 The inside of Big Wok 
Just Look At The Size of His Wok!
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Recommendation added: 22/01/2007 18:10
By: dewberry (YSUK rating +817)dewberry has been thanked 1 times for this contribution
"For quite a while now I've heard about the eating experience that is Big Wok in Birmingham's City Centre, but have never got around to trying the place out. Until Saturday that is, when a last minute change of plan meant we'd be driving more or less past the restaurant to drop the kids' at their nans house. It'd be criminal to pass and not stop in for something to eat!
Big Wok is a Chinese buffet restaurant which lures diners in with the promise of 'eat as much as you like'; it's main attraction is the price of the meals with a lunchtime buffet costing a smidgen less than a fiver, while eating in the evening (the Grand Buffet) costs just £8.99. We visited at around 6pm while the Grand Buffet was going on and we honestly ate our body weight in good quality Chinese food.
The restaurant itself is a massive dining room which is literally packed to the rafters with tables and chairs, along with a large bar and vast self-service buffet area. It's decorated really nicely in a minimalist kinda way; the light coloured wooden floor and pale beige and white walls make for a bright and airy place to eat. The tables are all easy to clean wood with no tablecloths, which does kinda make it feel like a school canteen, but the chairs are definitely the most comfortable I've sat on in a Chinese restaurant!
When you arrive you'll be shown to a table by a member of staff and then basically left to your own devices. I found all the staff I came into contact with very helpful and friendly, also knowledgeable about the food on offer at the buffet and happy to answer any questions such as 'what's this gunky looking brown stuff?' and 'which is the chilli sauce and which is the chilli soup?'
The Grand Buffet menu is amazing. Pretty much any plated meal you can buy from other restaurants is available here, as well as some interesting extras such as Japanese sushi and a small selection of English dishes. There simply isn't time for me to list everything available, so I'll mention a few choice dishes in my review and let you visit Big Wok and decide for yourself about the rest of the food.
The buffet area is brilliantly organised with all the various foodstuffs well labelled; starters are laid out in their own section, while main courses are all together in a separate hot serving area. Desserts and any foods which need to be served cold are in large open top refrigerated serveries. There really is a fantastic choice of foods, and however fussy an eater you are I guarantee you'll find something to fill your belly with.
There's a small selection of soups which are available from large tureens, including my very favourite Minestrone which has been given a decidedly oriental twist and includes Chinese cabbage and bean sprouts along with the usual ingredients. This was delicious and tasted extremely fresh, as did the other couple of soup varieties that I sampled out of my fellas dish!
There's a brilliant choice of starters including Dim Sum, Spring Rolls, Spare Ribs and Sesame Prawn Toasts. I'm not usually a big fan of Spare Ribs, but at Big Wok they are delicious; small and really meaty with little or no gristly fat visible. The meat literally fell away from the bone as I was eating, they were so well cooked. Also try the Crispy Chicken Balls which are coated in a wonderfully delicate batter, while the chicken inside is moist and fluffy. There's such a large amount of starters available that you could quite literally just eat from this selection without touching the main courses and you'd still get your moneys worth.
But then, of course, you'd be missing out on all the gorgeous Chinese main meals available. I've visited lots of these kinds of buffet restaurants recently, but Big Wok definitely wins hands down when it comes to the sheer volume of main courses available for you to choose from. I like the way they've incorporated some Indian, Malaysian and Japanese dishes into the selection – although to be honest I was enjoying the Chinese cuisine so much that I stuck to that throughout my visit.
I particularly enjoyed the Aromatic Duck Pancakes which were so moorish that I ate no less than nine of them; the pancakes themselves were light and tasty, while the duck and salad garnish was fresh and delicious. The Hoi Sin sauce is also worth a mention, being the freshest and most delicately spiced I've ever tasted. I also loved a dish which comprised of fried chicken strips in a ginger and spring onion type sauce; I didn't get the name of this but it was so wonderful that I ended up going back for two or three servings! The Japanese sushi looked lovely and was beautifully arranged on the serving dishes, although being pregnant I decided not to risk raw fish!
To go with your main course, Big Wok supply a fantastic selection of noodles and rice from the Noodle Bar. The Singapore Vermicelli was my ultimate favourite, I've never tasted this particular food before but was pleasantly surprised by both the texture and the flavour – vermicelli is one of those things which generally looks boring and tasteless but is actually gorgeous once you've talked yourself into sampling it! The Chow Mein style noodles were also delicious, as was the boiled rice which was wonderfully light and fluffy.
If you've still got room after scoffing all this gorgeous hot food, you'll enjoy the selection of desserts and puddings. Big Wok has an ice cream machine which is included in the buffet price where you can serve yourself some Mr Whippy type ice cream; I'm not a big ice cream lover but watching people using the machine I reckon my children would have loved the opportunity to squeeze themselves some ice cream out! I ended up having a fruit salad with a slice of coconut cake, both of which were a perfect way to finish off such a wonderful meal.
All food in Big Wok is freshly cooked by their army of Chinese chefs; everything I tasted was of the highest quality and as fresh as anything I'd cook myself. The main dishes all tasted authentic and 'made to measure' rather than tasting like it had been cooked in batches and left simmering until needed, as seems to be the norm in many of these types of buffet restaurant. Hygiene is also very good in Big Wok with all plates and cutlery being removed between each visit to the buffet area, tables and the floor are kept spotlessly clean with staff constantly clearing and wiping tables.
To wash your hearty meal down Big Wok serve a good range of drinks, both alcoholic and (for us drivers) non-alcoholic. Prices are on a par with pubs in the general area, with a pint of lager costing £2.30 and a small Pepsi is £1.10. Surprisingly the hot drinks are very reasonably priced at just £1 for a cup of excellent quality coffee or tea. They also have a decent wine menu, with prices being about average per bottle although if buying by the glass I found the cost is slightly inflated. Table service for drinks is available but it was easier (quicker!) to just go to the bar at the time of our visit.
Disabled access to Big Wok is fine; some of the tables are upstairs so I'd suggest you phone and book a ground level table if visiting with someone with mobility problems. Once inside however there is plenty of room to get around and the buffet area is at a height that would make it simple for a wheelchair user to reach. Likewise pushchairs are easily accommodated here and children are positively welcomed with their own buffet price of just £3 for as much as they want to eat. Apparently during the Christmas period Big Wok were handing out authentic Chinese calendars to dining kids, which would obviously make their visit that little bit more special.
To find Big Wok by car you first need to get into Birmingham City Centre and then follow the signs for the Bull Ring. Once you find yourself outside the Bull Ring you'll need to turn left at the main traffic lights (it's a major one-way system so doesn't matter from which direction you're coming) and then turn right onto Pershore Street. From here the buffet restaurant is well signed and located roughly 200 yards down the road on Wrottesley Street. If you're visiting by bus then just about any WM bus which goes into the City Centre will do, with the majority of those buses dropping you within a few yards of the restaurant.
Parking can be a little hit and miss in this area and Big Wok don't actually have their own car park, but if you're prepared to walk a little way there are several pay and display car parks in the area which are roughly a five minute walk away.
Big Wok
5 Wrottesley Street
Birmingham
B5 4RT
Tel: 0121 6666800"
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