What could be nicer on a warm summers evening than to sit in an open-fronted restaurant enjoying a great meal. Chef Gourmet in Palmers Green is a combination of modern styling, relaxed atmosphere and the best Chinese cuisine.

Its popular buffet menu is available from Sunday to Thursday and delivers a fantastic range of starters, main courses and deserts, and at only £11.50 per person, it is also great value for money. There is also an extensive a la carte menu and well stocked wine list, with helpful and friendly staff on hand to offer recommendations. The buffet of hot starters is a nice way to start your meal, offering Chinese classics such as spring rolls, prawn toasts, chicken satay skewers and crispy seaweed.

There were also separate portions of seafood dumplings and prawns wrapped in filo pastry, both served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. The only problem with the buffet was that it all looked so delicious, we may have overindulged a little and I was just about to go up for seconds when my partner reminded me that I may want to leave some room for the other courses!

Feeling a bit adventurous, we both chose the delicious crab and sharks fin soup for our second course. Delicately flavoured and steaming hot, the soup made a good contrast to the rich starters and led us nicely to our main course.

Following the chef's recommendations we were presented with a beautifully presented platter of fish in sweet and sour sauce. A whole sea bass was served with scallops and squid, all cooked to perfection and more than enough for two. The fish was accompanied by Thai fried rice and stir-fried pak choi and Chinese mushrooms.

Just as we thought we couldn't possibly eat another thing, our desert arrived and it didn't take much persuading to get us to tuck in to the toffee bananas. These consisted of chunks of banana in batter and coated with vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries (so you can understand why we didn't turn it down!) Chef Gourmet is a must for anyone who loves Chinese food, just remember to take big appetites with you as you will definitely want to indulge yourself.

Chef Gourmet
38-40 Aldermans Hill
Palmers Green
N13 4PN
020 8886 3789