The Real China

The Real China is a Chinese buffet restaurant in the restaurant /​entertainment complex of the Swan Centre in Eastleigh. It is part of a nationwide chain
The fiancée and I were looking for a cheap meal before our film at the Vue cinema a floor up. £9.95 seemed a decent price for Sunday lunch, so in we trooped
The décor in the reception is lovely with a soothing water feature. Wait to be seated and you pay at the end
There was a decent number of dishes but I think there is room for more if they choose to do so. I asked one of the staff of the lunch and dinner offerings are different. She said the number of dishes is the same but the dishes themselves do vary
I do pity the chefs who have to make food look and taste presentable after being under heating lights or in warming plates for hours. Some of the food here did look a bit gloopy on our arrival but the kitchen did replenish often and the fresh food was a lot more appealing
The menu here was quite generic. My favourite dishes were the spare ribs, green lip mussels and the king prawns. Dessert portions were tiny though you could of course take as many as you wanted but I opted for the fresh fruit — melon, orange and pineapple
Good value if a little generic