Cosmo restaurant in Bournemouth opened this summer and I've been looking forward to visiting, not only because I like a nice variety of food but also because I knew the kids would enjoy the desserts and robots who can show you to your table, take away plates and even sing Happy Birthday!

We had pre-booked and were kindly shown to our table straight away.  The beauty of an all you can eat restaurant is that you don't have to wait ages for the chef to prepare your food so once we’d ordered our drinks and paid, the waitress let us know where the plates were and said to enjoy our meal.

You can enjoy an unlimited buffet of world cuisine (apparently over 150 dishes!) however our children love beefburgers so they were over the moon to spot them.  Before they grabbed one I encouraged them to have a good look around first to see what else was on offer.  My son ended up having a beefburger, sushi, salad and margareta pizza while his sister had a beefburger, Chinese noodles, lots of cucumber slices and pizza.  Both were in heaven eating all of their favourite foods and then waited patiently for desserts.

My husband and I took it in turns to stay with the children and we both had a good look at all of the dishes before committing.  There’s so much to choose from in the Asian section with starters, crispy duck and pancakes, Mongolian stir-fried lamb, traditional dishes like beef in black pepper sauce, sweet and sour chicken, plus noodles and rice.

In the Indian section I saw naan breads, nibbles like mini onion bhajis and samosas, pilau rice and dishes which included chicken tikka masala and lamb rogan josh.  The pizza was especially nice when fresh out of the oven with various topping to please everyone.  I also saw a salad and sushi counter, roast dinner from the carvery with all the trimmings, pasta dishes like macaroni cheese, penne verde, lasagna and spaghetti bolognese and kids favourites like sausages, chicken nuggets, chips and onion rings.

My husband definitely enjoyed the Teppanyaki the most.  The word derives from the Japanese words teppan (which means iron plate) and yaki (which means grilled, broiled or pan fried).  You can choose from fresh salmon, scallops, squid, big tiger prawns and meat and the chef will cook it right in front of you.  For me, I really enjoyed the Asian section and had a little bit of all my favourite dishes.  Because they were quite busy the chefs were refilling the hot plates regularly so everything was lovely and fresh.

The dessert counter was quite spectacular and the kids were desperate to dip whatever they were allowed in the chocolate fountain.  They ended up with an array of sweet treats on their plates including fruit, jelly, ice cream, bananas and custard, chocolate cake and a few fizzy sweets.  I like to try something I’ve never had before aswell as my favourites so I had a little caramel cheesecake, gateaux, and chocolate profiteroles with extra melted chocolate on top.  There was also carrot cake, Eton mess, caramel short cake, tiramisu, white chocolate raspberry red velvet cake, hot cherry rhubarb cake and churros.

It really is a great restaurant for families who all love different cuisines and if you are celebrating they even have signature cocktails including a passion fruit martini which is my all time favourite.

The decor in the restaurant is really stylish, clean and modern with high ceilings and comfy seating. They have everything you’d expect from a family friendly restaurant with high chairs and a baby change room and there’s even a separate room downstairs for private hire.

We had such a nice evening and the staff were friendly and quick to take away your empty plate so you can try something else.  We’ll definitely be going back again.

Good to note if this applies to you - NHS, armed forces or emergency services currently receive 10% off their food bill and also students with valid student ID card.*

For further information and booking, please visit Cosmo Bournemouth.

*Information was correct at the time of writing.

We went to see Pirates Ahoy! in their new home at the weekend and had such a blast!  The pop-up theatre tent can be found in Lodmoor Country Park in Weymouth but I’d recommend getting there early as there’s some games for the children to play like hook a duck, hook hoopla, digging for gold and there’s even a fancy dress area for them to enjoy. 

If you’re feeling peckish then there’s a food stand outside serving a variety of street food including nachos, loaded fries, hotdogs and burgers.  Inside the tent you’ll find further drinks, snacks and treats including popcorn for sale.  Inside has everything you’d expect in a theatre with the stage, seating and lighting ect and we didn’t have to wait long for the show to begin.

If you like Panto then you’ll love this summer show which is full of audience participation.  With the scenes being short there’s no time for the kids to get bored and we spent a good couple of hours really enjoying the show.

This year the crew of the Saucy Sally go on a swashbuckling adventure to find the Temple of Treasure but the evil Captain Blackhead and his new recruit Poopdeck Pete are out to scupper their plans and take the treasure for themselves.  If you’ve been before then you’ll recognise many of the dancers and main cast members who are Captain Filibuster, Pirate Poppy, Spirit of the Seas and of course Seadog Billy.  The children remembered Seadog Billy straight away and it didn’t take long for him to have the audience laughing their heads off.  A certain scene which I won’t go into detail about was hilarious and Pirate Poppy did a really good job of trying to stay professional!

There’s an opportunity for the children to get up and learn the pirate dance and there was plenty of times where they got involved with the usual booing and cheering.  The mice, Max and Molly, make an appearance and a huge dog called Davey Bones comes out a few times but his head kept flopping back and the kids were in hysterics watching Billy trying to act whilst propping the head back up!  Then of course when Captain Filibuster and Seadog Billy had to dress up as women to trick Captain Blackhead my son in particular was crying, I’ll admit they did look very funny in their dresses and wigs.

We had a 20 minute interval which gave the kids more time to play outside but the whole show went by really quickly which must be good as time only flies when you’re having fun.

I’d thoroughly recommend Pirates Ahoy! for any families who are thinking of going, we really enjoyed every minute.

Pirates Ahoy! will be at the Lodmoor Palladium until 21st August 2022 with performances on at 11am and 3pm.

There is parking at Lodmoor Country Park and I would recommend you put on a minimum of 3 hours.  If you are arriving by public transport then there are also several buses that stop at Lodmoor.

If you have a Blue Light card then you can use voucher code BLUELIGHT22 to receive 10% discount.  Pirates Ahoy! have also teamed up with SEA LIFE Weymouth to bring you a deal if you’d like to enjoy both.  Everyone coming to the panto will receive a 20% discount with the offer code being given out at the end of the show.  Plus, if you have a SEA LIFE or merlin Annual Pass you can access discounted tickets to Pirates Ahoy!

That’s not all that’s going on at the Lodmoor Palladium though as there’s evening shows including P*ssed Up Panto (adults only), Drag Shows, ABBA night and Cinema Movie nights.

For more information and tickets, please visit the Lodmoor Palladium.

Dorsetmums was invited to Pirates Ahoy! for the purpose of a review however all words are my own.