Photos Added! (not a real post)

I finally got around to taking pics of the restaurants in Newcastle, so check out old posts for new pics!

Lau's Buffet King

Lau's Buffet King in Stowell Street, Newcastle wasn't given many stars by a local reviewer, and maybe it's easy to see why.

Although the food is filling enough, there isn't really that much choice for vegetarians, and as can sometimes happen with Buffet lunch deals, there is better food available for slightly more cash in one of the other Chinese restaurants in Newcastle. About £2 more gets you a 5 course lunch and a drink at Shangri-La or the Mandarin. That said, Lau's provides an easy meal. At £4.99 a head plus £1 for a soft drink, it's certainly one of the cheapest places to eat if you want Chinese food. Beware, any friends coming with you will be charged £4.99 even if the don't have anything from the buffet. Lau's is one of the many Chinese all-you-can-eat buffets on Stowell Street. The service is excellent, plates can disappear under your nose if you appear to be finished, though, so watch your knives and forks if you use them. For someone who eats meat, there is a lot of choice ("80"-course buffet offered!), though some of the mainstays of a Chinese buffet (chow meins for example) were strangely thin on the ground, but the special fried noodles are very nice, and led to something of a "noodle challenge".

Another fantastic thing about Lau's is the gorgeous sweetcorn soup, which you can find in a huge cauldron in the corner, along with another soup of the day. The choice of desserts is good too, ice cream, pineapple and banana fritters, fruit and jelly are all laid on.

So, even though Lau's is the cheapest around (and definitely cheerful) remember that you only get what you pay for.