Cosmo… Out of this world??

Having tried most of the buffet restaurants in Nottingham, and finding them lacking in both service and cuisine, I wasn’t particularly interested when Cosmo opened its doors a little under year ago. My best friend  (or to quote Friends, my ‘GalPal’) Trace, who I’ve not seen in a couple of months due to commitments on both sides, met me for dinner. She had originally suggested Red Hot buffet, but I’m not their biggest fan so we decided to try this place instead. We both like to eat, and talk a lot, so an all you can eat usually suits us best.

Situated on Trinity Place, of Milton Street right next to the Waitrose, it’s an unassuming but pleasant entrance.

As you walk in and up the  huge stairs, you’re greeted by a huge bar that runs along the back wall, with bottles of Bombay Sapphire and Belvedere vodka staring right at you. The dining room itself looks like a hotel, all beautiful lighting and soft white seating. It doesn’t feel cramped, or to stuck up, just nice and relaxed and very well presented. It’s a really casual experience but it’s inexpensive and for the most part delicious.

One thing to note, the ladies toilets are amazing, Grey tiling, and ornate huge mirrors are hanging over each of the sinks in beautiful silver frames.

Our waitress was an incredibly slim, incredibly beautiful girl, however seem to have a little issue looking you in the eye. Every time I asked her a question she responded to my friend, which after a while grated on me a little.

The restaurant boasts over 150 authentic dishes from around the world, and judging from the way they were presented, they are cooked in small amounts to ensure that they are always fresh.

Everything from Indian, Italian, Japanese, American and British cuisine is on offer with a plethora of amazing desserts. I really didn’t know where to start first.

I headed over to the Indian section treating myself to beautiful crisp onion bhajis and amazingly moist Tandoori chicken,  pieces of succulent chicken tikka and sheek kebab. I also of course had poppadoms with mint sauce and mango chutney, and topped the plate off with a little chicken tikka masala. The masala was a little bit too creamy for me but everything else was amazing. For a buffet, it was damn tasty.

I then tried my tastebuds on the sushi, and really went to town on the Salmon and Tilapia Sashimi. The salmon sashimi was melt in your mouth fresh, I’ve never tried Talipia before but really enjoyed that too. I wasn’t a fan of the prawns here as they were tasteless to me.

Look at these cute soya sauce jugs! I’d love one at home!

Next up, and my favourite thing to have a buffet, was crispy aromatic duck pancakes. I get really annoyed when a buffet restaurant doesn’t have this staple, and so many I’ve been to in Nottingham don’t put this on unless it’s a weekend night. It was so tasty, not fatty and not too crispy, with massive chunks of cucumber.

Next I tried pork and prawn dumplings, which I’ve never had before. It was soft and chewy and really really tasty. The Beijing ribs just reminded me of sweet-and-sour, but the sauce was really sweet and the ribs had no fat.

Then the sweet-and-sour chicken, extremely hot in temperature so must’ve just come out, the Satay chicken Singapore style which I found a little dry and with no particular taste, the chicken balls which were again extremely hot, crisp and the chicken inside was delicious. I also went for another favourite, crispy crab claws, which although I usually love didn’t excite me this time which was a shame, I think they had been out for a while as they were a little chewy. I topped it off with crispy seaweed which is always a winner, and you can never have a buffet without onion rings in my opinion so I had a couple of those. I don’t know why buffets always insist on having onion rings, but I’m not one to complain about it.

After I’d done all the starters, I was a little too full to go onto main. So I skipped straight to dessert. There was a huge choice, everything from ice cream to Oreo cheesecake to apple crumble and custard or sticky toffee pudding and toffee sauce. They also do mini tarts, banoffee gateau, profiteroles and apple and rhubarb slice.

Being the child I am, I went for a lovely slice of Viennetta, a strawberry jelly and a little square of tiramisu. The jelly, well, it tasted exactly like Strawberry jelly. The Viennetta  taste exactly like a Viennetta. The tiramisu was amazing, soft fluffy and all round deliciousness.

I continued with yet more dessert, and also had a caramel and pecan slice which again was lovely. It was rich, heavy and succulent. I also topped it off with some jelly sweets (as I said, I am a child)

This is definitely the best buffet restaurant I’ve been to in Nottingham, and for 15 quid for and all you can eat, of this quality and quantity and variety, I would return back every week if I could guarantee I wasn’t going to put on weight!!