Feast – a world of flavours: Seafood Buffet, Sheraton on the Park, CBD Sydney (9 Nov 2012)

Level 1, 161 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000

http://www.feastsydney.com.au

All-you-can-eat seafood

Thanks to Rachel Witham from GTI Tourism for inviting me as a guest to sample the new Feast buffet. The success of a seafood buffet for the customer is to achieve quality, quantity and value. Realistically you can't really get all three otherwise the buffet will lose money although the Sheraton on the Park tries its very best with their offering. When I visited the Monday to Saturday lunch would set you back $75 which makes it a higher price range compared to other Sydney hotel buffets although on this visit the prized Alaskan King Crab was available which the others don't seem to offer. The crab meat was good although it didn't seem to be replenished throughout service and a pair of scissors would have been much more useful to cut the soft flexible shell than using crackers. Oysters and prawns are a must have for any seafood buffet. You'll never get freshly shucked oysters to order in a buffet and if you do I want to know where. They'll also be on the small side otherwise a buffet will go broke for sure. These ones were nice and helped along with a squeeze of lemon for the missing brine.

Prawns are also a must have. These were fresh looking with glossy shell, a decent size and pretty easy to peel making them a win. Blue swimmer crabs are generally included in most buffets but tend to be a lot of hard work for little gain so I usually stop at one. There was a good variety of salads, hot dishes and desserts which were presented well and looked inviting to try. Pizzas were also being made throughout service which I haven't seen before in other Sydney buffets. From the seafood section my favourites were the Alaskan King Crab (hopefully this is available all the time), oysters, prawns, mussels and calamari salad. For main the lamb roast with condiments was good and for desserts my favourites was the nicely flavoured raspberry sorbet, vanilla bean ice cream, black forest cake and hazelnut tort. Park views are a bonus and the decor and seating is comfortable and relaxing. You certainly won't go hungry at this buffet and you'd be challenged to try everything on offer.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Decent amount of seafood options, Good variety of salad and dessert, Down-to-earth service, Comfortable seating and decor, Window views of Hyde Park

CONS: High probability of overeating, You'll need to serve yourself, Its a buffet so dishes aren't cooked to order and after a while don't look their best on display

MUST TRY: Eating as much Alaskan King Crab, Oysters and Prawns to get your monies worth. Going in a group of 4 or more would allow you to try a bit more of everything

VERDICT: If they were to serve a continuous supply of Alaskan King Crab then the higher price tag would be worth it for me combined with the nice setting, outlook and variety of dishes and desserts

—

Lotus Blossum: ciroc snap frost vodka with pear, lychees and sake ($18) — refreshing, easy to drink, slightly sweet

Nice amount of table space with hand bowl and scraps bowl

Went straight for the Alaskan King Crab for its meat and because its the most expensive item

Alaskan King Crab legs can be a little awkward to eat but there's plenty of table space to accommodate

Alaskan King Crab meat was good. Not too watery and decent flavour.
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

I've found nut crackers aren't as effective as using scissors

Mussels were good

Oysters are small but quite nice although lacking brine

I generally avoid the sushi because the rice will fill you up too much

Prawns were good, decent size and fresh looking

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Plenty of blue swimmer crab available if you have the patience. Salads were fresh and good quality.

Lamb was nice and some crackling to be had with the pork. Roti was disappointing though which was flat and a bit oily and not quite the Mamak standard. Loved the pappadums. 

Black forest cake and hazelnut torte were my favourites I tried in the desserts. Smaller sized cake pieces were more convenient to try than larger slices.

Large slices of cake can be a challenge to finish if you're waiting to try other desserts.

Raspberry sorbet and vanilla bean ice cream were very good

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Cappuccino was surprisingly decent

Executive Chef David Watson, Pizza Chef Tori

Alaskan King Crab was on offer but wasn't replenished throughout the entire lunch service

Oysters well presented on ice

Plenty of prawns

Lots of blue swimmer crab

These pappadums were addictive

Watch out for utensils left on containers as they can get very hot

I didn't get to try the cheese but it looked decent

Fair variety of bread on offer although I avoid because it fills you up too much

Pizzas made constantly

Black forest cake was good and a nice cut size

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

A couple of interesting dessert options which were worth trying

Easy access to buffet

Nice seating and decor

Wok bar,  roasts and pizza station

Clean and functional toilets with privacy screen gets a tick of approval from me

Plenty of seating options for different sized groups and views towards Hyde Park to be had

View Larger Map