COSMO Authentic World Kitchen: A Taste of the World Under One Roof

AD – I was invited to COSMO Authentic World Kitchen in exchange for a review

I mentioned in a blog post recently that my anxiety stopped me eating out in restaurants for the longest time. It was just something that completely overwhelmed me and made me far to anxious to even enjoy the experience. But over the last couple of years, as my anxiety has got better and better and is currently the best it’s been in around 8 years, I’ve rekindled my love for eating out in restaurants again. And now I ALWAYS make the most of it when I can.

So when I was invited along to COSMO Authentic World Kitchen for a complimentary meal, I was like YES, YES, YES. Stuff you, anxiety. Don’t stop me now. And it feels great to be able to freely say yes to more things without anxiety hanging over my head as much as it’s done in the past. COSMO Authentic World Kitchen are celebrating it’s 8th anniversary this year. So I was excited to head over there to celebrate with Carl one evening!

I remember going to COSMO when it had not long been opened in my town. It was in a different location and a fraction of the size it is now. It has come on LEAPS AND BOUNDS since then – the popularity of the place is apparent. Back in the day, it used to be just predominantly a Chinese buffet but now, you can taste half the world under one roof! With dishes from China, India, Italy, Japan and even a traditional British carvery to choose from.

We had a table booked for 7 and got seated in a booth. The decor in the Romford branch is gorgeous (my only criticism here would be the glass around the upstairs area of seats wasn’t very clean – only minor but worth a mention) and the seating area is totally separate from the buffet – so you’ve not got people walking around you trying to get to the dishes. Carl ordered a passion fruit Martini, which he really loved.

The waitress explained that we keep the cutlery but they remove the plates after each time you’ve been up to the buffet and the waiting staff were incredible. They were so on the ball with ensuring the table was clean of any used plates as quickly as possible. You also get bottomless soft drinks within the price of the buffet (£17.99 Mon-Thur, £18.99 Fri-Sun) which is brilliant and there’s a good choice from Sunkissed lemonade or orange and all your standard fizzy drinks.

Onto the food. Like I said, you can eat half the world under one roof and if the choice was incredible. Each type of cuisine was in it’s own area (so you’re not going to get Chinese Chow Mein next to an Indian chicken tikka for example!) which made it easy to navigate depending on what you wanted. We both started with some sushi, which was incredible and the soy sauce was to DIE FOR.

We then started on the main courses and the Chinese buffet, which we both stuck to during our visit. I’m sure the pizza and the carvery would have been incredible but we wanted to go for Chinese so that’s what we did. The great thing about COSMO is that if you’re like me and like a little bit of everything, it’s the perfect option for dinner. You can go up as many times as you like and try as many different things as possible. Which is what we did.

We managed to try the sweet and sour chicken, the rice, noodles, beef in black bean sauce, green beans, broccoli, Moroccan squid, spring rolls, chill and sour fish, ribs and various other meats. Carl absolutely loved the fish and the sweet and sour (which is his favourite dish anyway) and the vegetables did it for me. The green beans and broccoli was cooked in herbs and tiny pieces of garlic and was honestly my favourite dish of the night.

We both agreed that the ribs were a little fatty and I wasn’t hugely keen on the noodles but that was my own preference. Some of the dishes weren’t quite as hot as I’d have liked them but that was due to the fact that they had been out for a while. It was very obvious when you were eating something from a dish that had recently been brought out because the heat difference was quite substantial.

Carl ate far too much dinner so didn’t try any of the desserts but I made sure I had room for them because all the sweet little cakes were far too cute to miss out on! I absolutely LOVED their small, afternoon tea style cakes. It meant that you could try more different flavours of desserts without completely over-indulging. I tried a mango mousse, a chocolate mousse, a chocolate fudge cake, a coconut and passion fruit cake and a piece of carrot cake with kiwi.

I couldn’t choose my favourite, they were all absolutely delicious. They also have hot desserts such as churros, fruit, ice cream pots AND a chocolate fountain with various things you can dunk in it. So their desserts – taste and selection – definitely get a 10 out of 10 from me!

Carl and I have already decided to visit again. It’s a great option for dinner out, really casual and chilled out atmosphere where you have the freedom to try and test a number of dishes instead of settling on just one. The service from the waiting staff was fantastic and the COSMO Authentic World Kitchen is just a really comfortable place to eat. If you have a branch near you, I’d highly recommend it!

Have you ever visited a COSMO Authentic World Kitchen? What did you think? What was your favourite dish?