all you can eat buffets

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 10 Jun 2007, 20:44

Mrs Dadaist disagrees with me over the approach to these all-you-can-eat buffets.

Is the point of these places not to eat as much as you possibly can?

I don't see any problem with this. The bit that really got Mrs Dadaist was when I said I had changed tactics from using big plates - because I was sunk by the third plate - to several small plates. Tonight at the all-you-can-eat Thai place at Gayfield Square (used to be China China) I think I was on about 9 small plates.

What is the point of these places if not to try and eat as much as possible?

Post by **wangi** » 10 Jun 2007, 20:58

The point is that it is a mental exercise, rather than a physical exercise. Actually having the will power and self control to not eat as much as you can...

... Best way to gain this self control is by spending a few weeks in the States or on a full board holiday trying to each as much as you can and then noting the resulting weight increase.

L/

Bob Jefferson · Post by **Bob Jefferson** » 10 Jun 2007, 21:06

Ah, one of my pet hates. Like all-inclusive holidays, the 'eat as much as you can' Chinese buffet restaurant appeals to the greedy pig inside all of us. It's quantity over quality, troughs of luke-warm cheap meat in sickly day-glo sauces.

China China used to offer us a ridiculously cheap £2 takeaway deal. Even so, a colleague of mine used to cram as much food into the container as possible, until he was eventually told that it didn't count if he couldn't actually fit the lid on. He didn't flinch but I was embarassed for him.

I know someone who worked in another similar establishment. She told me the working conditions were terrible and they paid minimum wage.

Haven't tried the Thai place and I've only heard one (bad) report. To answer your question, I think the original concept was 'eat as much as you like' as opposed to 'can' or 'until you are sick' but I accept that for many people this is semantics.

SoupDragon · Post by **SoupDragon** » 10 Jun 2007, 21:25

Never been as the ones I've seen seem to mostly offer chicken
( some may not know that I dislike chicken a tiny, wee bit )

All I can say is my offspring view our soup pot, fridge, freezer and cupboards as an all you can eat, permanent, buffet

Izzie · Post by **Izzie** » 10 Jun 2007, 21:37

SoupDragon wrote:
All I can say is my offspring view our soup pot, fridge, freezer and cupboards as an all you can eat, permanent, buffet

I know that feeling,I often go to get something nice out the fridge or whatever and it's gone

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 10 Jun 2007, 21:47

Fair point Wangi.

Bob - I'm wondering if someone pointed you at an all-you-can-drink wine bar if you wouldn't end up squiffed?

SoupDragon · Post by **SoupDragon** » 10 Jun 2007, 22:28

Dadaist if you ever find a bar like that, Please , please let me know. We do enjoy a challenge.

I was trying to do a Rapuzell and make chocolate truffles, had the mix in the fridge to set. It s now got big finger gouges in it. All Clangers trying to look innocent, very hard for them , epecially the chocloate coated ones

PS whats this thing called self control? Do the do classes in it at the community centre?

magbagpuss · Post by **magbagpuss** » 10 Jun 2007, 22:34

Dadist love your new pic , once saw a guy with a plate so full he had to carry it against his arm to stop it all falling off . Don't think he had sussed he could go back , muppet , n no it was not us !!!!!!!!1

Bob Jefferson · Post by **Bob Jefferson** » 10 Jun 2007, 22:37

Dadaist wrote:Bob - I'm wondering if someone pointed you at an all-you-can-drink wine bar if you wouldn't end up squiffed?

Almost certainly. Interestingly, we don't have that type of bar in the UK because, like 'happy hour' and cheap drink promotions, it encourages irresponsible drinking. Maybe we should have similar bans on restaurants that encourage irresponsible eating?

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 10 Jun 2007, 22:43

Dadaist - did you ever do the Harry Ramsden challenge? Three gutsy members of our family did it once - it made me sick just watching them. The prize for clearing your plate was a free pudding

Bob Jefferson · Post by **Bob Jefferson** » 10 Jun 2007, 23:09

A French proverb defines a glutton as "one who digs his grave with his teeth".

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 10 Jun 2007, 23:21

Epykat wrote:Dadaist - did you ever do the Harry Ramsden challenge? Three gutsy members of our family did it once - it made me sick just watching them. The prize for clearing your plate was a free pudding

No. Loved the Harry Ramsdens down Granton though.

Nelson Hatstand · Post by **Nelson Hatstand** » 11 Jun 2007, 13:57

Bob Jefferson wrote:Like all-inclusive holidays, the 'eat as much as you can' Chinese buffet restaurant appeals to the greedy pig inside all of us.

I'm with D on this one. Oink!

Hell's Cat · Post by **Hell's Cat** » 12 Jun 2007, 12:55

I have it on good authority that one of the reasons that the all you can eat buffets are so cheap is that a number of them (in Edinburgh) have been found to be serving seagull with the chicken, on more than one occasion!

Seagull, according to the environmental health carries a number of health risks unsurprisingly.

Sandra · Post by **Sandra** » 12 Jun 2007, 13:23

Thanks for sharing that

Porty · Post by **Porty** » 12 Jun 2007, 14:25

Dadaist wrote:
Bob - I'm wondering if someone pointed you at an all-you-can-drink wine bar if you wouldn't end up squiffed?

I've never encountered an all I can drink wine bar. However, i must have been in a thousand that if only they had stayed open another 8 hours or so ...........

Bob Jefferson · Post by **Bob Jefferson** » 12 Jun 2007, 17:03

Hell's Cat wrote:I have it on good authority that one of the reasons that the all you can eat buffets are so cheap is that a number of them (in Edinburgh) have been found to be serving seagull with the chicken, on more than one occasion!

This sounds like an urban myth. How are these seagulls caught? How much eating is there on a seagull? Does it look or taste anything like chicken? Is it cost-effective to hunt seagulls to pass off as chicken?

The raw materials are dirt cheap anyway and buffet-style restaurants require relatively few members of staff. And of course they are very popular because they are cheap so there are economies of scale, although I think their popularity is now on the wane. China China must have made a bomb though in the first year or so of opening when people were queuing all day to get in.

Nelson Hatstand · Post by **Nelson Hatstand** » 12 Jun 2007, 18:28

Hell's Cat wrote:I have it on good authority that one of the reasons that the all you can eat buffets are so cheap is that a number of them (in Edinburgh) have been found to be serving seagull with the chicken, on more than one occasion!
Seagull, according to the environmental health carries a number of health risks unsurprisingly.

Ha ha ha! Are you Jamesie in disguise?!

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 13 Jun 2007, 08:59

Hell's Cat wrote:I have it on good authority that one of the reasons that the all you can eat buffets are so cheap is that a number of them (in Edinburgh) have been found to be serving seagull with the chicken, on more than one occasion!
Seagull, according to the environmental health carries a number of health risks unsurprisingly.

I think that sounds like a great use for a seagull

. Horrible, noisy, smelly things - but maybe they taste good.

Pal of Porty · Post by **Pal of Porty** » 13 Jun 2007, 09:04

Gordon Ramsay shot, then cooked Crow on last week's F word. All concerned thought it was delicious. Apparently it used to be a very popular dish.

P.S. As it was an all you can eat - he had to shoot six!

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 13 Jun 2007, 09:33

Pal of Porty wrote:Gordon Ramsay shot, then cooked Crow on last week's F word.

I wish somebody would shoot and eat Gordon 'kin Ramsay. He's an a rse.

Hell's Cat · Post by **Hell's Cat** » 13 Jun 2007, 09:49

The information about seagulls being used came from Environmental Health Officiers while they were delivering a course on food hygiene to an Edinburgh company. Why would they lie? Apparenetly the seagull was mixed in with chicken and was taken away for analysis as this was happend before. When caught the restaurant owners change the name to another owner within family and the resturant stays open under new management.
This has happen to more than 1 chinese buffet in Edinburgh and 1 in Aberdeen.
Seagulls can carry campylobactor, not good in anyones book!
How they get the seagulls I have no idea, shooting I imagine.

ali · Post by **ali** » 13 Jun 2007, 11:09

Hell's Cat wrote:The information about seagulls being used came from Environmental Health Officiers while they were delivering a course on food hygiene to an Edinburgh company. Why would they lie? Apparenetly the seagull was mixed in with chicken and was taken away for analysis as this was happend before. When caught the restaurant owners change the name to another owner within family and the resturant stays open under new management.
This has happen to more than 1 chinese buffet in Edinburgh and 1 in Aberdeen.
Seagulls can carry campylobactor, not good in anyones book!
How they get the seagulls I have no idea, shooting I imagine.

I don't believe a word of this. If this had actually happened wouldn't environmental health have an obligation to inform the public?
Sounds like an urban myth (with racist overtones) to me.

confucius-say--it-is-easier-to-buy-chicken-than-catch-seagulls-

The above link demonstrates why what Hellscat thinks is an amusing little anecdote is actually poisonous and can ruin businesses and lives.

As the story says, why would anybody go to all the hassle of trying to catch seagulls when you can buy chicken quickly and easily in any cash and carry or supermarket.

Hellscat, maybe you could have a wee think to yourself in future before posting rubbish like this.
cheers
ali

foxy · Post by **foxy** » 13 Jun 2007, 12:57

Pal of Porty wrote:Gordon Ramsay shot, then cooked Crow on last week's F word. All concerned thought it was delicious. Apparently it used to be a very popular dish.

P.S. As it was an all you can eat - he had to shoot six!

...were they sat upon a wa?

Pal of Porty · Post by **Pal of Porty** » 13 Jun 2007, 13:02

ecm wrote:I wish somebody would shoot and eat Gordon 'kin Ramsay. He's an a rse.

I like him.

Bob Jefferson · Post by **Bob Jefferson** » 13 Jun 2007, 22:51

ali wrote:If this had actually happened wouldn't environmental health have an obligation to inform the public?

They would have made it public. The restaurant would have been closed down. It would have been all over the Evening News.

There are lots of reasons for not eating in Jimmy Chung's as far as I'm concerned, but the possibility of unwittingly consuming seagull does not feature among them.

Hell's Cat, I would be interested in knowing the source of these stories. Internet? Chinese whispers?

SoupDragon · Post by **SoupDragon** » 14 Jun 2007, 12:37

foxy wrote:
Pal of Porty wrote:Gordon Ramsay shot, then cooked Crow on last week's F word. All concerned thought it was delicious. Apparently it used to be a very popular dish.

P.S. As it was an all you can eat - he had to shoot six!
...were they sat upon a wa?

Thats two wa' s worth!
Wondering how to fit shot by Gordon into the rhyme

By the way chicken can also carry campylobacter infection, most food that comes from animals can.

Hell's Cat · Post by **Hell's Cat** » 09 Jul 2007, 22:07

I haven't posted for a wee while partly because of the personal attack on this thread. But I thought I should set the record straight. Anyone that knows me will know that I am not the sort of individual that resorts to

amusing little anecdote is actually poisonous and can ruin businesses and lives

I genuinelly posted this as I believed what I had been told and felt it should be known to others. The information I was given was by my partner who attend a health and hygine course run by Edinburgh council. The course was run by inspectors from Scotland. Now if you do not believe the information the students were given then you have to ask who is lying? Me , NO, My partner, NO, the inspectors, well maybe but why would they. You decide. The information was disturbing to me, while it did seem unlikely, but I felt that if there was some truth in it people should know. Sorry if this has caused anybody any personal grief. Rest assured I will not be posting any information in the future that I feel should be known to the general public, I'll stick to safe inane rubbish in the future as per the advice generously meted out to me on this thread.

Hellscat, maybe you could have a wee think to yourself in future before posting rubbish like this

Let's all stay ignorant why don't we, it's safer after all.

Robin! · Post by **Robin!** » 09 Jul 2007, 22:30

I usually go up twice on my main course, but I don't eat until my buttons are popping. I usually go mental with dessert though!

Jimmy Chungs is the damage!

ali · Post by **ali** » 09 Jul 2007, 23:06

Hell's Cat wrote:I haven't posted for a wee while partly because of the personal attack on this thread. But I thought I should set the record straight. Anyone that knows me will know that I am not the sort of individual that resorts to
amusing little anecdote is actually poisonous and can ruin businesses and lives
I genuinelly posted this as I believed what I had been told and felt it should be known to others. The information I was given was by my partner who attend a health and hygine course run by Edinburgh council. The course was run by inspectors from Scotland. Now if you do not believe the information the students were given then you have to ask who is lying? Me , NO, My partner, NO, the inspectors, well maybe but why would they. You decide. The information was disturbing to me, while it did seem unlikely, but I felt that if there was some truth in it people should know. Sorry if this has caused anybody any personal grief. Rest assured I will not be posting any information in the future that I feel should be known to the general public, I'll stick to safe inane rubbish in the future as per the advice generously meted out to me on this thread.
Hellscat, maybe you could have a wee think to yourself in future before posting rubbish like this
Let's all stay ignorant why don't we, it's safer after all.

If you really believe that this story is true and you are still keen to "inform the general public" then why don't you contact the Evening News - I'm sure it will be right up their street - if there is any substance to the story they'll be able to confirm it, I'm sure.
I don't think its likely that they will find anything though apart from the link I found ie the Dundee story.
There is no way that any environmental official would or could cover up a story like this. Its obviously a load of tosh.............
cheers
ali

Pal of Porty · Post by **Pal of Porty** » 09 Jul 2007, 23:33

Hell's Cat wrote:....I'll stick to safe inane rubbish in the future as per the advice generously meted out to me on this thread.

Well it is called 'Gossip & Tittle Tattle'!

Porty · Post by **Porty** » 09 Jul 2007, 23:51

God knows how this thing works?

Porty · Post by **Porty** » 10 Jul 2007, 09:43

Porty wrote:God knows how this thing works?

Just to explain that this was my first attempt at posting from my Blackberry ti Talkporty. Its taken me 3 months to figure it out.

SoupDragon · Post by **SoupDragon** » 17 Aug 2007, 17:24

Yet the rumours persist.
Must be an albatross round the neck

Bob Jefferson · Post by **Bob Jefferson** » 17 Aug 2007, 17:27

Sorry soupers, I posted the Daily Record link and then realised that ali had already done so and I then deleted it. I didn't find this one on snopes so I think I'll maybe submit it for consideration.

Talk Porty ~ Portobello

all you can eat buffets

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all you can eat buffets