My Aunt and Uncle came up to Sheffield for the weekend as a ‘little surprise’, since they haven’t seen me properly (as in, not via skype) for over a year. And that’s actually a really long time and I missed them immensely. Their little trip also brightened up what has been quite a stressful week for me, but I got to show them around my Uni city, go and see Stomp!, and chat over a wonderful meal — which is what I’m going to talk about today. U buffet.

U buffet has only been open since July, so it’s really new. I see it every time I walk into the city centre, and I’ve honestly never seen it without diners… well, dining. I’ve wanted to try the food there for a while now, so my Aunt and Uncle coming to visit was the perfect ‘excuse’. Although I don’t need an excuse to go.

The location is great if you’re a ‘Uni Of’ student, It’s on West Street, opposite Walkabout, and I think the closest tram stop is City Hall. The restaurant itself is absolutely massive, which, for some places, can be a blessing and a curse; you get a lot of patrons in, but it becomes really, really noisy. U buffet doesn’t suffer from this, it’s large, the tables are quite close together in some places, but you can still have a conversation without raising your voice. The size is also quite handy, because U buffet provides its diners with possibly one of the largest menu choices I have ever seen. Ever. Ever ever.

sushi for starters

Your waiter will very kindly introduce the buffett section to you once your drinks are ordered, which is a lovely touch because the three of us would have been so lost without it. U buffet has a sushi station, salad bar, desserts, a wok station – where you pick what you want and have it stir-fried by a chef, a chargrill area, dim sum, a tempura station, soup, and upwards of 30 main courses – including roast meats. So. Much. Food.  I was concerned that, as my Aunt is vegetarian, there wouldn’t be anything for her to eat, but U buffet does offer meat-free dishes. You’d probably be hard pushed to find completely vegan dishes, but they do have a lot of tofu floating about.

a massive selection

We got a selection of things to share, most of the time. I am absolutely in love with dim sum, as well as pork belly – oh Korea… – so I think I was probably the most carnivorous of our little party.  The only issue that I have with any of the food is, as it’s a buffet some of the less popular dishes don’t have as fast a turn-over, so the flavour can get a little bit lost. I do however, really appreciate that if, at the wok station, you want them to add more spice to the sauce, they will. ♥

itty bitty blueberry cheesecake

the smallest fruit cup

 The desserts on offer range from fruit to single-serving, absolutely miniscule, triple layer cake. The bakeoff team would be proud of the uniformity each tiny serving, to be honest. There’s ice cream and waffles too, if you can ever get past cooing at the itty-bitty dessert committee. (I failed.)

All in all, I think this restaurant is a really lovely place to dine. The staff are super attentive, smiley and friendly, the food is good, the prices are great value and you don’t have to yell across your table just to be heard.

Prices change depending on the day and time, but children under 3 always eat free of charge. You can find all of this information on their website

Monday – Friday lunch:  11:45am – 4:30pm  – £7.50 per person, children under 12 – £4

Monday – Thursday evening:  4:30pm – 11pm  – £13.90 per person, children under 12 – £7

Saturday lunch: 11:45am – 4:30pm  –  £9.90 per person, children under 12 £5

Friday + Saturday evening:  4:30pm – 11pm  –  £14.90 per person, children under 12 – £7

Sunday:  11:45am – 10pm  –  £12.90 per person, children under 12 – £6

U buffet details:

address: 58-60 West Point, West Street, Sheffield, S1 4EP
phone: 0114 2723668
email: info@u-buffet.co.uk

♥