I have been to the buffet at Eight three times now. Each time has been excellent! My most recent visit was a few months’ ago when I took my older sister for lunch for her birthday. Once I had explained to her the ‘Eight’ different themed kitchens and how it works, she was super excited.

You basically take your seat (definitely recommend booking a table and arriving early), then when the kitchen opens, you can eat as much as you wish from any of the following ‘Eight’ stations:

1. Seafood & Oyster Bar – think prawns, oysters, mussels and fish (orange roughy, snapper, tarakihi, salmon and many more).

2. Sushi & Sashimi Bar – my absolute favourite station with endless amounts of freshly made sashimi, sushi, miso soup and you can have as much ginger and soy sauce as you like!

3. Indian Tandoori & Curry Kitchen – we tried the paneer curry, beef vindaloo, butter chicken and homemade naan bread.

4. Wok & dim sum corner – they serve steamed buns, dumplings and noodles.

5. New York Style Grill – this is the fun part. You choose anything from the meat cabinet (for example eye fillet, lamb steak, chicken skewer or maybe kangaroo as they once had on the menu), you tell the chef how you like it cooked and it’s done! Sizzling hot on your plate and you can add sides to accompany it like roasted vegetables, mashed potato or a variety of sauces.

6. Salad bar – is either ‘help yourself’ or let the chef toss it up for you. There is such a range of salads, I would say at least 20 different ones!

7. Fresh breads and pastries – I have never paid much attention to this station, because bread fills me up! They do however have a good selection of cheeses to go with the bread if you fancy that.

8. Last but not least, the dessert station. I have slowly learnt that if you want to eat at least three of the desserts, you must try a little bit of everything else (savoury items), and that way you can save room for dessert because you will definitely not want to pass up the chocolate fountain! And all the delectable desserts of course! I dipped melon and marshmallows into the chocolate fountain and then had a crème brulee and panacotta to finish off, while my sister could only fit in a chocolate dipped Movenpick ice cream in a cone!

As for the service, it is great. Water glasses were always topped up, plates replenished every time you finished a meal and new cutlery for your next course.

Overall, always a great experience. I recommend Eight to everyone, even if you just try it once!

Eight at The Langham
Symonds Street, Auckland CBD
Open 6am to 11am, 12pm to 2.30pm and 5.30pm/6pm to 10pm
Recommended: Try a small portion of everything! But seriously dive into that sashimi and have a Japanese feast!
5/5