February 14, 2019
Buffets and banquet halls are the number one destination for foodies who love a large spread. After all, where else can you go for a meal with such vast choices of dishes where you can simply go up and help yourself to as much as you want?
Most seasoned buffet visitors have a number of tricks up their sleeves in order to get the most out of their trip and watching these people at work can be quite inspiring. One problem you will unfortunately have to face when you arrive at the buffet is that you aren’t the only one there. Restaurants that provide quality buffets are rarely quiet, so you will have to compete with lines of people at times in order to get your plate filled.
If you’ve ever been to a buffet even once, you will probably have noticed some unusual behaviour that you don’t tend to notice in any other restaurant. It is true, buffets do tend to bring out some unusual qualities in people. Here are a few people you will inevitably run into at the buffet:
This person either has one specific dish in mind or can’t make their mind up at all. The lurker likes to wander around with their empty plate, perusing the buffet options for a long time before making any choices. Some of the more experienced lurkers will hover around you when you choose your own food to get an idea of what is good, they may even be brave enough to ask you what you have chosen yourself. You will usually find the lurker around the most popular dish on the buffet table, waiting for it to be refilled.
This person knows every ingredient to every dish, how they are all prepared – they even know the history surrounding the dish, and they aren’t afraid to share that knowledge with whomever is listening. If you are unlucky enough to be seated near one of these people during your meal, we hope you love hearing food facts, because these people have thousands of them.
You don’t want to be behind the sweeper in the line for the buffet, because they inevitably head for all the best dishes and clear them out. They don’t care that you can have as many plates as they wish, they just want to fill their first plate with as much as possible, so they don’t have to stand up again, meaning you have to wait for more to be brought out and inadvertently turning you into a ‘Lurker’ in the process.
There’s usually one person in each family who has paid their fee for the buffet but then proceeds to only eat from the salad bar because they are either ‘on a diet’ or ‘aren’t a fan of the food’, even though it was there idea to come here in the first place. They watch you intently as you enjoy your piled-high plate with a glint of jealousy in their eyes.
Some people can’t resist the sweet delicacies of the ice cream bar and the delicious temptations of the cake slices at the buffet. The Sweet Tooth simply can’t take their eyes off of the sugary delights and tends to avoid the main buffet in favour of bowl after bowl of yummy desserts instead.
We’ve witnessed all types of people here at Royal Nawaab’s halal restaurant in Manchester, but we love to accommodate them all none the less. After all, we all enjoy the buffet in our own unique way.