I once heard a joke that a big difference between Brits and our American cousins is that in the States, eat as much as you like restaurants are called eat as much as you can.

Which might not only be a scary prospect for one local restaurant, but it would also completely spoil its name.

EAMAYL (the acronym for Eat As Much As You Like) in Paul's Row, High Wycombe, opened its doors a little over a year ago, one of several Chinese restaurants in the area which offer help-yourself buffets.

During its first successful 12 months it has established itself as firm favourite for families, pre-theatre diners and anyone who enjoys fast food which isn't deep fried or served in a bun.

The school holidays start next week and mums with time and hungry kids to fill will find excellent value for money at this Chinese restaurant with a difference.

Lunch for under 11-year-olds is just £3 (adults £5.50) and dinner £6 (adults £11).

For this price you have free range of a large selection of well-cooked tasty dishes. The selection is only slightly smaller at lunch (crispy duck is a daytime absentee).

My family loves crispy duck so we went along for an early-tea, pre-cinema feast. At 6.30pm the place was already buzzing.

The decor is charming (a sympathetic conversion of an old building) with pink tablecloths, subtle lighting and neat, efficient waitresses who whisk dirty plates away from your table faster than you can say chop suey.

The food serving area is well lit and set out. Stacks of warming plates are constantly refreshed as are the dishes of food, presented in hot aluminium servers, canteen style.

Everything is clearly labelled and appropriate extra sauces sit close by.

In one area a chef prepares freshly chargrilled skewers of chicken and pork. Help yourself to these and ladle over a sauce from a good selection.

The aforementioned crispy duck is in another zone with all the necessary trimmings to make scrumptious duck pancakes with the traditional shredded cucumber and spring onion.

Starters and main courses sit side by side, so if you fancy some sweet and sour chicken with your spring rolls, or want to try Singapore rice noodles with fried seaweed, then go right ahead.

This is one of the main attractions of EAMAYL for children. Most hate being pressurised and prefer to nibble a bit of this and a bit of that, perhaps with a tiny bit of sauce on the side, perhaps not.

This is a wonderful way to introduce youngsters to the variety of Chinese cuisine and get them to try new dishes.

I can personally recommend the sweet and sour chicken balls, chicken teriyaki, spare ribs in Cantonese sauce and the soft noodles.

Hubby enjoyed the salt and peppery prawns, beef with black bean sauce and the satay on a skewer.

Desserts include various ice creams, jelly, toffee apple or banana and fresh fruit salad. Another wonderful treat for kids.

We certainly ate as much as we liked and liked everything we ate.