Like a village made entirely of sweets, surrounded by a river flowing with beer, the name Buffet Island stirs excitement.

The Chinese restaurant opened just before Christmas, with the aim of giving us something a bit different.

With anything up to 60 dishes available, the buffet is vast and has everything you would expect from a traditional Chinese menu, including soup, hors d'oeuvres and crispy duck.

And dieters beware - you can help yourself as many times as you like. It's a real bargain, too, with lunch priced at £6.99 (Mon-Thurs) to £7.99 (Fri/Sat) and dinner priced at £11.99 and £13.99.

The buffet is ideal if you want something quick and cheap but if you have a bit more time to spare, the most exciting part is the sizzling teppanyaki area.

For this, you pick a selection of raw food from the buffet area, take it to the hatch, where the chef cooks it on a huge hotplate, in front of your very eyes. Using fish, meat, veg and noodles, you can create your own dish, freshly cooked to order.

"The teppanyaki is a mixture of Mongolian and Japanese sizzling dishes," says manager Alan Kong.

"It's getting very popular - people are interested in trying new things. It gives people a choice - if they don't eat garlic, or whatever, they don't have to."

Spacious and modern, the 125-seater restaurant is incredibly comfortable - if you're on a mission to eat as much as possible, the big padded seats allow you to lean back and have a bit of a break between visits to the bufffet.

Staff are on hand to talk you through the dishes offered and are swift to clear tables and bring you clean plates and cutlery.

The food is changed every four hours and the buffet choices vary every week.

It seems a particularly good place to go in a big group and, unsurprisingly, Buffet Island is popular with students, who get a discount.

Originally from Malaysia, Alan has been in the restaurant trade for nearly ten years and has worked in London's Chinatown and Oxford. "We know there is a lot of competition in Brighton but we think we are offering something different," he says.

Review by Leilah Nicola