Reviewed
July 03

I always worry when going to an eat-as-much-as-you-like sort of place, concerned that I am going to be faced with a meal of fatty meat, soggy vegetables and unplatable sauces. But the reassuring sign as I walked into EAMAYL was the number of Chinese people sat in the considerably full restaurant, which made me feel that maybe the food would taste semi-authentic.

At a set price of £5.95 for lunch, and £9.95 for dinner, EAMAYL is probably the most reasonably priced Chinese restaurant in Oxford where you can have a '4 course meal' of your choice in a surprisingly classy and relaxed atmosphere.

The set up is basically a glorified buffet cart, with 3 soups, a wide range of horrifyingly more'ish and no doubt fattening starters, as much crispy aromatic duck (or pork) as one cn manage, 6 or 7 stirfries and at least 4 desserts. This, I should point out is for the evening meal - lunches are siilar, but minus quite the variety and no crispy aromatic duck, I'm afraid. Vegetarians are very well catered for, with an almost 50:50 choice of veggy or meat options at each stage.

We found that the food was agreeably authentic and tasty, that the meal was unrushed and had the added excitement of being able to create your own menu, and at the end of an extremely pleasant evening, to be presented with a bill for under twenty pounds for two people. My only slight moan was their refusal to provide a jug of water on our table without charging us for the use of their Brita Water Filter. Therefore, drinks will add significantly to your bill, but hey, at a tenner a head for a meal of otherwise cheap, filling and brilliant Chinese food, who is complaining!

Alison Hook