Having been for a very very windy walk around St Mary's Lighthouse on the North East coast, we had certainly worked up an appetite, so looked around for someone for lunch.
We came across an Indian & Thai restaurant offering an "all-you-can-eat" buffet for just under £10 per person, so we thought we would try that.
Siam Bay is situated right on the sea front, a large painted white building, it has a great view of the sea from it's large windows. You can park in a pay & display car pack just a few minutes walk further down the sea front.
We went in and asked if the had Vegetarian options on the buffet, the waiter happily showed us around the food on offer and there was an adequate amount of veggie food, although a few more choices would have been nice.
We decided we would give it a go, and I thought I would treat myself to a glass of wine, but alas, only French wine was available by the glass, and I really dislike French (and all other European) wines! So I ordered Tap Water, I got a bottle of still water priced at £2.50 ! Still, it tasted nice :)
And onto the food. We wandered down to the buffet for some starters - Veggie Spring Rolls, Samosas and an Onion Bhaji ***.
(***a little note on anyone who has read my reasons for hating onions, I can eat them if I cannot "see" them, so when they are deep fried in a Bhaji I can just about manage them, as long as I don't think about what they are :) )
The food was sadly luke warm, the onion Bhajis not even luke warm, more like room temperature, which was an absolute shame as the food itself had beautiful flavours and was nicely cooked. The salad was lovely, fresh and crisp with a choice of some really good sauces - mint, satay and sweet chilli.
Hubby had Chicken Sesame Toast, Chicken Satay, Onion Bhaji and Tandoori Chicken with a spoonful of rice. Again, everything was luke warm or cold, but he said it all tasted good except for the Chicken Sesame Toast which was soggy and undercooked.
I like food to be red hot, he doesn't generally mind when things are a little cooler, but even he said it was way too cold.
Unfortunately foods without a liquid base does not lend itself to being kept warm in a 'bain marie', they either go cold, go soggy or dry up.
Perhaps we should have paid up and left, but we are not ones for making a fuss, so we battled on.
For mains I had Cauliflower Bhaji, Bombay Potatoes, Mushroom Rice and another Onion Bhaji.
The cauliflower and potatoes were drowning in a pool of orange oil in the bain marie, I fished out some bits leaving as much oil as possible, and to be honest they tasted great, just not sure it was necessary to have all that oil, and they were a good temperature, but the rice was cold. Even though I had tried to leave as much oil in the pot as I could, there was still a good amount left on the plate!
There was desserts on offer, supermarket cheesecake and a host of sliced fresh fruits - hubby had some watermelon as it's his fav, I just finished my large bottle of water - I had paid for it, I was going to drink it !
Now strange as it might seem following this rather negative blog, I would go back to try it again. I believe when cooked fresh and served hot the food would be fantastic, maybe they should drop the buffet and preserve their reputation.
Oh, and the Chef is apparently fantastic at fruit sculpting, I must admit I was pretty impressed at his watermelon !!
The total bill, not including a tip, was just under £25, for two buffets, a bottle of water and a coke.
They have a magnificent website where you can order takeaways, and it shows all the menus too.
Let me know if you go or have been :)
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