Amazon International Buffet 亚马逊风情自助餐厅

Article By Stuart Allen

4F-001, Hua Qing Square, Northeast Corner of Yanta North Road and You Yi East Road Intersection, Beilin District.
碑林区雁塔北路与友谊东路交界处东北角华清广场4F-001号
(029) 8525 2540
11:30am – 2:00pm
5:00am – 9:00pm

Average Price per Person /人均消费: 94RMB

PROS: Huge buffet, fantastic roasted meats, free Haagen-Dazs ice cream!
CONS: Didn’t have English next to all the foods, so I was unsure of what some items were. Beers were room temperature. I was told that these would both get fixed, so should be good to go!

On the cross roads of Youyi Dong Lu and Yanta Bei Lu, near to the Lijiacun Wanda Plaza, they’ve just finished building a new shopping mall. It’s in a handy spot right nearby the new Lijiacun station on Line 4. I regularly go past this spot and have been watching the mall go through its finishing touches, and it looks really good.

On the outside, I looked up and saw this friendly green logo of a red bearded guy drinking a beer with “Amazon International Buffet” around the logo. The words “International Buffet” and ”beer” were enough to grab my attention and I headed up to the 4th floor of the mall to check it out and, boy, am I pleased I did!

Upon going into the restaurant, we were hit with myriad colours from their Amazon theme and the amazing buffets on offer. Although the restaurant is called “Amazon International Buffet,” I’m pretty sure that the designers got things a bit mixed up, because among the leafy vines from the ceiling, macaws and other rain forest-like stuff, some Chinese umbrellas somehow found themselves lodged in the trees, the placemats had Native American Indians on them and the logo has a cartoon guy who looks like a fighting Irishman, but is wearing German lederhosen! The crossed wires just add to the fun though, and the restaurant is colourful and vibrant.

The buffet itself is extensive and is split into different areas suiting all tastes. Coming in, you hit the seafood area with sushi, prawns, shellfish, crab and loads of other wonders of the sea. Moving on, you’ve got a fine selection of different fruits and salads and a Chinese buffet to suit local appetites. Past some areas of seating you have another buffet area of various hot dishes. Moving to the end, I actually realised that the restaurant is twice the size that I originally thought, as it’s in a large L-shape. Around the corner was even more selection, including fish and different meats. Opposite was an area for those with a sweet-tooth, with cakes and Haagen-Dazs ice cream. Right at the very end was perhaps the crème-de-la-crème, with an area to fry steak for you on the spot and a traditional wood oven to roast fine meats, which you could order there, or would be brought round to table in the old Brazilian way, oh, and did I forget to mention that beer and wine are free flow? I’m in heaven!

The service was excellent and every effort was made to ensure we were well looked-after. A few pointers I suggested were that beers needed to be cold (I explained that foreigners prefer drinking cold beer, no matter the temperature outside) and that some of the labels for food needed to be dual language, but aside from this, an absolutely fantastic experience and I will be back for sure!

The cost of the lunch buffet is 109RMB per person and the dinner buffet is 129RMB per person. Both buffets are identical, so you’ll get more bang for your buck by going at lunchtime. Enjoy!

Stuart Allen is a well-known materials writer and blogger for English teachers and schools in China and is a long-term resident in Xi’an.

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