Shayan Quarter @ Cafe Mix - The Rocks

Hawker-style food in a five-star hotel. Who would have thought?
I feel like Shangri-La has gotten lots of good publicity recently with their food market stint at Vivid, and from when their famous pastry chef (Anna Polyviou) created that epic-looking carrot cake on Master Chef. But until a good friend of mine decided to host their 30th birthday lunch at the Shangri-La, I had no idea that Cafe Mix (the awesome seafood buffet venue) changed into the 'Shayan Quarter' by day, serving up hipster done-up hawker foods.

I have to say, as the birthday boy organised the whole thing, I don't know exactly what each dish was, nor the intricate details of each dish, but I'll do my best to explain.

First up, there was a chilli squid dish. A lot of spices seemed to have gone into coating the squid and it was cooked pretty well - super tender, not tough and chewy at all. Enough to set my mouth on fire when a red chilli accidentally ends up attached to the squid, but without the chilli, it was tasty also.

Baos are everywhere nowadays and they definitely made it onto our table. As there was a vegetarian amongst us, he got a tofu bao which he seemed to enjoy muchly. The rest of us got some pretty tasty sticky chilli caramel pork belly baos. It was a good proportion of bao to meat to veges - and ample of yummy sriracha mayo.

Next up were the playful dishes. Green papaya salad bagged with 'Shake me Up' written on top. Have to say - there wasn't much papaya in each bag but we had fun anyway mixing the papaya with a hot, sweet and sour dressing. More shaking was involved with the numbing chicken wings. You put the numbing szechuan salt in with the chicken wings and shake shake shake (kind of like maccas shake shake fries... remember those?). The small arm work-out aside, the chicken wings were actually quite tender and juicy.

We also got some greens - just some beans in a belacan-ish sauce? Nothing really to write home about - they were OK. And some fried rice which had quite a lot of ingredients. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this humble-looking fried rice. The right texture, great flavours, good dryness.

Some soft tacos came also - some with a pulled pork type filling, and some with a slow-roasted goat filling. I'm not really a lamb/goat fan but everyone seemed to enjoy the soft meat filling.

There were also some lamb shoulder skewers and some mushroom skewers. The lamb skewers were nicely cumin flavoured (or at least that's what I tasted when I accidentally had a bite) but the winners were the mushroom skewers, which were really really tasty! Mushroom sweetness with a good sweet ish, salty ish, moorish sauce. YUM!

The fish came all deep fried with individual fish pieces deboned and skewered for ease of eating. It was good. The fish was fresh. It was easy to eat.

I feel like, apart from the mushroom skewers, the desserts really stole the show. Not only did my friend have an awesome birthday cake (made presumably by Anna Polyviou's team), but we also got 2 plates of complimentary desserts - which looked really amazingly appetising! There was this bitter chocolate tart with banana, salted peanut caramelised clusters and sesame cracker, fried coconut icecream magnum and some macarons. Looked pretty damn good! My friend's birthday cake was also pretty awesome! I don't exactly know what is it. It was sweet, caramelly ?, crunchy biscuit base with popping candy? Whatever it was, it was pretty tasty :)

So Shayan Quarter is up-scale hawker food. Playful elements - tick! Wonderful atmosphere - tick! Amazing desserts - tick! Hawker flavours - sometimes tick?

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Service - 7/10
Value for money - ?
Overall - 22.5 + ?/40

Shayan Quarter @ Cafe Mix
Shangri La Hotel
176 Cumberland Street
The Rocks, NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9250 6206

Sugar Hit at the Sofitel - Sydney

The Sydney International Food Festival (or CRAVE) happens every year in the month of October. This is the time of the year for special lunches, brunches, dinners, high-teas and desserts. Unfortunately for this year, we were only able to catch one dessert ('sugar hit') event. In previous years, sugar hits have been a bit of a hit and miss - some are excellent, some mediocre... really depended on your luck and which cafe you end up at. And so, I made sure that my expectations were set at a reasonable level this time round as we entered the Sofitel Wentworth Hotel.

After a relatively bad dining experience (which I will blog about shortly), we were running a little late for our reservation. Nonetheless, we were greeted by a very friendly and cheerful waiter who directed us promptly to our seats. Without even asking for it, he subsequently came with two glasses of water (with lemon :P) and inquired about our choice of drink. Standard was a Brown Brother's dessert wine of sorts, but he informed us that we would substitute it with other drinks - coffees, teas, soft drinks etc. Being 10pm on a weeknight already, both hubby and I went for coffee. The long black and my cappuccino were both decent - nothing spectacular but they weren't bad.

long black

cappuccino

The friendly waiter then came back with our 'Sugar Hit'. I had chosen the Sofitel Hotel because of their variety offered in the dessert. It was a chocolate extravaganza with 5 different tasty morsels. There was the chocolate macaroon. this was average - chocolate filling was well integrated with the almond meringe shell. Hubby liked the chocolate eclair. The chocolate custard in the middle was smooth and not too sweet. The opera cake was in the middle - it had good layering, spongy, creamy and coffee syrupy and topped well with a thin layer of chocolate glaze. The chocolate tart was pretty full on. Very strong and very dense. On the other hand, whilst the chocolate mousse was rich and chocolatey, it was delightfully light and easy to consume.

chocolate platter

So I have to say, this was actually quite a decent Sugar Hit experience. The dessert was chocolatey and right up my alley. I liked how you get to choose your drink. And the waiter was heaps friendly and nice. For $20, you probably couldn't ask for too much more :)

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 8.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 31/40

Sofitel Sydney Wentworth
61-101 Phillip Street
Sydney
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9230 0700

Sofitel Club Lounge - Brisbane

I got a good deal for a Sofitel Club room in Brisbane. Being allowed club lounge access, we had to take care of the benefits - free canapes before dinner, free brekky the next morning, along with free wifi, and entertainment facilities in the lounge.

When at the canapes, we saw a good selection of finger foods. Sure, it wasn't overlly luxurious foods, but it was tasty ish anyway. Particularly, my hubby loved the selection of dips and antipasti options. The hot food available isn't the best in quality... but it was still edible and people around us were piling it up by the plateful. I think some were even there to become full enough to not require dinner after LOL


Breakfast at the club lounge was likewise impressive. There was a decent selection of hot food, breads and pastries, fruit and yoghurt. In addition to all the yummy foods, being a weekend, there was also unlimited champagne (for anyone who could stomach it early in the morning). I loved the creamed eggs and the unlimited availability of smoked salmon... and the pastries were fresh and delicious :) Hubby seemed to appreciate yoghurt more than anything.

Overall, we appreciated the luxuries of the club lounge. Although there had been talk over the net about how the lounge had decreased in quality, I think that it was still good enough :)

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance- 7.5/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 30/40

Sofitel Club Lounge
249 Turbot Street
Brisbane, QLD 4000
Tel: (07) 3835 3535

High Tea at Intercontinental - Sydney

Just taking a bit of a break from the recent American posts...

For one of my friend's Hen's, she opted for a high tea at Intercontinental Hotel. It wasn't at the Cortile lounge... it was upstairs. But I think the food should be the same as downstairs. For $50 a head including a glass of champagne, I was flabergasted by the amount of food we each got.

Sitting down, we were met with these four little pots. The cream and the jam was obviously for scones. But the chocolate sauce and maple syrup? I was pleasantly informed by my friend that they will be for waffles and crepes which will come in addition to the massive tier of stuff we will get.

cream and jam, chocolate sauce and maple syrup

One massive tier was to be shared amongst 4 people. There were like 8-10 scones on the top level. On the 2nd level, there were 3 types of sandwiches (egg and cucumber, sundried tomatos, and ham and cheese), mini meat pies, and mini quiches. The bottom tier was where the sweets lay - passionfruit cheesecake, opera cake, macaroons (different tiers had different flavours - mine was pistaccio), cream cornettos, and toffee nut tartlets.

WOW. Epic. We probably finished 3 of the massive pile of scones between the 4 of us. They were apparently really really good (I'm not a scone person and I wanted to save my stomach for the rest of the goodies and hence, didn't have one). Of the sandwiches, the egg and cucumber one was the yummiest. Meat pies and quiches were unfortunately, very average. The bottom layer... delicious! I loved the opera cake - smooth, rice, chocolatey and creamy. The nut tartlets were also tasty and crunchy, sweet yet not overlly so. It was the macaroons which took me by surprise. They were slightly massive ... and at first, due to the psychedelic green colour, my friends were puzzled by what flavour it was. But after tasting it, the unmistable pistaccio nutty flavour was unmissable.

high tea 3-tiered stand

In the midst of chomping through the tiers, icecream balls, belgium waffles and crepes arrived to the table. I only had the belgium waffle as I simply couldn't fit both in. The waffle was slightly cold by the time I got to it, but when combined with the icecream and the chocolate sauce, it wasn't half bad :)

waffles with ice-cream and chocolate sauce

All up, for $50, the amount of food we got was pretty good. Everything was quite delectable, and left all of us being stuffed + more. Only thing is, the waiters were slightly not very approachable and continuously tried to kick us out at around 5ish.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 28/40

Intercontinental Hotel
Corner Phillip & Bridge Sts
117 Macquarie Street,
Sydney
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9240 1396

Cafe Mix - The Rocks (Shangri-La)

What to eat for dinner?

My partner and I contemplated for hours on end whether we should go Jap or buffet. I was dying for scallop and salmon sashimi, my partner was all for cold crab, cold prawns, oysters and lamb.

As the decision was too difficult, my partner picked - and buffet at Cafe Mix it was~

Cafe Mix

This photo was taken when I was stuck at the table whilst my partner hungrily scouted for food.

And he seemed to come back with a smile on his face.

My partner's first plate - oysters, bugs, prawns, and some greens.

I have to say, that Cafe Mix seemed very much focused on seafood - the seafood selection surprised me... alot~ but the hot food selection... well, maybe they don't expect people to want hot food after eating lots of seafood.

Another one of my partner's plates - one with scallop sashimi!!! (my first surprise). Who would have thought? My cravings were instantly subdued. Many more seafoody plates like this followed.

I have to say though, that the scallops got smashed quite quickly. If you weren't up there, getting food when they bought out the scallops, chances were - you won't know they ever existed!

My next surprise... lobster~!!! By this time, my partner was thoroughly happy happy. Again, lobster's did not last long on the buffet.


One of our many plates of shells - looks almost like we didn't eat anything!


When I finally got sick of cold seafood and went scouting for hot food, disappointment kicked in. Nice-looking hot food - where art thou? There used to be a small bar area which grilled steak and pork and lamb for you on order. It exists no longer (but then again, last time I was here, scallop and lobster did not exist). [oh, and I didn't take photos of the hot food area because I was too lazy to open all the lids (and because then other people will think I'm wierd), and the food itself was not too appetising-looking]

Mr Sushi-Chef

Not to worry - when all else fails, there is always the dessert table to hit!


Overall, my partner and I were both very very full and very very satisfied with all the seafood we ate. The service was attentive and the waitress was nice and friendly. She managed to take away our gazillions of plates of shells without giving us weird looks. Maybe she's used to it! :)
Definitely a buffet to go to if you're up for seafood. But if you were also craving hot food (and hot chips), go elsewhere.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 31/40

Cafe Mix
Level 1, Shangri-La Hotel
176 Cumberland Street
The Rocks NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9250 6000

Aria - Melbourne

I've always wanted to high-tea with one of those traditional three-tiered stands. But I've never been able to set my eyes past the chocolates and cakes offered by some less traditional high-tea places. So when my partner came across the high-tea/chocolate bar weekend offer at Aria in Langham Hotel, I was all there.

I was very excited as we got seated. A nice friendly waiter told us the ins and outs of the package - we get bottomless tea/coffee/hot chocolate, a three-tiered stand of "savoury" treats, and unlimited Chocolate Bar rounds.

I ordered the 'white rose' tea, whilst my partner started on the 'apple tea' (which was really quite apple-y). He later swapped it for an un-interesting Earl-grey tea.

Classy plate and serviette

The stand came with sandwiches - two of each kind. There was the smoked salmon sandwich, cucumber ribbon sandwich, egg mayo and cress sandwich, and the cream cheese and chives sandwich. Apart from the smoked salmon, the others were quite subtle and delicate in taste.

There were also scones. I'm not a big fan of scones. But these... quite impeccable. It was nice and warm and just sooooo light and soooo fluffy and just sooooo... wow!

Our three-tiered stand

Close up of the sandwiches

But speaking of Wow - the chocolate bar is Wow WOW~
Words can not describe how Wowness the display looked in real life, nor can it describe the wowness of my table being right next to this fantastic display.

Fantastic Chocolate Display

According the the waitress, the chocolate used to create these lovely little tasty bites are imported from all over the world - Switzerland, Tanzania, Belgium, Mexico, etc.

White chocolate mousse cake with white peach and kiwi mirror

Dark chocolate and strawberry chocolate mousse

Lime and green tea mousse

Tanzanie chocolate cream pot with golgi berry

My first choice of tasty tidbits - words cannot even start to describe how wonderfully awesome these are~ there's the nut cluster, pistachio biscotti, super sweet strawberry, and the green tea and lime mousse.

Then there's the dark chocolate and strawberry chocolate mousse, and dark chocolate ganache cake thing (I forgot the name - sorry!). And more strawberries ~ ahh... balanced diet.


My partner's choice - Tanzanie chocolate cream pot with golgi berry - taste a bit like chocolate, egg custard and sago (mmm... not bad). Then theres the other two things... one's a blueberry lemon custardy thing, and... I'm not sure what the orange bub thing is, but it wasn't bad tasting.


We also got a complimentary chocolate chip souffle - nice and hot and fluffy and airy. My partner was quite amazed by this - and if he had the stomach, I'm sure he would have stolen mine too!


Overall, this definitely satisfied both my high tea and chocolate craving!
It's absolutely fantastically amazing!
But it's so rich and so high in calories - probably can't be eaten every weekend.
Also, did I mention that it was $55 per person? Doesn't cost an arm or a leg but definitely will start chopping off toes if it is on your weekly agenda!

Ratings:
Food - 9.5/10
Service - 9/10
Ambiance - 10/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 35.5/40

Aria - Langham Hotel
1 Southgate Ave
Southbank, Melbourne
Victoria, 3000
Tel: (03) 8696 8888