acumen and strategy<\/a>. Fools fill up on bread and rice, sacrificing stomach space that could instead be devoted to proteins, flavour bombs or tiramisu.<\/p>\nOffering a buffet is strategic too. Some restaurants transform into buffet formats on certain days only. In Auckland, Sandringham stalwart Paradise serves its popular all-you-can-eat service from Monday to Friday; it\u2019s strictly walk-in only and costs $30 for adults. Shefco\u2019s Baklawa Cafe on Stoddard Road serves an open buffet for $30 per adult on Friday and Saturdays throughout the year (though it\u2019s happening daily at present for Ramadan iftar, the fast-ending meal). Bookings are essential and you\u2019ll pay $30 per person. Bivacco\u2019s \u201celevated buffet\u201d on Sunday will set you back a bit more, $85, and includes antipasto, a carvery, pasta wheel and desserts like basque cheesecake and a (buffet classic) chocolate fountain. One Tree Grill\u2019s bougie buffet runs Wednesday to Sunday, with adult prices ranging from $125-$145. Japanese restaurant Katsura, located in the Grand Millennium, serves up a grand buffet between Wednesday and Saturday, with unlimited sushi, sashimi, teppanyaki and seafood for $125.<\/p>\n
![\"Shefco,](\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\")
These days, there are myriad iterations. (Photos: Shefco, Bivacco, Paradise, Happy Days, Wow Buffet)<\/p>\n
Others dish it up every day of the week. Wow Buffet in Wairau Valley specialises in hot pot, which costs $34.90 for adults. Korean buffet Paldo\u2019s \u2013 think all-you-can-eat tteok bokki, kimchi pancakes and bibimbap alongside barbecue meat for $40.90 for adults \u2013 is located in Manukau. There you\u2019ll also find Happy Days, which has a buffet-classic offering of pasta salads, coleslaw, roast pork, hot chips, taro and lasagna that costs $34.90 for adults (less for seniors).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Buffet dining is a staple for hotels. And you needn\u2019t travel or even book a room to experience one. The Cordis hotel\u2019s Eight restaurant serves up a \u201cunique interactive dining experience\u201d (a sprawling buffet) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dinner ranges from $119 to $149 depending which day you go and bookings are essential on the weekend: this is a high-traffic restaurant.<\/p>\n
Zooming out, there are an array of Genghis Khan restaurants to be found across the country, serving up Mongolian barbecue from sizzling grills. The Wellington outpost dates back to 1982. In Rotorua there\u2019s the elevated \u2013 literally \u2013 Stratosfare, which serves a beef rump slow-cooked for 24 hours and enjoys glowing Google reviews. A gondola ride to get there and dinner will cost an adult $109. For only $54 more you\u2019ll get five luge rides, presumably not after eating. Queenstown has one of these too. Christchurch is well served by Koji, the Garden Hotel\u2019s buffet restaurant and Coriander\u2019s.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re everywhere. (Photos: Stratosphere, Koji, Da Lee via Google, The Genghis Khan)<\/p>\n
At many establishments children eat free, or pay very little. For parents doing back-of-the-napkin maths to feed a family, the buffet can emerge victorious. Some meals cost barely more than takeaways, compared to what you could spend on a large Big Mac combo ($19.10) or KFC\u2019s three-piece quarter pack ($21.49).<\/p>\n
Gorging yourself at a buffet might be more economical on the wallet than \u00e0 la carte or, in some cases, even cooking at home. For price-conscious diners, the opportunity for an infinite meal for a fixed price is hard to beat.<\/p>\n
But is the format economical for the restaurants? It\u2019s a good way to drum up business, providing a competitive advantage in a crowded hospitality market, one that\u2019s also beset by rising overheads and business costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith guests serving themselves, the number of staff needed to take orders and bring meals to tables can be reduced,\u201d explains Kristy Phillips, chief executive of Hospitality NZ. \u201cBusinesses can also prepare large batches of food at once, with more predictable pricing costs than \u00e0 la carte dining.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, offering up a bountiful buffet isn\u2019t necessarily fool proof. \u201cAs buffets are all-you-can-eat, some customers may eat more than their set-price covers,\u201d adds Phillips. \u201cThe risk of food waste is also higher, and these are factors that hospitality businesses need to factor into their pricing.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, done well, the format brings people together around the bain maries and bread baskets, facilitating a communal experience in a world of siloed attention and food-delivery apps.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an equalising quality to queuing for food or serving yourself from a shared dish. Even high-rollers who turn their nose up at Valentines will have, at one point or another, picked up a pair of tongues to grab smoked salmon from their five-star hotel\u2019s continental breakfast. No one\u2019s above a buffet.<\/p>\n
Oh, and Valentines is still free on your birthday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With your options now ranging from seared tuna and bruschetta to taro and tteokbokki, there\u2019s no better time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48925,492,564,141,111,43,139,69,128489,10270,145398],"class_list":["post-329258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-buffet","tag-comments-enabled","tag-food","tag-kai","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pizza-hut","tag-restaurants","tag-valentines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}