Reviewed
11.98

I don’t know how often I’ve cycled past Bandung’s - it must be said, it doesn’t really stand out in the huddle of shops and restaurants on the corner of Little Clarendon St and Walton St. And there are a great many “middle of the road” restaurants scattered throughout Oxford. How do you choose between them?
The reason I didn’t simply ride past this time was because I’d been lured in by the Sunday lunchtime buffet offer: all you can eat, £5.90. True, lots of places do this. Few of them actually do it well, or on a convenient day like a Sunday, when the afternoon is more easily given over to the after-effects of a good lunch. And it was a good lunch.
The interior is what you might expect, but without being either kitsch or over the top. To my great joy the piped music was practically inaudible. Despite the smallness of the main room (there is more space downstairs), each table is given plenty of space. The service too, gave one space. If I have one complaint, it was that as the place filled up (and it did) there was only one waiter and the service was spread ever more thinly. I do loathe waiting for the bill - why do so many places manage to spoil an otherwise pleasant meal in this way?
The buffet is simple: there’s one choice to make (beef or prawns, freshly-cooked), then grab a plate and help yourself to noodles (not flabby despite sitting on a hot plate), rice, spring rolls, a chicken dish and one of bean curd with mushrooms. By the time you’ve filled your plate, a bowl of fresh prawn crackers is on your table. We both opted for the prawns and they were well (i.e. lightly) cooked in a pleasantly smokey sauce. The beef brought to other tables looked tempting too - something to try next time. I was uninspired by the chicken though, and my companion reckoned both it and the bean curd were unexciting, just spicey. The spring rolls however were fresh and crispy and warranted several return visits to the counter.
The buffet itself was set out in small quantities and frequently topped-up, which meant it never suffered the common fate of such things, where the food grows tired and luke warm all too quickly. Almost everyone in the place went back for more – several times. Aside from the buffet, there is also an extensive A La Carte Menu and every table boasts a dangerously tempting cocktail list. The glass of house red I ordered was easy to drink (and generously, if forgiveably impolitely, filled to the brim) and the wine list boasted a varied range of grapes from across the globe. Coffee to follow enabled the reviewer to stay awake long enough to pen this - and neither was it bitter, my usual complaint with filter coffee.

At £5.90 this was an extremely easy way to spend Sunday lunch and a welcome change from meat and two veg. It was also a highly affordable way to venture into somewhere that might well reward another visit one evening and a more extensive foray into the menu. Such buffets never do the food real justice, but Bandung’s kept things simple and thereby gave a more than passable account of itself.

Roland F. I. Tomayin