We go to an Asian buffet probably once every couple weeks. The ones we go to are about $10/person and sound very similar. But there are bad ones, that we learn to avoid too. Also have a couple Indian buffets that I like. Some will debate this, but the Golden Corral buffet is now very, very good. It's mostly a Southern restaurant, but the food is very good. It didn't used to be, but they totally overhauled it. Good steaks, ribs, potatoes, salads, desserts, Mexican, Italian, Asian, etc. I love to go to good restaurants, but I also like to stay within some sort of budget, so the buffets work pretty well as a default. Oh, and very good Southern food too...

>CL
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>Not really being defensive, or attacking the US for that matter (I certainly, like I said, look forward to filling my boots when I visit the continent), it's just that it's not we with the mingy portions, but you with the BIG HELPINGS. Though I can't understand why a perported English establishment in the US would still stint on size - like committing corporate suicide, I'd say.
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>BTW. Take an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet rest. over there - how much would you expect to pay? There's one near me that's £11-odd for adults and £7-odd for kids. THAT is food to die for - all your faves, and as much crispy aromatic duck, plum sauce and pancakes as you can shake a shooting stick at, king prawns grilled "au mongolian" while you wait.
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>As for your capote - I suppose there is Branston pickle, picklelilly and chutneys that would fit that bill. The chutneys mainly stem from India and go with Indian scran. You should try lime pickle, so tangy it'll make your ears spin
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>>Ah, Terry, you're getting all defensive, I think. It's just my limited experience with the restaurants here and some in urban areas up north. The capote may have been somewhat incorrect. More like pieces of fruit and jam put with the meat. Like I said, maybe it's not authentic. The blandness has more to do with a lack of spice, not the culture origins of the dish. The US can't help that we come from a multitude of cultures, that is what we are. The food reflects that also. We probably have as diverse a menu here in the States than the countries Europe. You can go 500 miles in any direction and find entirely different regional tastes. I don't disagree about the portions, but I was just commenting on that because of what my friend had said. For good or bad, he was impressed.
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>The point I was making on US cuisine was thatr there appears to be very little home-spun - all being from other countries. Take you jambolay, cod-fish pie and philly gumbo. Aren't these all creole in origin and quite localised. Then there's your blackened Cajun food - French-Canadian.
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>Mind you, Boston clam chowder - now THERE's something to crow about! :-)
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>Last time in Toronto I went twice to an all-you-can-eat breakfast rest. Every kind of brekky you coulfd think of, and waht does this canuck idiot do? - heaps his plate up with home fries and bacon. Unless he'd the appetite of a post-hibernation bear I doubt he got his money's worth :-)
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>>>>I'm a fair share German, and I would say, other than meats, their food sucks. Very bland.
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>>>>Another lifetime ago when I was a camp counselor for mentally challenged kids, I met a guy, Robert Easton, from England. We hit it off and on one of our days off went with some other people to NYC for a visit. He was absolutely amazed at the quality of the food. Even sandwiches. He got a corned beef on rye and asked for mayo. The guy looked at him and said, "I'm not putting mayo on corned beef. You can get it with mustard, or plain." Well, that's Brooklyn for you, but he did say that it was amazing how large it was. According to him, you normally get a slice or two of meat and that's it. His was probably 3 or 4 inches thick. Plus he thought it was great. There are some English and Irish places here - we're not all as backwards in this area of the South as the rest of the country would like everyone to think - and I really wasn't very impressed. Kind of bland, lots of fruit capote type stuff with meats, small portions. I don't know, maybe the four or five places I've been aren't that
>>>>authentic.
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>>>I think it's the other way round: we have human portions and you guys have "dirty great helpings". Everyone knows of the super-size culture of the US; we're constantly amazed at the sheer size of the food you get. Not for nothing are you the obesity capital of the world (and now, due to US fast-food influence, the UK is the obesity capital of Europe).
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>>>Yeah we love to "fill our boots" when visiting the US - AND Canada, and NY is famous for it's, not so much "door-step" but "dias" or "speaking rostrum" sandwiches. Once in Canada I bought an ice cream. My daughter didn't know if she's like the flavour or not so I asked the guy for a sample, thinking she'd get a broken-off end of a cone with a spoonful on't. He gave me a full-sized cone with a scoop. Although I was impressed by the generosity it nontheless comprised what would be a single portion in the UK. :-)
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>>>What's a fruit capote and how's that typically English? I know not of it.
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>>>The thing also is, just what comprises this non-bland, tasty American fare that we can't emulate - nachos, tacos, enchiladas, borshch, Jewish sandwiches? Apart from all the "foreign" influences you have the rest is just plain meat-and-2-veg like over here
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>>>>>I'd be interested to know what marks Germany as a gourmet capital of the world. Saurkraut? pumpernickel? (spellings?). The last time I ate from a German chef I got something called "I car of dirty" which turned out to be a small wooden wheelbarrow of extremely grisly, chewy, disgusting hunks of an indeterminate meat - took me hours to get half through and left me with jaw ache.