When it comes to cuisine that is best suited to an all-you-can-eat buffet, it's hard to beat Chinese food. Although the intricacies of Chinese food are as vast as the country itself, a good buffet should be able to offer an impressive cross-section of favourites, along with some unexpected and exotic treats. The buffet at your local Chinese restaurant can be a wonderfully indulgent treat, but have you ever considered that a certain etiquette might be appropriate? The next time you enjoy a Chinese buffet, keep an eye out to see if your fellow diners make any of these mistakes.

It's Not a Challenge

Regardless of the type of cuisine on offer, remember that all-you-can-eat is a suggestion and not a challenge. There is no competitive element to the experience, and while you can eat until you're bursting, you perhaps shouldn't. This is particularly true with Chinese food, with its rich and wonderfully potent sauces. To overindulge can negate the overall experience, and you want to leave with a feeling of satisfaction, not a feeling of discomfort.

Changing Plates

Still, you will undoubtedly be eating several plates worth of food to achieve that sense of satisfaction, and while you might want to save dishes, you don't need to, and to get the full experience, you shouldn't. There are likely to still be lashings of sauce on the plate when you're finished, and this will inevitably mingle with whatever goes onto the plate next. If the chefs had intended their salt-and-pepper squid to be enjoyed with sweet-and-sour sauce, they would have combined them from the start. Preserve the flavour profile of each dish by changing plates between servings.

Serving Utensils

The same goes for the serving utensils assigned to each buffet dish. Don't dip a serving spoon covered with black bean sauce into a dish flavoured with rice wine and ginger. This is not only because of a potential disruption to the taste of the dish, but you also need to consider cross-contamination, as in you might inadvertently be introducing meat fragments to a vegetarian or vegan dish. If a buffet item doesn't have its own serving utensil, just ask the serving staff.

A Digging Expedition

Avoid the temptation to dig through an individual buffet dish in search of its star ingredient. Yes, you might want to get as many prawns as you can, but you need to leave some for the other diners. There's no sense of urgency with a buffet. You can come back and have some more later, or you can simply wait for the dish to be replenished if someone else has gone on their own digging expedition. Digging through food is in fact considered bad form in Chinese culture, as it's supposedly reminiscent of digging a grave. 

The best way to enjoy a buffet is generally by just using common sense, but there are a few things to remember when it comes to an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. Visit Chinese restaurants near you to learn more about what they offer.