Buffet Etiquette the Malaysian Way!

For me, when i go to a buffet, I'll have a walk around all the dishes isle for purpose is know what are the food they are serving. then:

1st round: i will usually start with salads. take some of the vegetables and fruits, put some mayo and thousand island.


2nd round: i will take a big plate with me. divide it into 5-6 portions. 1 portion is for rice. no need take a lot of rice because you will became full. so, 1 portion of rice and the rest is a little bit of everything.

3rd round: repeat round 2 but minus the rice portion. but this time, only take what i feel the most awesome to eat from my 2nd round. eat to my heart's content.

4th round: dessert. usually will start with crumble. or fondue. the last will be ice cream

I wonder if any buffet restaurants have ever charged the patrons for wastage. From observation, there are people who put the unfinished food into the pile of prawn shells or bones to "hide/cover up" their wastage.

Some say it is the "Kampung" mentality to grab everything without finishing what you have taken. But are you going spend 60 to 100 ringgit just to eat some fried rice with some fruit ??? i rather spend RM10 for a good nasi goreng outside mamak/warung then

Then my friend told us that today he went to a buka puasa buffet with family. Next table got a big family datuk nenek anak cucu. So the cucu wanted eat fish ball but the mother scolded the boy

"Fishball tue bende murah, rugi klu mkn kt buffet"

The boy sulked and rengek2 throw tantrums the mom still didn't give. Then, the datuk took nasi goreng & the woman (mom of the kids) said to the old man

"Ayah mkn lar udang ker, daging ker... jgn mkn nasi. Nanti cepat kenyang rugi x mkn yg lain" Since when ppl so calculative? he asks

Another heard a chef in radio interview talk about buffet before and here are his advice:

1) avoid rice / bread etc.. go for expensive things like seafood ..

2) dont drink alot while eating .. just sip if you need... they always put variety of drinks to make people feel full ..

The question really is whether you will enjoy if you do what is "worth it" instead of what you really want to do...