Buffet or Hot Pot?

A new chinese buffet restaurant has opened in Birmingham by the law courts. Birmingham is full of chinese buffets but this one caught our attention as it also offers a Japanese hotpot - shabu shabu, it is called MinZu http://minzu.co.uk/default.aspx. We thought we would have a look in and see what it was like, we decided before trying the hotpot we would give the buffet a go.

The restaurant is in an old victorian building by the old law courts in the town centre, it had what looked like original plaster work on the ceiling and some funky modern chandeliers creating a great environment. We wandered in off the street and were greeted by a friendly waiter who was convinced we had met before (we don't think we have!) he showed is to a nicely laid table, and bought over the menu, he explained that to prevent spoiling and wastage of the food it was an order to the table buffet and that they could cook us half portions of any dish we wanted to try. The wine list was reasonable and we ordered a nice Chenin Blanc for £12.50; the menu offered a selection of soups, starters, mains and side dishes. We tried many of the dishes so I won't list them all separately but just to mention the chilli and salt mussels to start - mussels in their shells coated with chilli and salt and fried, they were delicous; the prawn toast came as a selection of normal toast and some which i believe to be crab stick toast, and hubby reckons was king prawn toast - whichever it was still lovely. Jill Gem King Prawns (i think i've spelt that right!) were wonderful shell off king prawns with a fantastic light but tasty coating which even the waitress agreed were her favourite! Although stuffed right at the end of the meal we ordered one last dish of vegetable satay skewers, these were a revelation, the chunks of vegetables had been dipped in a tempura like batter before being cooked and topped with a fantastic satay sauce. The entire meal came to just under £40 and was definitely worth it, we are already planning on taking the parents there and also going back to try the hotpot.