It’s been a while since I was last at The Jetty Restaurant, a buffet restaurant resting beside/slightly over the ocean at the entrance to Stokes Hill Wharf. It’s $35 a head to get in, so not as cheap asSunset at the Casino but not as ridiculously expensive as Seafood on Cullen.

I wouldn’t call it a big buffet restaurant with a huge amount of dishes to help yourself too, but they do have consistent selection of seafood, usual western stuff, some Asian stuff to the side and of course some very fattening deserts.

We got there early at 6pm and the restaurant wasn't too full, but that didn't take long because it was packed by 6.30. From between then and about 7.15 you will be able to witness the longest line to the bain-maries you will ever see in your life. At one point it started to curl back around. But everyone was rather civilized and patiently waited their turn (except for me...I was hungry for seconds). The line died down after thankfully once peak traffic was over - the moral of this story is to either get their early, or rock up after 7.15 ish to avoid the mad dash to the food. Better to go early though I reckon so you don't miss out on a table - they don't do bookings for smaller groups.

Food wise I thought everything was delicious, particularly the garlic prawns, shepherd's pie and the freshly grilled steak - you can even ask the chef to hand you a piece off the grill cooked to your liking. They always have roast pork belly there as well, which I totally love, but the crackling was a little off  tonight unfortunately.

There's a bar where you can order various alcoholic beverages, but I've always preferred water. Healthy and free is a hard combination to beat. Although one would argue that if you wanted to be healthy you wouldn't be here in the first place. That didn't stop all the pregnant women from rocking up though, it surely is baby season, and if you are eating for two, a buffet is a pretty good place to get your fill. Or perhaps they weren't with child and  had just eaten way too much...

The views outside the floor to ceiling windows are magnificent, and if you're brave enough to eat outside in the ridiculous weather this time of year, you'll get a fresh ocean breeze and can peek through the floorboards to see the ocean underneath your feet. My recommendation though,  is to eat inside until the dry season comes around.

So all was well and good at the end of the night. We had a lovely meal and the service was efficient. The story continues later on in the night though. Unfortunately my pal and I's iron stomachs had a mild disagreement with the food and I had to take an unscheduled dump before bed. My poor wife faired worse though and had to make some painful trips to the thunder box throughout the night. I've never had food poisoning there before, so it was unfortunate that my review coincided with such an event, but I gotta tell it like it is....