If you are the sort of person who can't buy a packet of biscuits without eating the whole lot, then steer clear of the Jumbo Chinese Buffet in York. The word moreish doesn't begin to describe the experience of eating at this bright and breezy new restaurant in George Hudson Street where you can pile your plate high time and time again from a huge feast of Chinese take-away favourites.

We arrived on Tuesday night at about 8.30pm to find the restaurant packed, just over a month after it first opened.

Nearly all the tables were full and many were pulled together to accommodate big family parties and groups of friends.

The atmosphere was made all the more busy by the steady stream of people getting up to help themselves to their next plateful of food.

But the constant movement also made for a very informal atmosphere and we felt immediately at ease when we were shown to a table by the window.

The Jumbo is a very English type of Chinese restaurant - albeit in an Ikea-styled way.

It has the self-service informality of a Sunday lunch carvery, a selection of puddings to rival a child's sixth birthday party and the tables are all laid out with cutlery (you obviously have to ask for chopsticks).

The two large rooms have modern shades of terracotta and lilac on the walls, are fitted with laminated flooring and are furnished with pale wood and metal tables and chairs.

We were greeted by a waiter wearing a lilac shirt - the Jumbo uniform - who took our drinks order and invited us to help ourselves.

The Jumbo buffet definitely lived up to its name with more than 30 different dishes to choose from.

After picking up a clean white plate, you can make your way up one side of the hot buffet then back down the other, past soups, meat sauces, spare ribs, rice, noodles, prawn crackers, vegetables and finally puddings.

Among my favourites, from two platefuls, were pork in black bean sauce, the chilli spare ribs, the char sui in Cantonese sauce and the chicken wings in garlic sauce. The meat and vegetables in the sauces all tasted fresh, everything was hot and the fried food nice and crispy.

My dining partner Mike was more than pleased with the selection of dishes on offer for vegetarians which included sauce dishes and fried crispy vegetable parcels and spring rolls.

The only thing missing for me was fried seaweed and you had to pay £2 extra if you wanted crispy aromatic duck with hoi sin sauce.

But this was hardly anything to complain about when we were paying just £8.99 each.

When it came to puddings there was more help-yourself choice - ice cream, jelly, blackcurrant and strawberry cheescakes and fresh fruit including melon slices, grapes, orange quarters and kiwi fruit halves.

Despite the number of courses, the meal passed quite quickly - we must have been there for just over an hour - but we didn't feel rushed at all.

The bill came to £27.88, which included a bottle of white wine at £9.90, pretty good value all round.

The Grand Evening Buffet price of £8.99 per head between 7pm and 11pm, rises to £9.99 on Saturday evenings, but drops down as low as £4.99 per head at other times of the week.

It was easy to see why this new restaurant was so packed on a rainy mid-week night in February.

Just don't go if you're on a diet.

York Jumbo Chinese Buffet,

George Hudson Street, York.

Tel: 01904 623656.

Updated: 12:04 Saturday, February 23, 2002