Buffets are a funny thing. They're super exciting and always a welcome challenge when you're growing up, but once you age past 30, it always becomes a matter for me to calculate out whether it's money's worth, since my stomach capacity just isn't what it used to be. With the continued explosion of all you can eat options in Brisbane, I've been able to sus out value to a certain extent. Seemingly at the $50 mark you can reliably not need to stuff yourself with carbs and eat a protein based meal to get your money's worth. This is why I was not too reluctant to try out Warisan's Sate Sunday buffet $45pp for a promise of unlimited satay skewers.
Arriving for Sunday's early session, we were seated inside with the extremely loud music whilst the grill was located outside. The all you can eat was pretty simple, there were four types of satay skewers, tofu, fish ball, chicken and beef. There were also three sides, nasi goreng, stir fried morning glory and what was similar to prawn crackers.
The grill was on full blast whilst we were there, with the fire alarm in the building going off during our meal.
The beef satay skewer was the one I was most looking forward to, however it disappointed. With meat that was inconsistent at best and quite chewy at worst, it proved a little difficult to eat. The sauces were also definitely pushing my limits on spice tolerance.
I was not expecting chicken to be the highlight for me, but it was. The texture was consistent and soft. The sauce struck just the right balance with peanut butter without being overwhelmingly so. We definitely had a few more of these.
Firm tofu is not something I'm particularly fond of, but for those who enjoy it, they would probably like the tofu skewers. The fish balls were also fairly standard supermarket quality and nothing particularly stand out.
The morning glory was cooked well but not particularly stand out, being more or less the same as you would get at many asian restaurants.
I had a bit of the nasi goreng, it was a bit on the wetter side for a fried rice and the topping to rice ratio was not great. The crackers were also fairly standard and nothing to write home about.
It's hard for me to critique the value proposition at Warisan. On one hand, it is good value to get a buffet where you don't need to eat carbs for $45pp. On the other hand, I could only eat 12 skewers and there are places like Satay Boss or Mamak that offer better quality skewers for significantly less than $45. Sitting near the singer also meant that my enjoyment of the meal was heavily impacted by not being able to hear my companions speak without yelling too. Overall, I'd have to say that although I don't regret checking out Warisan, I won't return.
Price Range: $45pp
Taste: 5/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 5/10
