The concept of an ‘all you can eat’ buffet is certainly not a revolutionary one these days. However, Za Za Bazaar, the biggest restaurant in the UK, catering up to 1000 people in one sitting, takes the ‘all you can eat’ buffet to another level. A ‘passport to the world of food’, according to the website, it offers pretty much every single cuisine you can think of, from Asia to South America to Europe all in one place. My question then: is it really as amazing as it sounds, is this incredible banquet all it’s cracked up to be?
Having heard all the reviews, my friend and I decided to devote an afternoon to explore the delights of Za Za bazaar (I say a whole afternoon as with the amount of food we ate, the possibility of taking part in any other activity was severely diminished). The minute you walk into the restaurant you are instantly overwhelmed by its shear size and extravagance. Inspired by the night markets of Asia, you do certainly feel like you are transported to another world, or indeed as some might feel, heaven.
To put into context the size of the place, you are given a map at your table for guidance. Seeing as we had one hour and forty five minutes (the allotted time) to explore this food haven, we commenced by deciding some tactics to make the most of the food available. We had devoted a full afternoon to this event so it was ‘go hard or go home’. Start small and work your way up was our game plan and so not wanting to appear too keen we headed for the salad area to gently warm up our stomachs.
For me, the word salad brings to mind the idea of healthiness, a skinny woman on a diet, a few unappealing green leaves but oh how wrong I was, forced to re-assess my interpretation of a salad. Not surprisingly, Za Za’s took the idea to a whole other level. Multiple different types of leaves, every topping you could think of from bacon to chicken to a range of types of cheese, not forgetting a mountain of croutons. To top it all off (literally) the amount of salad dressings on offer was unbelievable and -I must confess (embarrassingly)- one of the hardest decisions I have had to make. It was here that I really understood how incredible this place was; if this was only the salad then I was in for a real treat.
We successfully employed our tactic, munching our way through the delicious Chinese, including a specially made stir-fry, spicy Mexican, greasy American, tasty Italian, juicy curries, and a few Yorkshire puddings to top it off. As if that wasn’t enough, we had been fortunate enough to be sat right next to the chocolate fountain. So, barging our way through the huge crowd surrounding it (including some overly hyper children and a hen party clad in bunny ears), we managed to reach the fountain of pure indulgence, proudly dipping our marshmallows in the smooth, velvety chocolate.
It was only a couple of minutes later though, that we realised the effect of what we had just done to ourselves. I know people often talk of food babies and having to undo their jeans after a big meal but never had I felt as full as this ever before. Undoing my jeans was just not going to cut it; I needed to lie down as movement was definitely not possible. Realising that unfortunately we could not stay there forever, we just about managed to waddle out of the restaurant and quickly found ourselves a bench to sit/lie on for the rest of the afternoon in recovery. Despite the intense food coma and total inability to walk for a good three hours, I cannot deny that my experience at Za Za’s was one of the most incredible I have ever had and I would recommend/challenge anyone to try it, although advisably on a day with nothing else planned!