On the weekend i went away with some friends to stay in Preston Beach for the weekend at the Footprints resort. When the subject of what to have for dinner came up in the planning stages i spent a lot of time researching and trying to find different restaurants, there isn’t a lot that is open around preston beach! Fortunately there is a restaurant that is open on site! We locked in going there on a Saturday night.

When we arrived there on Friday i had a look at the menu to see what was on offer for Saturday night, i saw the sign saying “Saturday night buffet” and i let out a little sigh. I am going to go slightly off the record now but i am not a huge fan of buffets. I am mainly not a fan of them because i always find that the food is normally pretty overcooked and they will traditionally choose ‘safe’ options as they don’t want to make a bulk amount of one particular dish and have it not sell at all (this is understandable by the way) The other issue i have is more an issue with me than it is with buffets, however I always find that i eat way too much and feel a little bit queasy afterwards. With that being said I would be interested in seeing if footprints cafe changed my mind on buffets.

When i arrived my first opinions were how quiet it was! There was only about 4 or 5 other people dining in the cafe, where there was seating for about 30 and there were two people in the kitchen and one waiter. In terms of decor it was quite pleasant, some country places have a tendency to look a little bit rundown however this was very clean and bright. The buffet consisted of a bain marie featuring 6 trays and a couple of different kinds of salads.

I was thinking of how i would write this post and i have decided to have bullet points after each photo and explain what i thought of each individual thing. This is my first plate of the evening;
- Salads: There was a Greek salad and a Italian salad but to be honest they both tasted quite similar. There was nothing wrong with them but they were just kind of uninspiring.
- Chicken nuggets: These nuggets were really quite average they just had that really strange texture to them.

After i finished the first plate i decided to try a couple of the dishes that i noticed on other peoples tables. What i tried on this plate was;
- Fish fillets: These were actually not too bad, they had a nice level of seasoning and the fish wasn’t completely overcooked.
- Honey prawns: These were alright however i am not the biggest fan of honey prawns to begin with
- Spaghetti carbonara: Apart from the spaghetti being in really small strands this was a really nice dry carbonara. I was really impressed that no cream was used in it.
- Char grilled carrots and onions: They were nothing special but i suppose on all buffets they have to have some kind of vegetable dish.
- Chips: Since these were chips that came from a bain marie they were quite soggy and average.

I was starting to get a little bit full but i only had two more things that i hadn’t tried yet so i had a few sips of my beer and i was ready to go on the last two choices! They were;
- Beef lasagna: This was really quite rich with a heavy tomato gravy as well as a thick bechamel, It would be nice on its own but it was a little heavy for a buffet.
- Slow cooked beef with gravy: This was right up my alley, I am a fan of anything that is slow cooked and this was my favourite dish of the night.

Another thing i didn’t mention at the start of my review was the cost of the buffet. All this food was only 25 dollars! I think this is great value for money, look retrospectively at my opinions of dishes that i had i feel that it still worth giving the footprints buffet a try because it is such good value.