Cosmo, London Street, Norwich

Rumours of Cosmo coming to Norwich had been doing the rounds for at least a year. After initial anticipation that this would be in the Riverside complex, the confirmed venue was London Street (the vacant spot left by Habitat).

Offering a casual dining buffet experience, Cosmo really has something for all tastes. Specialising predominantly in Pan Asian cuisine, other cuisines are available; with pizza, Indian Tandoori & curry, rotisserie chicken, Mexican, British roast & salad - see the website for more information

Rotisserie chicken

With all the hype around the venue, I was curious to give it a try and compare to other 'all you can eat' buffet experiences available locally. On a wet Monday evening, I met up with a friend to try it out. Both food lovers, we were struggling to decide which cuisines we wanted to try. Sensibly we'd booked a table - even on a Monday evening, there was a wait for a table.

We were taken upstairs to the restaurant and seated. You can order drinks from the waitress (we went for bottomless soft drinks), but help yourself to food.

There are so many dishes to chose from, all placed in sections to make it easier to navigate. There are also live cooking demonstrations - although we only saw Teppanyaki being cooked to order (there was a queue). 

Sushi

To the far end of the buffet was a starter section and we figured this was a good place to start!

In hindsight, we made a rookie error with the amount of starter options we chose. The Beijing spare ribs (right of the plate) were tasty, but lacking much meat, whilst the vegetable spring rolls (left) and prawn spring rolls (slightly hidden top right) were definitely less spring and more of the roll, with not much filling in either. I also tried the satay chicken (just below the prawn spring rolls) with sweet and sour sauce, as the satay sauce looked like cold porridge - really tasty chicken. The garlic mushrooms (top left) were tasty, but could have done with more garlic. The winners of the plate were the mini hash browns (middle of the plate) - a crunchy coating with soft potato insides and the cheese bites (bottom). Oh, the cheese bites! Crispy coating with a stringy cheese filling - we actually both ended up getting a few more of these because they were so tasty!

Selection of starters

Next up, I already had my eye on the Dim Sum options, which were definitely my favourite options of the evening. Chinese pork buns (top of the plate) - deliciously flavoured pork and beautifully steamed buns, prawn and pork dumplings (bottom) - squishy dumplings full of pork and prawn and cabbage wrapped pork dumplings (hidden in middle of plate) - similar to the pork and prawn dumplings but with added cabbage - very tasty. Alongside this, I also went for crispy duck wraps with hoi sin sauce (right) and a couple of prawn crackers (left). The duck was pretty tasty and the prawn crackers not at all soggy like you often find in a buffet.

Dim Sum & duck

After this, we were starting to feel pretty full. So in order to sample a few other options, I got a mixed plate (forgot to photograph, sorry!). Of note on the plate was the cheese and tomato pizza - really cheesy with a great thin crust pizza dough and some delicious Thai style pork.

 Already feeling full, we hesitantly went to check out the dessert options and the chocolate fountain caught my eye. Although, not an overly big fan of sweet foods, I am partial to melted chocolate!

Chocolate fountain

I went for a small bowl of chocolate with some marshmallows and a few sweets - the chocolate was good! Even better if there had been some real strawberries to dip in it!

Melted chocolate and marshmallows with a few sweets on the side

We also shared a plate and I got a piece of rocky road to try (too much marshmallow and not enough biscuit) and a piece of melon. I was told the mousse was good too. Also available were a selection of other cakes and desserts (the eton mess looked good) and ice cream.

Rocky road, chocolate mousse with a slice of melon and orange

The dinner buffet was £14 on a week night and a bottomless drink was £2.50. This is a good venue to cater for all, but you will leave full! Don't expect top quality dining, but for a casual meal as a group or if you are really hungry, it's a great place to try.

We were completely stuffed by this point. As we had our Norwich Cocktail Week wristbands, we went to Mr Postle's Apothecary for a cocktail (2 for 1 with our wristbands). Beautifully presented and delicious mojitos to wash down the food!

Mojitos at Mr Postle's Apothecary

Food - 7/10
Service - 7.5/10 (self service mostly)
Atmosphere - 7/10 
Value for Money - 8.5/10

Lust & Liquor, St Benedicts Street, Norwich

A whole wealth of new eateries are appearing around the Lanes area of Norwich.

With an impressive facade, with big shop-front windows and an inviting decor, Lust & Liquor stands out amongst them on St Benedicts Street.

Inspired by travels through the Americas, Lust & Liquor have an extensive BBQ menu and also a high quality cocktail list. For a casual Tuesday night out, it seemed like a logical place to head to. 

First up was the cocktail menu. Feeling in the mood for gin and partial to a sour, I decided on the Rose Tea Sour - gin infused with rose tea, with lemon juice and sugar (£7). Beautifully decorated with rose petals (not edible... I tried!), a lovely, slightly sour cocktail. 

Rose Tea Sour, £7

Then onto food... I was torn with so many options! My dinner guest for the evening spotted the Big Boy burger (£14), double burger patties, bacon, brisket AND pulled pork (the menu online shows a slightly different variation). It sounded seriously good. But I was really in the mood for brisket and figured that Texan Style Beef Brisket Feasting plate (£13) would be bigger than the amount in the burger. We also ordered the Jumbo Wings (£4.50) to share. 

First out came the wings. We chose a BBQ sauce with them and they came with celery and a blue cheese dip. They were pretty average. Not a lot of meat and the BBQ sauce was more tomato based. 

Jumbo Chicken Wings, £4.50

Then out came the burger. And it was a beauty. Burger topped with cheese topped with a big chunk of brisket topped with another burger topped with cheese topped with bacon and pulled pork and accompanied by fries and coleslaw. Piled so high with filling, I was immediately jealous of my decision, but still held out hope. So big that it had to be split into two burgers, I was told that it was seriously good. 

Big Boy Burger, £14

Burger money shot...

All hope faded when my plate came out. A relatively small piece of brisket topped with BBQ sauce accompanied by corn on the cob, coleslaw and fries. I had epic food envy - it happens to the best of us. The brisket was tasty, but the BBQ sauce just wasn't quite right again. I like a smokey BBQ sauce, this was too tomato based. The coleslaw tasted homemade and was really good - creamy and slightly spiced. The fries were cooked well, but the corn on the cob was a little on the watery side and lacked flavour. 

Texan style beef brisket, £13

A slight disappointment. I've had better brisket at Dray Yard and Harbercue.

I'm not sure if I would try Lust & Liquor again - the drinks were delicious, but the food wasn't outstanding (although maybe if I'd had the burger, I would think differently...) There are so many places in Norwich offering this style of American cooking that competition is high. A nice venue if you want a few drinks and a casual bite to eat.

The food plus 3 drinks came to £54, so not an overly expensive evening.

Food - 7/10
Service - 8.5/10
Atmosphere - 7.5/10 
Value for Money - 7.5/10