Whatever happened to the Melting Pot?

I don’t get it.  It’s gone.  Well, the shell is still there, but as an entity it has gone.  Sigh.

Happier yummier days

I’m talking about The Melting Pot, based in South Road, Waterloo, in Sefton.

Waterloo is an area north of Liverpool.  It is not Liverpool. It is famous for being the place where X Factor singer Marcus Collins comes from, even though they tried to pretend he came from Liverpool.  And South Road is a road full of restaurants of varying qualities, aimed at various types of clientèle.  At the top of the east end of South Road is, or was, The Melting Pot.

It’s still there, but it has now gone extremely dark and looks derelict.  Shame.

I like buffet based eating.  Mainly because I like being in control of what I’m eating and the portion size.  Plus, as a fat bastard, I’m not at the mercy of the food on my plate running out.  When it does, I can just struggle up from the table, waddle back to the supply and stack up another pile ready to shovel into my body.

Most buffets are Chinese.  That is to say that the food inside tends to be the Europeanised style that we know as ‘Chinese’.  But the Melting Pot was different.  Inside were foods and tastes from all different parts of the world. From Thai curries through to Indian tandoori through to Vietnamese, Napalese, and well, Chinese, there were dishes of every  “-ese” you could think of.

Now, the dishes were kept hot at the rear of the restaurant, in an area kept away from the main eating area, leaving a nice separation between food and people, plus a small walk of anticipation.  Customers sat on tables supplied with linen napkins, and fine cutlery attended to by very friendly staff.

Ok, possibly one of the reasons why the Melting Pot is no more is because nobody went to it.  On the numerous occasions we were there we were mainly dining alone, so the staff had no distractions from other customers.

I don’t understand why nobody went.  The food was cheap, the quality was fairly high, and the decor was very interesting.  Elephants.  Yep, Elephants were all over the place alongside Buddhas and other exotic pictures and tapestries.  And yet, the layout and the front of the restaurant was very futuristic with strange curved doors and spiral staircases leading to places we dare not speak of.

Plus it was clean and interesting. So, why there were no customers I don’t quite get.  I assume it might have been the location.  Putting an identical in every way restaurant in the centre of Liverpool, or maybe where the money is, I would have thought would have attracted a cult following.  Alas it didn’t.  And alas it has now gone.  Shame.