cooked in front of him and duly opted for
some noodles with chicken and a barbeque sauce. There are a
range of noodles and sauces to choose from and its great fun
watching the chef prepare your meal. If you are not a lover of
chicken, you have the option of beef and prawns. Needless to
say, there was a constant nodding of approval as he ate the lot
before returning for some more.
The chicken tikka at Red Hot is
a favourite of mine and I chose some of these alongside some
delightful vegetable pakoras. The pakoras were lovely and crispy
on the outside with a pleasant soft centre – a great combination
of textures and full of flavour.
I moved from an Indian starter
to a Chinese starter having found my favourite dish of crispy
aromatic duck with hoi sin sauce. The pancakes will never be as
good as those freshly ordered but this was countered by the fact
that the duck was tastier than expected. We were enjoying
surveying the table in front of us and seeing who had chosen
what. This is a fun experience and one that all the family will
thoroughly enjoy.
I wasn’t clear in my mind what I
would choose to eat next. The Thai Green curry was eventually my
choice for a main (or third) course! This had a lovely strong
kick but the flavours still shone through. I was having a great
time – after all, where else can you go and sample so many
different flavours and choose exactly how much of each dish you
would like?
The huge dessert bar in Red Hot
is a sight to behold. Full of amazing colours and numerous
mouth-watering goodies, it’s a sweet lovers’ paradise. I could
not resist the chocolate and walnut brownie which was
surprisingly moist. I then opted for yet another dessert – yes I
was hungry! The homemade ice cream with yet another brownie went
down a treat!
My partner had chosen a Tiramisu
which looked cute. In some sections you are able to cut the
cakes to your desired size. The Tiramisu was well received and
wasn’t, unlike some varieties, laden with too much alcohol.
Atmosphere
The last time I wrote about Red
Hot I mentioned the place was buzzing and packed to the rafters
despite there being a recession. Sadly, the recession is still
with us, but thankfully the good news is that Red Hot World
Buffet is doing nothing but grow in stature and popularity. It
was early in the evening but the restaurant was already busy
with a pleasant buzz.
Like our own table, a look round
at the other guests showed that there was plenty of fun and
laughter being had. This restaurant makes diners on your table
inquisitive. Without wishing to make myself sound a pig, here
are some of the questions sent my way with my answers in
brackets. ‘What’s that?’ (Not telling you!) ‘How much have you
got?’ (Mind your own!) ‘Where did you find that?’ (Wouldn’t you
like to know!) ‘Again?’ (Yes!) ‘More?’ (Absolutely!).
Décor
For such a huge restaurant Red
Hot do a tremendous job in keeping both the buffet and dining
areas in immaculate condition. The buffet forms the centrepiece
of the restaurant. It’s bright and very well lit, almost
screaming at you to come over and look at the delicious food on
offer. In the centre of the dining room is almost concealed red
uplighting which matches the red high back chairs. This place is
trendy and although vast in size, it is definitely inviting.
Service
Red Hot like to take your plates
away reasonably quickly so you will not feel shy about visiting
the buffet area so soon after finishing your last course. I
would like to see them place a large cutlery holder in the
centre of the table so guests can help themselves. You are
expected to save your knife and forks between each visit. By
saving them, you have to place them on your napkin (despite
being clean, I didn’t want to put my fork on the table). This
means your napkin becomes dirty and unusable. If you have a
break between courses, the food on your fork will start to dry.
This is just a minor quibble during a night out that was tasty,
fun and relaxing.
Red Hot is a gem! |
