Limoges – O’Panda

I forgot to eat anything yesterday, so today I thought that I’d do the reverse, and eat a lot. Which meant a trip to the O’Panda Chinese buffet, which is part of a small national chain. That would certainly help recover the lost calories that I didn’t eat yesterday.

Although, to be honest, technically I didn’t forget to eat yesterday. I never forget to eat. But it was so hot that I just managed to survive on cold Yop yoghurt drinks for the entire day….

O’Panda is a large restaurant, which can seat over 250 people, and when I got there just before opening time there was already a small queue. This is clearly where the locals eat, and I can’t criticise them for that. It’s a shame that it isn’t a little more central though, since it took me over thirty minutes to walk there from the centre of Limoges.

There were lots of food counters visible, although looking neat and tidy. And very appetising, but I sat patiently and waited for my drink order to be taken before rushing off to the buffet table. On which point, and bearing in mind I was so hot, I was delighted to discover that they give you a litre bottle of ice cold tap water for free. Given that water is often charged for, this was a most useful bonus to my fruit based Fanta I’d ordered.

Sometimes you just wish Dylan and Leon were around. They’d have liked this.

Cold meat selection, now Cosmo need to do better in this regard in Norwich….

I was delighted to find that there was a large salad section. Well, not particularly delighted at that, but more specifically delighted that they had sun-dried tomatoes.

The desserts selection was simply marvellous as there were doughnuts, profiteroles, cakes and more importantly than all, an ice cream freezer. This could well be a favourite location of Dylan and Leon should they ever get the chance to visit…

Given the ridiculously hot temperatures outside this ice cream freezer was a real delight, and I had to be careful on my many trips to top up that the staff didn’t think I was being ridiculously greedy. So I walked different ways, meaning I’m sure that they didn’t notice.

Overall, I thought that the whole meal was perfectly acceptable. The environment was clean, the staff were engaging and friendly (and I managed the whole transaction in French, which was a bonus) and the food was neatly labelled.

OK, the quality of some items such as the onion rings and calamari wasn’t top notch, but it was acceptable. But, I’m giving them a recommendation because of the ice cream, it’s just what was needed on a hot day. The total cost was around £15 including a drink.