The Real China

I really enjoyed Chinese buffet. The restaurant has a good décor. I like vegetables and luckily, they serve very tasty vegetables there. My favourite is the salt and pepper shrimp, it’s so crisp and you can even eat the shell. I’m now missing the restaurant and can’t wait for my second visit!

The Real China. Todavía no he tenido la oportunidad de estar en China pero espero que la que ofrece éste restaurante no sea «The Real». Por donde empezar sin que mi indignación me lleve a hacer un destrozo de este esperpento de local. Veamos, en primer lugar siempre es interesante que en un restaurante chino, el reclamo sea comida japonesa (léase sushi), pero aun es mas interesante es que una vez dentro no haya nada japonés a parte de la marca de alguna freidora que utilizan para elaborar «the real china menú». En fin, me gusta la comida china así que obviamos este detalle y entramos a esa sauna donde aunque sea un buffet libre sales con menos kilos que los que entraste, y una amigable trabajadora (que también debia de estar buscando el sushi porque tenia muy mal carácter) no lleva a la peor mesa del local, y teniendo en cuenta que está vacío es preocupante. Si esta vacío por algo será querido Xavi estaréis pensando, lamentablemente su magnífica decoración al más puro estilo lejano oriente de Port Aventura no nos permite ver el interior (normal, el vapor de la sauna inundaría el centro comercial). Por cierto miento, había gente allí comiendo, todos los camareros y cocineros conectados a sus ipads más pendientes de las películas de Jackie Chan que de nosotros. Vamos a ver que hay en el buffé y nos damos cuenta que es más fácil adivinar lo que no hay, porque lo que hay no tiene nombre; de hecho si tiene nombre: maltrato animal con salsa, maltrato animal frito y maltrato rebozado. Toneladas de grasa y refritos cubiertos de salsas, eso si de todos los colores imaginables. La amistosa camarera nos informa que el buffé solo se puede estar 90 minutos, así que imaginamos que alguien debe estar cronometrando el tiempo que comemos; y a decir verdad aunque suene a poco tiempo en 5 minutos ya has terminado. Mención especial para el apartado postre: sucedáneo de flan y media sandia (menos mal que estábamos llenos y no nos daba tiempo en 90 minutos de asaltar los postres!
Moraleja: en este caso, sin comida, sin buen servicio, a 30 grados, somos libres de no volver.
Un saludo!

Not a good buffet but you pay less than 6 pounds, a price you often get only a sandwich for.
Do not expect great food. You get cheap food for a cheap price. Some of the meals are acceptable (sweet sour pork, fried rice, soyabeans). The worst of all was the soup sweet sour which tasted like hot water with sojasauce, Maggi and an egg in it — amazing bad. The duck looked weired.

I’ve been to a few all you can eats, but unbelievably, up to this point never a chinese one. Perhaps it’s because I’m of Chinese heritage myself, perhaps it’s because I wonder how bad the food must to in order to hit the price point AND make the company profit. Step in £3.50 Groupon, and things/​thoughts change. Fast. And I STILL don’t understand how these places make money…
The décor is good. It’s trying to replicate a chinese wood hut, which is does nicely in a tacky sort of way. The place is very clean and the staff extremely presentable with uniforms as if they were working in the lobby of a hotel or bar/​restaurant.
The service is good. Tap water was brought in a jug and there was no pressure to buy drinks. Sometimes on these Groupon deals, the restaurant tries their best to get you to buy still water or alcohol. Whilst I understand it (it’s possibly how this place makes money) it’s unpleasant nonetheless.
The food itself isn’t amazing, but if you’re looking for cheap, tasty, meaty, large portions of food, this place won’t disappoint. Even at full price, around £6 for lunch, you’ll definitely get your monies worth. The selection is not all-​encompassing, as shown on their site, but it’s noted that the menu is constantly changing and a lot of the main things were represented. Like duck with pancakes (surprisingly good quality shredded duck) with all the frills including hoi sin sauce, cucumber sticks, spring onion thinly sliced. Plus an array of fried things like prawn toast, chicken balls etc…
The soups were AWFUL. I would avoid those. Pretty much water, salt and lots of cornstarch. However the mains were wonderful. Lots of veg, brocolli, noodles, sweet and sour chicken, black bean beef, chicken in oyster sauce, spare ribs (which were excellent), plus a few more dishes. I had two helpings and was stuffed.
Onto dessert.
I ate my lunch constantly looking at all the chocolate gâteau being eaten by a guy to my left. So imagine my surprise when I went to get dessert only to find some cut oranges, fruit cocktail and ice-​cream. I begrudgingly ate the ice cream, then decided to ask about the chocolate cake. The staff kindly informed me she would bring some out shortly. Well that came out, and there was a mad rush for it! It’s only standard choc gâteau, but it rounded off a very nice lunch.
If you like cheap, and you like guilty chinese buffets, this is one of the better ones owing to the addition of a limited bar too and actual table service.
Eat well and prosper!

The Real China is a chinese buffet all-​you-​can-​eat in the upstairs of the Whiteleys Shopping Centre in Bayswater. I was there for the 12.95 dinner with some desperately hungry friends. I am glad they were desperately hungry, otherwise they might have not have eaten much of the extremely mediocre quality buffet served here. The phrase «All-​you-​can-​eat» has never been synonymous with quality so I didn’t really expect much too much. It was all forgettable, but if you are very very hungry and don’t want to spend much, you could be alright here.

Only been for the buffet lunch — £5.95 for all you can eat. The food was good, and there was a pretty big selection. Vegetarian options were a little limited though (we went with a veggie)