A CITY buffet restaurant is celebrating a decade of serving up food from around the globe with a party for special guests and loyal customers and a raffle for two local charities.
COSMO world banqueting restaurant, in London Road, has been cooking up a storm for 10 years, raising thousands of pounds for local charities and making multiple headlines at the same time.
The restaurant seats 330 diners and can serve as many as 1,000 people on a busy Saturday with dishes from 10 different countries including China, Japan, India and Brazil, as well as a full British carvery.
Housed in an art deco building, COSMO originally opened its doors as the Gaumont Palace, Derby’s grand super cinema, in 1934. The building took more than over a year to construct, 500 tons of steel, 5,000 tons of concrete and over a million bricks, and was described as a “breath-taking addition” to Derby.
Over the years it underwent several reincarnations, including as the nightclub Zanzibar complete with its two-metre bronze effect statue known as the sultan who kept a watchful eye over the comings and goings of London Road for 15 years.
In 2013, COSMO took over the building, spending more than £1m to transform the derelict building into an all you can eat buffet restaurant, modelled on five-star luxury hotels in the Far East. The Zanzibar sultan was not due to be part of the new décor and was auctioned in support of local charity the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre in Skegness, raising £420 towards a minibus.
The donation was to be the first of many fundraisers held by the restaurant for the charity which sends children from deprived homes on holiday. In 2019, COSMO introduced ‘Charity Tuesdays’ where youngsters were invited to eat for £1 with proceedings donated to Derby County Community Trust (DCCT) who have worked on many projects such as Rams in Kenya which takes volunteers to Nakuru in Kenya in a bid to improve facilities at five schools.
A similar promotion, with help from Peppa Pig and George, raised almost £750 for When you Wish Upon a Star, which helps make dreams come true for poorly children.
And in 2020, when restaurants were forced to close during lockdown, COSMO once again showed its big heart by delivering free hot meals to key workers at local hospice Treetops. With members of the public told to stay at home – and Treetops forced to close its Wellbeing Space – 40 members of the ‘Hospice at Home’ team, which included nurses and healthcare assistants, travelled miles across South Derbyshire and South Nottinghamshire to provide care in patient’s own homes during the day and overnight.
The popularity of the restaurant has been officially recognised with national award wins following nominations from members of the public, scooping the title ‘Best Buffet Restaurant’ at the annual Food Awards last year.
It was the third time COSMO won the award after proudly being presented with the same accolade in 2017 and 2018. To celebrate the win, the restaurant offered discounts for its customers, two days a week for a whole month.
There have been plenty of celebrity diners over the years from local dignitaries such as Derby North MP Amanda Solloway to Derby County players such as Jonny Russell.
In fact, The Rams have been regular visitors to the restaurant. In 2016 Will Hughes, Cyrus Christie, Craig Bryson and Chris Weale helped celebrate the club’s collaboration with the restaurant. Hughes and Christie took to the grill to cook steak and salmon before trying their hand at preparing sushi rolls, while Bryson and Weale visited the pizza kitchen and also helped cook various different meats.
As well as preparing food, the players also took time out to sign autographs and pose for pictures with supporters and attendees.
A few years later, the skipper Richard Keogh and fellow teammates Joe Ledley, Craig Forsyth and Alex Pearce also made a special appearance at a ‘Dine with a Derby star’ evening.
COSMO has been firmly behind the club since it opened offering season ticket holders a 10% discount on their bill, while it was the first restaurant in the COSMO group to offer its Work Local Eat Global discount scheme to the city’s workforce.
Director Kan Koo said: “The last decade has been the most challenging period in hospitality history – with a global pandemic, Brexit and the cost-of-living crisis which meant that many firmly established big restaurant groups disappeared from our high streets along with numerous smaller independent fine dining establishments.
“Within this climate I am extremely pleased to say that COSMO is still as popular as ever and we are justifiably proud to be celebrating this milestone.
“We have not only invested heavily in a building which would otherwise be standing derelict in the city centre, but we have delivered award-winning food to the people of this city and supported good causes financially wherever possible.
“It has been an exciting 10 years of eating, celebrating and good times. Here’s to the next 10!”
