Jimmy Spices
Windsor Place, Windsor Street, Stratford Upon Avon, CV37 6NL
Saturday evening and we head for Jimmy Spices – a family party of 6. The others have been before, but this is my first visit. Whilst I have been to several Chinese buffets, I have not been somewhere combining Chinese, Indian, Thai and Italian selections together.
Buffets aim to offer good value for money and a sense of theatre – self-service with a touch of drama. Jimmy Spices is a spacious restaurant and the servery is a sweeping S-shape that straight away draws attention. Although early evening it is already quite full with a range of customers from mixed family groups like ours through to twenty- somethings eating before a night out.
We are shown to a table close to the server y and sit to give our drinks order – two of us go for the cocktails – before all de-camping as one to check out the dishes on offer. With the oriental ranges there is plenty of choice, including a stir-fry area where you can choose your own ingredients and strength of ‘hotness’ and have your dish cooked quickly for you on the spot. Even with several people queuing up the chef was cheerful and speedy. The salad bar I thought surprisingly generous, particularly with the more expensive items such as cherry tomatoes and olives. The only let down was the Italian area, which, despite offering the option of fresh-cooked pasta of your choice, was small and felt like a bit of an afterthought, perhaps added to appease younger children for whom salad and spicy food might not appeal.
The food itself was good and we all agreed the various stir-fry combinations we tried were the highlights of our meals. I would have liked more fish options, as I am not a great meat eater, but I appreciate fish dishes are not so easy to keep fresh and hot. Our empty plates were whisked away unobtrusively and the staff were attentive about replenishing drinks.
Desserts are usually the low point of oriental buffets, but Jimmy Spices makes the effort to do more than just jellies and ice-cream, which seems to be the normal buffet offering. There was also a good range of cakes and some traditional desserts such as crème caramel, rice pudding and cheesecake.
We all felt we had had an enjoyable meal, fairly priced. Next time though we will ask to be sat further away from the server y – it was rather noisy and hard to hear each other speak.
Cherry Bakewell
November 2010