Cosmo: I tried cuisines from around the world in 90 minutes at Sheffield buffet - and this is my verdict
Choosing from dozens of the world’s most popular dishes in just 90 minutes at Cosmo, an international buffet restaurant in Sheffield city centre, is a hard job - but someone has to do it.
With the rise in popularity of food halls, such as Sheffield’s Cambridge Street Collective, popping up all over the place, diners clearly have an appetite for having a wide variety of cuisines to choose from.
It can be a useful option when going out as a group, because you feel with so many vendors, serving up dishes drawing on inspiration from all over the world, everyone is bound to find something that suits them.
And it also means it is possible to order dishes from multiple different businesses at the same time - although dining in that way soon adds up.
That’s why I was excited to try out Cosmo on St Paul’s Place in the city centre, which boasts an offering of 150 of the world’s most popular dishes - all at a fixed price - to see how it compares.
I visited on a blustery Friday evening in January, with a dining companion, and given our earlyish dining slot of 6.45pm, I was not quite sure what to expect.
It was already bustling with a queue of people at that time, making me extremely glad we had booked in advance. Cosmo does happily accept walk-ins, however.
The restaurant itself was busy, with row upon row of seats and booths already completely full; and shelves laden with silver trays containing a smorgasbord of inviting-looking - and smelling - food to try.
There was such a wide variety of delicious things to try, all within a 90-minute time-slot, that narrowing it down proved to be a bit of a battle.
Whether you’ve got a hankering for sushi, pasta, Pan-Asian, Mexican and Indian dishes, your favourite carvery items, salad or roasted vegetables, you’re bound to find what you’re looking for at Cosmo.
And that is before you even get near to contemplating what you want from the dessert station, which includes soft-serve ice cream and cones, fresh fruit, a chocolate fountain, gateaus, a wide array of different cakes and hot puddings.
As a vegetarian, I was very pleased with the amount of meat-free dishes I had to choose from, which included an excellent selection of veggie sushi, including the flavourful Tamago Nigiri and Dakon Nigiri, which came with a delicious white radish and vinegared sauce.
Moving my culinary journey down the continent from East to South Asia, I was also impressed with the range of Indian dishes, with the standout being Chana Masala, with a rich and tangy sauce that I could have happily dipped everything in.
I really enjoyed the barbecued roasted vegetables, particularly the corn on the cob, which was charred to perfection. The seaweed salad acted as a perfect palate cleanser, and I found it to be a bit of a revelation, making me wonder why it is not used to freshen up more salads. The sweetcorn soup was also a great way to start the meal, and it was great to see some lighter options on offer.
My meat-eating dining companion also had a great time sampling dishes from around the world. Amongst the best things he tried was the buttermilk chicken, with chicken thighs in a very crisp crumb that tasted delicious.
He enjoyed the squid rings, describing them as crisp and tasty with a slightest hint of chili in the finish.
The prawn sesame toast, he said, was just like what you get from the Cantonese takeaway, while the dish of Thai sweet and sour pork had great flavour - fruity then a proper chilli kick at the end.“The Cantonese deep fried king prawns reminded me of Catalan seafood.
Expertly cooked, battered in the shell - just pop them in, leaving the tail. Delicious,” he added.
We were a little stuffed after trying all of those savoury dishes, but we did manage a little bit of dessert.
The delicate square of mocha cake I tried was exquisite and just the right amount after a big meal. I finished it off with a light portion of melon, which rounded off the meal perfectly.
With it being so busy, I was a bit concerned that it might have resulted in a chaotic dining experience - but I’m pleased to report that every effort was made to ensure the opposite was true.
It really is run like a well-oiled machine, with the attentive - and very friendly - staff poised to take away dirty plates as soon as you leave the table, and new trays of food, cutlery and warm plates being regularly replenished.
No part of the buffet is left unattended for long enough for the food to be anything but fresh, and it genuinely does feel like an impressive operation.
That translates to the decor and design too. Despite the amount of dishes, diners and staff present at the restaurant, it still felt fairly airy and spacious. I was also able to note down a few places I’d like to add to my list of holiday destinations, thanks to the travel programmes being shown on the cinema-sized screen present in the restaurant.
The women’s toilets were modern, and benefited from regular cleanliness checks.
Moving to one of the most important aspects of any meal - cost - it really is incredible value. Prices range from £16.99 to £23.99 for the lunchtime buffet, and from £21.99 to £23.99 for the dinner buffet.
I was wondering whether the drinks prices might be slightly higher to balance out the relatively low cost of food, but pints came in at under £5 - making it as competitive as most places in the city centre.
It’s easy to see why they have several successful branches across the country.
Overall, we had a great time dining at Cosmo, and I’m genuinely looking forward to going back and sampling some of the dishes I didn’t get around to trying during my first visit.
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