Cosmo
"Yes, I promise won't be sick this time," protested the boy next to me as he shovelled more food on to his already mountainous plate.
His mother tutted and shook her head knowingly as she managed to find space on her own plate for an extra helping of egg fried rice and chow mein noodles.
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Welcome to Cosmo, the vast pan-Asian eat-as-much-as-you-like restaurant which last week reopened on the Triangle in Clifton after a major refurbishment.
In the few months it was closed, Cosmo has seen some major competition emerge in Bristol in the shape of the 1,000-seater Za Za Bazaar, which appears to have sucked business away from many restaurants like an industrial-sized Dyson.
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Not to be outdone, Cosmo has bounced back with extra seating (it now seats a mere 250 diners at a time) and more 'live cooking' in the shape of chefs working an Indian tandoori oven and a Japanese-style Robata grill.
The menu has also been expanded to include up to 150 dishes, with the range taking in Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam as well as China, Japan, India and, er, Italy (well, they do a couple of pizza and pasta dishes).
The new seating occupies the former waiting area, but the most striking difference is the huge restaurant at the rear, which looks much lighter than before.
Another significant change is the decision to remove the 'pay first' policy so you now get a bill at the end of the meal and pay at the bar, which is a far more civilised and trusting approach.
On Saturday lunchtime, the place was packed with families, students and a high proportion of young Chinese.
Between the three of us, we sampled as many self-serve dishes as we could without requiring gastric band surgery.
The best tended to be the Chinese and Indian main courses, as well as the vegetable dishes.
Highlights included massaman chicken; stir-fried mushrooms in oyster sauce; broccoli in garlic and chilli; barbecued spare ribs; and aromatic pork. OK, it would be difficult to spot any of these dishes in a blind tasting of similar meals plucked from the M&S chill cabinet, but then the ridiculously affordable prices reflect this.
And, let's face it, if you are a student staring at a mountain of university fees, then £6.99 is not a lot of money when you can eat enough for a week during the course of a single lunch.
Desserts were pretty grim – overly sweet, fridge-cold chocolate gateau and semi-frozen profiteroles among them – although the chunks of pineapple and melon were a welcome and refreshing end to the meal.
On the down side, drinks took 20 minutes to arrive and many of the 'clean' plates stacked up still had old food stuck to them, something I told the grateful and apologetic manager on the way out.
If you are looking for a relaxed, gastronomic experience, Cosmo may not be your first choice but the fact there are 250 diners there having a good time most lunchtimes and evenings goes some way in showing just how pleased many people are to see it back open again and who am I to argue?
MT
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