IN my opinion, a buffet restaurant is the place where you can challenge the maximum capacity of your stomach and try to fill it to the fullest with as much food as you can. It is a place you pay money but hardly find the highest standard of food and service.

In fact, a buffet-style dinner would rarely be my first choice since I don't always have a good appetite and think immoderate eating and drinking is unhealthy and also not something a well-educated young lady should do in public.

But last week after some of my friends suggested a buffet dinner at Jin Yin Tong (Gold, Silver, Bronze) Restaurant in Pudong, I believe anything can have an exception.

Jin Yin Tong is located on the ninth floor of the Pudong Yaohan Department Store, one of the busiest shopping centres on the east bank of the Huangpu River. As one steps into the restaurant, a striking impression is made by huge photos of athletes competing for medals at the Olympic Games. I guessed that the boss was a sports fan and wished the same success for the restaurant as these athletes had at the games. I later found out that I had misunderstood the motivation of the designer. An employee told us that the boss named the restaurant "Jin Yin Tong" because most of his chefs were medal winners at many international culinary competitions in Hong Kong and Macao.

Stretches of food stations presenting more than 100 selections occupying the centre of the 800-square-metre dining hall. Starting at the door, the drink bar offers beer, coffee and a large variety of soft drinks as well as ice creams. Next comes spicy, garlicy Southeast Asian food.

Seafood and Japanese food stations are absolutely the most popular places and also the specialty of the restaurant. Guests can enjoy more than 30 selections of sushi and sashimi that are skillfully prepared and artfully presented at the station. Chefs are busy behind the station, making all kinds of hand rolls according to the orders of the customers.

I highly recommend the seafood station, with its dozens of selections, such as Alaskan snow crab legs, jumbo shrimp, oysters, cocktail shrimp and a variety of baked fish. They were all well cooked with the freshest and finest ingredients. For seafood lovers, here is a place where you can get your money's worth.

A wide selection of vegetables, salads, Hong Kong-style noodles and won ton, and desserts complete your meal.

More than 50 selections of desserts are also a specialty of the restaurant and are worth a try. It is said that all of them are made by a highly respected Hong Kong dessert expert who, according to the restaurant staff, has many times won the gold medal at culinary competitions in Macao and Singapore.

After the meal, we noticed a man with a thick beard walking up and down in the hall and inspecting the business. He looked very much like Zhang Jizhong, a well-known film director on the mainland. Out of curiosity, we invited him to our table and learned that he was the boss of the restaurant. He said that he was once a film star and director in Hong Kong and many film superstars, like Jackie Chan, Andy Lau and Gong Li are his intimate friends. He showed us a pile of photos of him and some film stars to prove it. For film fans, the restaurant can also be a place to find signs of your idols, besides satisfying your empty stomach.

Jin Yin Tong Buffet Restaurant

9F, Pudong Yaohan Department Store

48 yuan (US$6) per person, lunch

98 yuan (US$12) per person dinner hours

Tel: 5835-9899