I tried all cuisines at Cosmo world buffet and ranked them

No airs and graces, no waiting - and, most importantly, no limit on how much you can eat.

So I felt in my element as soon as I stopped through the doors of Cosmo World Kitchen.

Ready to try the food at Cosmo in Westquay (Image: James Butler) READ MORE: What I thought of the food at Turtle Bay in Southampton

Situated in the heart of Westquay, the Southampton staple is the perfect family restaurant, as everyone can choose what they like, as well as satisfying wannabe competitive eaters like myself.

Unlike many other restaurants with a similar concept, which often stick purely to east Asian cuisine, Cosmo's unique selling point is that you can travel the four corners of the globe to find the best stodge that each continent has to offer.

Well, minus Africa, South America and Oceania apparently.

But with a nonetheless-impressive variety on offer, I thought I would try each cuisine and rank them, once and for all, to see what came out on top.

7) Italian

The Italian buffet station at Cosmo (Image: James Butler) The pastas I tried were the macaroni cheese, the creamy pesto chicken and the spaghetti Bolognese. It is probably no surprise that this is at the bottom, considering it's been the calling card of no buffet ever.

In the spirit of 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all', my advice would be to avoid this station and save your stomach room for other cuisines.

6) Carvery

The carvery buffet station at Cosmo (Image: James Butler) All the while Toby Carvery exists, it's virtually impossible for anywhere else to stack up. To be fair, the meat was pretty tender and the gravy a lovely, thick consistency - but I was presented with a brick of pork and beef rather than thin shavings.

Also, spicy potato wedges? It's like an AI translation of a roast. There are better options.

5) Dessert

The dessert buffet station at Cosmo (Image: James Butler) This placement is largely personal preference - I don't have a huge sweet tooth and would typically avoid dessert restaurants. But there's a good selection of cakes, including passion fruit and coconut, chocolate fudge, banana, doughnuts and eclairs alongside heaps of Eton mess, bananas and custard and waffles, ready to be dipped in the chocolate fountain.

But I will deduct points for there being no strawberries on the fruit station to dip here. My favourite? The Eton mess, closely followed by a good ol' classic - vanilla ice cream, swirled straight from the machine.

4) American

The burger grill at Cosmo (Image: James Butler)
Given the US staples we're accustomed to - a certain burger chain comes to mind - the slightly-processed-but-delicious brand of fast food cuisine lends itself well to this setting.

A server takes pre-cooked burgers and hot dogs and flashes them on the grill next to your brioche bun, loading it with fried onions if you wish and handing you a slice of cheese to Christen it with before anointing with burger sauce and a few gherkins from the salad bar.

Akin to anything you'd get at a family BBQ, this hit the spot.

The pizza buffet station at Cosmo (Image: James Butler) While Italian in origin, around the corner you have the pizza and salad bar - which feels much more American in this context. Any fear of finding spreadable cheese on my slice - a hangover from some European hotel buffet experiences - dissipated when I took a bite. Perfectly satisfactory, with a range of flavours.

The salad bar at Cosmo (Image: James Butler) The salads ranged from classic - tomato and mozzarella and Greek - to the downright unorthodox (I'm looking at you, coleslaw with raisins). But regardless, it was nice to have some freshness on the plate. The chips were passable - some crunch unavoidably lost when stored on a hotplate, but nothing a bit of ketchup wouldn't sort.

3) Japanese

The sushi buffet station at Cosmo (Image: James Butler)

I'm a sucker for sushi - and it was a welcome surprise here. Along with a teppanyaki grill, this arguably felt like the most exciting cuisine.

In fact, the only thing stopping it from ranking more highly was the limited selection.

While there's no raw sashimi in sight, the salmon maki, tempura roll and spicy sushi roll went down a treat with lashings of soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger and made for a delicious amuse bouche.

2) Chinese

The Chinese buffet station at Cosmo (Image: James Butler) It's the classic - the tried and tested, the old faithful. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it - and Cosmo has been wise to heed this message, giving the people what they want with row upon row of takeaway staples, executed to a similar standard.

The duck pancakes were top tier, and while the sweetcorn soup was a little sweet to my taste it would cut through the former's salty richness.

Rice? Great. Noodles? Bountiful. Extra sweet and sour and curry sauce to douse your carbs with? Check. 

You can also enjoy more unusual offerings such as meatballs and mussels in Sichuan sauce and cumin lamb. But my favourite is, and always will be, the sweet and sour chicken.

1) Indian

The Indian buffet station at Cosmo - a winner! (Image: James Butler) Taking the crown of best cuisine at Cosmo's is the Indian buffet station. Chinese food is generally stir-fried, meaning it has a tendency to go soft if not eaten fresh.

But slow-cooked curries keep well on a hotplate, just ticking over until you're ready to tuck in.

While less than the Chinese station, I was still impressed by the selection here: a delicious veggie chickpea Chana masala rubbed shoulders with the classic chicken tikka masala and chicken korma. All well spiced, all tender.

Not to mention the poppadums and chutneys - lime, mint, chilli and mango.

But the winner was the lamb Rogan josh, with meat that just fell apart.

I could have quite happily gone for seconds - or thirds - if I hadn't had this earlier in my experiment.