Chinese style "all you can eat" Buffets certainly seem to be the thing where I live in Sheffield at the moment. There have been two well-established places in the City Centre for about 5 years now, which have both proved to be very popular. However in the past couple of years there has been to my knowledge at least a further three such places appear on the outskirts of the City Centre.
One such place is Wokmania, situated on West Street, just outside of the City Centre, in an area which is popular with Students.
Wokmania is actually a chain of Buffet Restaurants with outlets in Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds, Doncaster, Brighton, and my local Restaurant in Sheffield. Wokmania is a Limited Company that has been trading since ???with its head offices in Halifax, West Yorkshire.
This particular review is based largely on my local outlet in Sheffield, since I have not visited any of their Restaurants in other locations.
The first thing that you will notice when you enter the place is the decor. It is very bright and spacious, and open plan with tables set out around the perimeter of the room and the food on display in the middle of the room.
As you enter there is a small Bar located to the left of the entrance and new arrivals are instructed
by a sign to wait here to be allocated a table. We visited on a Monday night when the place was less than half full, and we were located a table almost immediately.
We ordered drinks at the table and then scurried off to the Buffet to stuff our faces.
If you visit at Lunchtime between 12 noon and 5pm the Buffet menu costs only £5.50, but after 5pm a more extensive menu called the Grand Buffet is available. This costs £9.99 and is available until 11pm.
THE LUNCHTIME BUFFET
Typical dishes available as Starters at Lunchtime include Chinese Soup (Chicken & Sweetcorn Soup or Vegetable Hot & Sour Soup are both examples of what I have seen).
The Main Course dishes are fairly extensive and include Chicken Balls with Sweet & Sour and Lemon Sauce, Lemon Chicken, Chinese Chicken Curry, Red ThaiBeef Curry, Malaysian Chicken Curry, Chicken Terayaki, Lamb Rogan Josh, OK Chicken, Kung Po Chicken, Chicken Satay, Chicken Tikka Massala, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Beef in Black Pepper Sauce, Sweet Chilli Sauce, and Crispy Beef.
As you would expect there is also an extensive range of Rice and Noodles available. These include Chow Mein, Egg Fried Rice, Boiled Rice, Special Fried Rice, Mushroom Foo Yung, Stir Fried Rice, Sweet & Sour Cabbage, Chilli Leeks, Stir Fried Cauliflour, Stir Fried Garlic Beansprouts, Garlic Mushrooms, Onions in OK Sauce, and for us not so authentic customers, Chips.
The Salad Bar includes Fresh Vegetables such as Lettuce, Tomatoes, Beetroot, Cucumber, and Coleslaw.
Finally there is a good range of Desserts also available. These include Cakes, Jelly, Fresh Fruit (Oranges and Apples), Rice Pudding, Fritters (Pineapple, Banana, Apple), plus Ice Cream and Sauces.
The Bar is fully licensed and has a selection of Bottled Beers, Spirits, and a selection of Wines. Soft Drinks are available on a self service basis from machines at the side of the Buffet.
THE GRAND BUFFET
This features all of the same dishes that are available at the Lunchtime Buffet plus a selection of further dishes including Aromatic Crispy Duck, Spring Onion & Shredded Cucumber, Chicken in Sweet Chilli Sauce, Beef in Peking Sauce, Thai Hot Sour Fish, Chicken Jalfrezi, Beef in Chilli & Mango, Chicken Korma, Zeera Chicken, Chicken Madras, Lamb Madras, and Thai Green Chicken Curry.
The Desserts menu is pretty much the same as the Lunchtime menu with the addition of a Chocolate Fountain with Marshmallows.
GENERAL INFORMATION
If you are drinking Soft Drinks then these are all the same price and re-fills are free, you simply pay for your empty Glass.
There is a maximum stay rule of 2 hours, which is enforced at busy periods.
MY THOUGHTS
Overall I really enjoy this place but if I am to be critical it would be to say that there seems to be more and more non-Chinese dishes appearing on the menu each time I visit and if this continues they may need to re-market this Restaurant as a Chinese/Indian/Thai Buffet.
I have also found that if you visit this place during busy periods the Food is generally hotter and new dishes of Fresh Food are constantly being brought out, whilst at less busy times the turnover of Food is obviously slower and some dishes can be luke-warm.
My penultimate moan is actually about the atmosphere of the place, as basically there is isn't much of one. On each of my visits there has not been a Chinese Waiter in sight, most Staff are English/European Students, and there is absolutely nothing remotely Chinese about the decor of the place. Having said that the place is spotlessly clean, including the toilets, and it is very disabled friendly. In fact during my most recent visit there was at least one customer in a wheelchair, who did not seem to have any difficulty.
I have saved my final grip however until last, and that is that a 10% gratuity charge is automatically added to your bill, there is an option to refuse to pay this, but I doubt very much that many people do.
AND FINALLY......
Wokmania is located at the following address:
Wokmania 137 West Street, Sheffield, S1 4EW
Telephone: 0114 275 5885
They are open 7 days a week from 12 noon until 11pm.
Thank you for reading.
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I went here in my first week of living in Sheffield, I was being sick in the buddha bar toilet afterwards, though that might have been because of the over consumption of marshallows at the chocolate fountain!
RichPrice 27.01.2007 22:49
I called in mid January 07 for lunch - its' still as you describe in your review - the service charge is weird - you don't really get any service - are shown to your table and get a drink...
bonsi6337 06.01.2007 22:37
mmm sounds delicious! Now you have gone and made me all hungry! Great review hun. Di xx
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