The Foo Kin Noodle Bar

Not too sure If this organisation is still standing. Pretty sure it went bust but don’t hold me to it. It was very decent when it was around. A much nicer China buffet king.

Great taste, great price, very quick service, plan to eat here next time I am in Belfast

This noodle venture was at its height a couple of years ago and you wouldn’t have found a seat among the abundance student. I’m sure the ‘Foo Kin’ régime has captured a large proportion of many a student loan.
It serves chinese food by the barrel and used to be a buffet but now they are not using that fond concept… now they are like those chinese food outlets in shopping centers where you choose the size of your box and then they fill it. Not the same and not as good.
Tis always cheaper for students which is good and bad depending on your disposition.

Foo-​kin, a name which I believe plays particularly well in a city with such a diverse swearing lexicon, something this cheeky will do well… intentionally or otherwise.
Back in my days as a young under-​graduate the concept of essentially infinite food was and still is appealing. A group of us called down to check out whether the £6 (student rate) we were about to pay would sufficiently fill us with a plethora of tasty Asian dishes or a dish of food poisoning.
I can safely say the later was not the case — the place does a good job at providing the range of most popular Chinese take-​away dishes (Black bean, chicken ‘curry’, Cantonese beef, honey chilli chicken). There’s also a fantastic range of little dainty won-​tons and other thin pastry based starters.
Everything is there for the taking, the food keeps coming and you can for all intensive purposes eat until you explode, akin to the infamous sketch in The Meaning of Life… «And finally, monsieur, a wafer-​thin mint…» and so on and so forth.
Friendly staff, dirt cheap and they also do a range of take-​away boxes. There is a lot of competition now in the form of China China and the China Buffet King but still, if you are feeling a little more than just peckish then this gluttony might be up your street.

Stumbled (literally) upon this place after a recent night at the nearby Laverys. You can imagine our amusement, repeating the name in a drunken stupor– Foo-​kin, foo-​kin ‘Hey Tia you want some foo-​kin noodles?’ my friend squealed. (It sounds even better if you say it in a Dublin accent.)
Inside, to console myself with the fact that there were no parties a happenin’ I had a yummy box of noodles. The portion was very generous and I remember being amazed that no matter how much I ate I couldn’t make a dent in them, the never-​ending box of noodles that they were. Good value for 4 quid! The noodles were chunky, fresh and succulent, not like those wiry ones you get in other places. They also had some spring onions, peppers and onions dispersed through them.
The décor inside was cool with long picnic table benches and retro 70’s wallpaper and a contemporary modern feel throughout.
We also met a guy here called John Dick Duckett, which made the night really.

Ok, ok I know the name is ridiculous but a sure fire ice breaker if you’re on a first date surely? This place is a bit of a godsend for those of us who like Chinese food, pretty much unlimited portions and reasonable prices.
The place is well kitted out and has a lovely retro feel to it, the long benches encourage chat with fellow diners and pretty much anytime I’ve been there the food has been spot on.
They usually do a few buffet options and all are great value for money. As with most buffet places the drinks can ratch the bill right up.
If you like yer Chinese and noodle dishes you could do a lot worse than head down to Bradbury Place. Beware, don’t be heading in here for ‘just a snack’, that ain’t gonna happen.
Pros: Great food.
Cons: Can get busy, you don’t want to have to fight over the last spoonful of chow mein.

I was initially lured into this noodle bar by the name alone and I’d say this is true for most of the clientele who are now regulars! The restaurant has a cool 70’s feel décor with Asian trinkets here and there and is really welcoming with a constant stream of people giving it a lovely buzz. They offer an all you can eat buffet for £7.99 and they do mean all you can eat! My friends always love to pack out here before a session and really do take the offer as a challenge. The food is really well made to which is surprising for a buffet and they haven’t scrimped on the ingredients. A great noodle bar located in the heart of shaftbury square and a favourite amongst students looking for a cheap meal and huge portion!

It was kind of a hard choice for me to go in here as I’m not really a noodle kind of person but like a lot of other suckers i was lured in purely by the name — I love play with words and in student land this can’t fail to be popular.
The décor inside is really attractive — I love the really retro 60’s orange and brown wallpaper and the mass of paper lanterns. The large images of Asian folk going about their business are really attractive too and as a budding photographer I found them simply beautiful.
There are three eating options in the foo — kin noodle bar depending on how hungry you are or how much money you have in your pocket, I was in at lunch time so I went for the ‘all you can eat’ buffet selection for £7.99 — this is way more than I would normally spend on lunch but I was keen to try the food.
The food was lovely and I ate my fill of noodles, chow mein and chicken — fresh and tasty! I didn’t really feel like I got £7.99 worth of food though and as I have found before, but never learn my lesson, all you can eat is literally that and sometimes at lunch time that just isn’t very much.
The name, the décor, the large wooden tables, the pictures, the tasty food and the fact that it’s bring your own bottle in the evenings are all attractive about this place. I would certainly consider coming again if I was totally starving and felt I could really make a good go at the buffet.

I haven’t been to this place since I was a student. Back in my day (you know getting old when you start to say that!!!), it was £5 for an all you can eat buffet, and it meant just that. The amount of food packed away of a lunch time was pretty obscene.
I remember the food being good, but since I wasn’t really into Chinese food back then, I wouldn’t really have known if it was bad!
By all accounts however, now the all-​you-​can-​eat is restricted to a couple of plates, and it costs £6 (inflation, eh?). I suppose that’s still pretty decent though, so I’d guess it’s still a favourite student haunt.
Plus, any place with a punny name gets my vote!

Anywhere that has eco-​friendly cups and bowls (according to the internet) gets an immediate thumbs up from me. The food in here is cheap and apparently it is all very healthy and will leave you feeling great. I don’t understand however how people can keep coming back here week after week. It is nice grub, don’t get me wrong. But it is just that which is my problem. It’s nice.
But Bradbury Place is known for potentially lethal takeaways and the M Club which in my opinion does not make it a good location for a noodle bar. Perhaps they should go all out and make this into a top of the range noodle restaurant that means you have to book to come in, put it somewhere in the city centre, get it to be world famous and then make it the in-​place to go for a night out.
To me it’s a bit of a nothing place at the moment. I think it needs to become a proper restaurant with waiters and a person to show you to a table, and things like that because they deserve to own a better place than stuck onto a kebab shop and opposite a dreadful takeaway.
All in all, it has all of the ingredients (excellent staff, a lot of customers, eco-​friendly plates) but it just needs to decide become a proper, full-​time, classy restaurant and then go for it head first because I can guarantee it will get more customers if it opens a restaurant in the city centre.
Good but has the potential to be great.

Savoury, tasty Chinese food. This place is especially popular among locals. The food is authentic, made in an actual Wok with spices and herbs: absolutely faultless and the staff are friendly enough. My only issue with it is the price: it’s can cost £10 and upwards for the buffet which is a bit steep and it’s not actually a ‘buffet’ anymore since new management took over; customers are now restricted to 2 – 3 plates of food depending on a sort of price tariff. Needless to say, the Foo Kin is no longer as bunged as it once was which is a pity as it used to be famous for it’s food.

When I was a skint student this place was a revelation. We used to head there at least once a week to stock up and eat about our weight in noodles and chicken.
It’s an all you can eat buffet but the food is far from being poorly made or with rubbish ingredients, its real quality and is very, very tasty. Its usually pretty busy which gives the place a lovely, fun atmosphere that allows you to spend a bit of time with your friends and enjoy your lunch.
The staff are brilliant and always friendly, making you feel welcome and remembering the regulars making you all the more likely to head back.

This has now changed to an Express restaurant. You can have 1 choice of Main and 1 side for £3.50 up to a Feast of 3 mains and 2 sides for only £6.00 Soft drinks are only £1 and are refillable or you can bring your own wine, so really good value.
Food was very nice and staff very friendly.

a really good all you can eat buffet makes this place worth visiting — i’ve limped out of this restaurant before!
and, being purile, the name is ingenious especially when coupled with the advertising — foo kin good noodles and foo kin fiver — and so onoh, how we laughed