Eastern Red Chinese Restaurant, Grosvenor Street, Mold, 01352 757555.

Ambience – 7/10

Service – 8/10

Food quality – 9/10

Disabled access – yes

Children welcome – yes

I often find a trip out for a Chinese buffet to be something of a risky manoeuvre.

You never know whether the food served is going to be fresh, tasty and piping hot or whether it will be lukewarm and tired.

I shouldn’t have had any fears about the food on offer at Eastern Red, in Mold, however, which offers an all-you-can-eat buffet with a twist.

The establishment – located at the former Taio restaurant – is quickly growing a reputation for being one of the premier Chinese restaurants in the region.

So I decided to give it a try along with my girlfriend on a cold Thursday evening.

I must say that on this particular night, there were not many others who had chosen to fill themselves with the delights on offer, which led to an eerie silence within the restaurant.

While this caused a slight flattening of the atmosphere, the service and quality of the food on offer more than made up for this.

The all-you-can-eat buffet is not like other buffets.

You are taken through five different courses, with the food selected being cooked and brought to the table, before you can choose whether to request more.

I have nothing but respect for anyone who manages to order any more than the five courses, because I had to throw in the towel after just four.

We began our banquet with the crab and sweetcorn soup, accompanied with a pile of prawn crackers.

After this, things started to get serious and we were presented with a huge platter of starters, made up of ribs, prawn toast, seaweed, chicken skewers, chicken wings and Chinese samosas.

All of the items were divine, but had left me feeling full with three courses still on the horizon.

After the gorgeous starters, we were provided a course of crispy duck with pancakes, and all of the expected trimmings.

This is always one of my favourite parts of a Chinese meal, and the offerings did not disappoint.

The staff dutifully allowed us a break after the duck course, while we regained our strength to take on the main courses.

When we did feel ready to tackle them, we ordered fried sliced beef with green peppers and blackbean sauce, fried king prawns with ginger and spring onion, and a pile of egg fried rice.

Like the rest of the meal, these dishes were excellent, but proved to be the last thing we were able to eat that night.

Despite leaving knowing that we had not conquered the buffet, we left having enjoyed a fabulous night of great food and excellent service.

It is definitely a place I will return to, but I may have to avoid breakfast and lunch next time.

The bill – All you can eat buffet – £14.90 x2