The Echo gets hundreds of emails asking us to review various subjects but when, one Tuesday, an email landed enquiring if we would review an all-you-can-eat buffet, we didn’t need to be asked twice.
COSMO, in St Peter’s Quarter, has operated from the heart of Bournemouth’s town centre since June of last year having taken over premises previously run by fellow buffet restaurant Days.
Myself and my colleague Oliver - himself a major foodie - popped down to the restaurant after work on a Thursday evening to see just what they had to offer. We arrived at 5.45pm and the restaurant was surprisingly near-capacity for that time and remained so for the entirety of the evening.
The atmosphere was familial and, despite being a busy evening, there was plenty of space inside such that you never felt intrusive to fellow diners. Décor wise, it’s top notch. It’s classy but steers well clear of tacky.
A helpful waiter named Thai took our drinks order before explaining the whole process to us. Cost wise it’s £18.99 per person Monday-Thursday and £20.99 on Friday-Sunday (and bank holidays).
Oliver read online that you should eat the Chinese food last because it fills you up quickest; however, upon seeing the vast swathes of crispy duck, we soon disregarded this advice. We decided to split each plate up into the various cuisines on offer: Chinese, Indian, teppanyaki, American, roast, and dessert.
The Chinese offering was exceptional: beef in black bean, char siu pork, crispy duck, and even the garlic green beans were a delight. In all honesty, we forgot to record some of what we were eating – likely to be because we were in some sort of food-infused hypnosis.
But even that couldn’t match the pure theatre of the teppanyaki station - a master of the grill cooking up steaks and prawns before your very eyes.
I was particularly impressed by the prawns - served with a drooling amount of garlic butter - as well as the braised beef that was picked up from the mini roast section.
We followed this up with a spirited showing of Indian cuisine, where strangely the Chicken Korma packed more of a flavoursome punch than its Tikka Masala cousin.
Once you’ve enjoyed the main themed sections, you do find yourself enjoying a concoction. At one point I enjoyed a slice of pizza, with a slab of steak, katsu chicken and a few greens.
To drink we had a hearty Tsingtao, a pint of Carling, and a raspberry lemonade cocktail which is best described as a very adult version of a Capri Sun.
A unique aspect of COSMO is their robot waiters which assist the human staff by shuffling to tables to deliver drinks, pick up plates and, most importantly, sing happy birthday to guests. We took a short break in eating to watch one of the robot’s sing happy birthday to a young guest, witness one diner career into the robot before almost gesturing an apology, before we ploughed straight onto dessert - after five plates of main courses.
Desserts consisted of an unlimited supply of custard, churros, Christmas pudding, carrot cake, ice cream and everything in between – a true celebration of gluttony.
There are any number of words that could be used to describe just how fantastic all the food we tried was but, perhaps, it’s easier to just summarise it with the noises Oliver uttered after polishing off each plate: “oof” and “phwoar”.
If you’re looking to fill your boots then you can’t go wrong with COSMO – but be prepared to loosen a button (or two) before you try and waddle home.
Visit cosmo-restaurants.co.uk/restaurants/bournemouth for more.
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