East Southend: the better part of all you can eat buffets

East is a restaurant on Alexandra Road, which is one of the side turnings of the high street in Southend. We have used it many times, but mainly because it is near where my in laws live, and my mother in law likes it.
Check out their web site on http://www.east-restaurants.co.uk/pages/find-us.html
It is a contemporary Chinese all you can eat buffet at a fixed price with a fresh cook section like a Mongolian Barbecue.
It is very popular with families, because children can eat as much or as little as they like with chips, and everyone seems very accommodating of children. At weekends in the daytime it is a fixed price of £7.95. and children get to eat for £4 which is a bargain.They will not give you free water to drink, and if you want to drink water, I think they charge you £1.50 for tap water. Recently there was a case in the newspaper of two guys that were banned from an all you can eat in Brighton because they regularly ate there and consumed vast quantities without buying drinks. I think that if a restaurant opens with this marketing statement i.e. all you can eat, there should not be any conditions to it apart from waste. Clearly there are some that cannot eat huge quantities and it all evens itself out.
Among the all you can eat Chinese buffets I have visited, this is probably one of the better ones in the UK. The reason for this is that the tureens of food actually contain honest food, and unlike the many and frequently criticized  London ones around the tourist areas of China Town in Soho, there is not the issue of excessive amounts of gristle and onions. Here everything has plenty of meat, and plenty of variety. The freshly cooked section allows you to create a plate with squid, chicken, beef and sometimes egg, together with mushrooms, noodles, peppers, onions (if you want them) and occasionally fish.

So as you can see, it is quite a large space, tables fairly closely packed, and people thronging about. It might be worth going early to avoid the crowds, and at lunchtime, that probably means as soon as they are open. There is no issue with service, as you only need service to bring drinks and clear empty plates.
So here is what I had for the first round:

A collection of dim sum like pork dumplings and some satay chicken. There are many starters, but this is to my taste, and you can go back as many times as you like. 

This is the raw ingredients for the hot plate. Mainly squid, with mushrooms, pepper, beanshoots and so on.

And this is the cooking process which takes about five to ten minutes depending on the chef and what you chose. Chilli and garlic are added to taste.

And this is what you end up with. I added a couple of chicken wings just in case I felt hungry. I think this is the best part of the show, and cannot understand why many stick to the safer buffet options, but it is a matter of taste. I have on occasions eaten exclusively from the fresh cooked. It is hot, spicy and to one's individual taste.

Even so, there is a good choice in the buffet with lots of chicken dishes, noodles, rice chips and so on. One tiny criticism is that there are no duck pancakes, and what they have is shredded pork to use with the accouterments of pancakes. It works but not as well as duck.
Desert is included and there is usually banana fritters, jelly, melon ice cream  lychees and some fresh fruit. It is not the most exciting, but you do not go to a Chinese buffet for the desert.
All in all, this is an immensely popular establishment that has the formula right. It is pointless trying to get hot food at the buffet, but the hot plate food is as hot as it comes off the griddle. Check out the steam. Dinner is more expensive, with a weekend adult price being £13.95, with an expanded choice of dishes. I have used it once for dinner, and the upside is that it is a fixed price, so you know where you are. So a thumbs up for East.