L'acajou Bakery & Cafe

L'acajou is a small cafe/bakery in San Francisco (and apparently in Oakland, they have expanded), that I've walked by many times over the years, and stopped in at a few times.

"L'acajou has been serving the most delicious breakfast, lunch, coffee drinks, and catering that the Bay Area has to offer since 2010. Our flagship cafe at the busy intersection of 9th and Bryant St. is a San Francisco tradition of warmth and Bohemian hospitality in the midst of the city's bustling tech savvy crowds. Come and enjoy life at a slower more luxurious pace!!"

They serve breakfast and lunch, and have a variety of baked goods.  A few tables indoors, a couple on the sidewalk outside.  Decently friendly staff.  When I ordered online once, I ordered a dish that came with "seasonal fruit".  Since I'm allergic to melons, I put in the "special instructions" that I had an allergy.  When I walked into the cafe, the staff member looked up, and before I even said who I was, said "No melons, got it!"

Quality seems decent.  For years, I only ever stopped in to get a baked good, but recently I decided to try them for some savory food.  I ordered easily online in advance, on delivery.com, and my order was waiting when I arrived.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of pickup and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes ...

• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]

Cookies

The baked good lineup has changed a bit over the years, but they always have housemade cookies, scones, cheesy biscuits, sweet and savory croissants, and decadent cinnamon rolls.  I've tried only the cookies.  They make really good cookies.

Walnut Oatmeal Raisin Cookie.  $1.50.

This was exactly my kind of cookie.  Soft.  Great buttery flavor.  Sweet.  And then a fantastic texture from the oats and little bits of walnut.  Plentiful, plump, juicy raisins.  Every ingredient was tasty, and they all combined together perfectly.  I loved the addition of the walnuts.  It went great with a cup of coffee, and I can imagine being delightful with a cup of tea as well.  Would gladly get another.

 Ginger Molasses Cookie.  $1.50. 

Another fantastic cookie.  Soft, almost-but-not-quite undercooked in the center, leaving it just a tiny bit gooey.  Incredible ginger flavor.  This is not a cookie for someone who only sorta likes ginger.  Another one I'd gladly get again!

Salted Dark Chocolate with Hazelnut Cookie.  $1.50.

I was really excited to try more of their cookies, since I'd loved the first two I'd tried so much.  I got this one for my partner, since he likes chocolate and hazelnuts.

I didn't like this.  It was a hard, crisp cookie, nothing like the soft cookies I'd previously enjoyed.  Maybe they just do this one in a different style, or the fact that I got it at 3:30pm rather than 11am made the difference?  Anyway, it was buttery and sweet, with decent chunks of chocolate and half hazelnuts, but it was just far too crispy.  Would not get again.

Salted Dark Chocolate with Peanut Butter Pretzels.  $1.50.

On the same visit, I got one for myself.  I love peanut butter, and I love pretzels, so this sounded perfect.

Unfortunately, like the dark chocolate hazelnut, it was also very crispy.  It almost seemed burnt, although it wasn't visibly charred.  I even tried heating it up in the toaster oven to soften it, which did work, but I still did not care for the flavor at all.

Vegan Raspberry Almond Scone.  $2.50.

I couldn't decide which of the breakfast pastries I wanted, as they all looked amazing.  The worker recommended this one, so I went for it, even though I was a little skeptical, as it was the only vegan item.  I don't have anything against vegan food, but, for baked goods, butter tends to be pretty important ...

I'm so glad I took his advice.  This was an awesome scone.  It was crumbly, but not in a bad way.  Fairly moist for a scone, but not in a weird way.  The raspberries were just bursting with flavor and were gooey little bits, contrasting with the texture of the rest of the scone.  The scone itself had a wonderful buttery flavor, even though it was vegan.  It also had almond slivers that added a crunch, and some tiny little seeds that I think were golden flax seeds, that added some heartiness.  And it was topped with sugar.

It all just came together so well.  Great textures, great flavors, sweet but not too sweet, just ... really really good.  And it went perfectly with a coffee.

I'd gladly get another in a heartbeat, and the $2.50 price tag was totally reasonable.

Breakfast

The breakfast lineup is fairly small, but has all the main trendy hits (acai bowls, avocado toast, and savory quinoa bowl), plus cafe necessities like an easy to grab and run breakfast sandwich (with pancetta and gruyere on house made bun though), healthy fruit and granola, and basic egg/potato breakfast staples.

French Toast, with seasonal fruit, maple syrup, Nutella.  $8.

After having so many amazing baked goods from the cafe, I was very excited to try out some of their "real" food.  And I love nothing more than a good brunch, so I was thrilled to see that they offered french toast, made with their own bread.

Unfortunately, I didn't like this very much.

The preparation was different from any french toast I've ever had before, grilled in the panini press rather than on a griddle.  This makes sense given their tiny kitchen but definitely resulted in a different style.  The bread slices were standard sandwich bread thickness, rather than thick sliced as is more common with french toast.  The panini grill left strong grill marks, which resulted in a crispy exterior where it touched, which I liked.  The inside was almost custardy, but actually more just gummy, strangely dense, and pretty unappealing.  There also didn't seem to be any spicing, no hints of cinnamon or anything.

The seasonal fruit on top was kiwi and nectarines.  They were perfectly ripe, fresh, plentiful.  No complaints here.

Alongside the french toast was maple syrup.  I'm pretty sure it was real syrup, but it wasn't that flavorful.  Pretty standard.  There was also a little pot of Nutella.  I know that most people love Nutella. They go crazy over it, particularly with french toast.  But ... it just isn't my thing.  I've tried to like it, in crepes, on waffles, in shakes ... it isn't that I hate it, but I just don't care for it.  I tried some on the french toast, and again, just didn't like it, but that is clearly me just not liking Nutella.  I also thought it really didn't go well with the nectarines and kiwis, although earlier in the summer  I could see being a great combination with strawberries.

It was made to order, I saw her slice the bread, dunk it in the batter, and grill it up.  Delivered hot to my table within moments of coming off the grill.  But, it was disappointing, and I would not get it again.

Lunch

The lunch menu is a couple salads, a soup of the day, and a few sandwiches (mostly warm ones).  I stopped in to get a salad early on during COVID-19 summer.

This was my first time to L'acajou in years, and before, I had only really gone for the treats.  This time I visited for salad, during the Shelter in Place, when I really was seeking out fresh healthy items.

L'acajou bubbled to the top of my list, as they have a generically named "vegan salad" that people seem to love, and, it changes constantly, with fresh fruit and vegetables in season.

I called ahead to find out what the seasonal fruit was, and was told it was kiwi (yay!) and melon (boo!).  I still choose to order, as everything else seemed promising.

L'acajou Vegan Salad, with Customizations.

"Mixed greens, tomato, avocado, cashews, roasted veggies, seasonal fruit, and lemon dressing."

And ... my order notes "melon and avocado on the side please. Dressing on the side. Is it possible to get spinach (and/or endive) instead of mixed greens?"

The salad I ordered comes with "seasonal fruit", which, in the summer is lovely stone fruit, and I was hoping for berries, but alas, in March, the offering was ... cantaloupe.  Doh.  I'm allergic to melon.  It also comes with avocado, another ingredient I'm allergic to.  Doh.

I certainly could have just asked to have them left off, but my partner enjoys both these things, so, I simply asked to have them separate.  I was quite pleased that this was easily accommodated, although I'm sure the person preparing my order must have wondered about it.

"Seasonal Fruit" (cantaloupe) and Avocado (Separate).

I did peek in the box, and the melon looked a bit pale, but the avocado was clearly sliced right to order, and was even sprinkled with salt & pepper.  The serving size of each was good - a half an avocado and a pretty nice pile of melons.

I hope my partner enjoyed!

Tomato, Roasted Veggies, Cashews, Lemon Dressing.

The remainder of the salad came in the other box, along with the dressing on the side.

It was hard to tell really what else was in there, and I was eager to find out what the "roasted veggies" would be, so I started digging.  I was also surprised not to see any kiwi ...

Starting at the top, was a very generous serving of cashews.  They had flecks of black on them, which I originally thought was seasoning, but I think actually they were just lightly toasted and a bit charred?   I didn't taste any particular spicing on them.  They were, uh, cashews?  Nothing particularly novel about them.  I love having nuts, and crunch, in my salads, but I did grow sick of these, as there were just too many (which was fine, I saved some, and had them with a glass of wine later in the day ...).

The tomatoes I thought might be roasted, but were fresh, and were slices of tomato, like you'd find on a sandwich, rather than chunks (or cherry tomatoes) more common to a salad.  This worked, but, was a bit different than I've seen before.  It kinda reminded me of Subway.  The tomato was very ripe, juicy, and fine, not mealy.  Another generous portion, 7 slices!

The dressing choices at L'acajou are extremely limited: this salad comes with "lemon dressing" and the other salad on the menu comes with balsamic.  I ... brought my own creamy dressing instead, but did try the lemon one.  It was just a very very simple vinaigrette, mostly just oil.  Meh.

"Roasted veggies" (mushrooms, red onions, artichoke hearts) and Spinach.

Finally, I was able to dig through and find the roasted veggies.  But the kiwi?  Yeah, it didn't exist.

The "roasted veggies" were a mixed success.  

First up ... marinated artichoke hearts.  Lots of marinated artichoke hearts.  I certainly would have had these left out if I knew the salad included them, as they just aren't my thing at all.  And the portion was huge.  Ok, perhaps it was consistent with the generous portions in general, but, I just really didn't want it in this case.  I also don't really think of these as roasted veggies ... my partner scored these, along with his avocado and melons.

The red onion was a fairly small portion in comparison to everything else, but was nicely roasted, and although most of it was just bite size chunks, one chunk was large, and I really loved that one. 

The best part was the meaty roast mushrooms, but, um, it had only two small chunks!  Two!  One stem, one cap. I don't really understand, given the generosity in the other ingredients.  It was totally out of balance (which was extra sad since it was the thing I wanted the most!).

And finally, the base.  This salad comes over mixed greens, but I requested spinach instead (the other salad base), and that was honored.  The spinach was fresh baby spinach, crisp, and not wilted.

Overall, even if I didn't love some of the ingredients, this was a very good salad, particularly for the price.  Portions were generous of everything (except my mushrooms!), everything was fresh, and the ingredients were creative.  I'd love to have it again, when the fruits are more to my liking.

Mixed Greens (Side). $3.50. (Feb 2021)

"Organic mixed greens, organic tomato, spiced almonds and balsamic vinaigrette."

My next visit, I ordered a side salad, and the menu simply said "mixed greens", so I was (pleasantly) pleased to get something with a bit more going on.  Fresh chunks of tomato and ... randomly ... tons of sliced, spiced almonds.  Definitely a bit of an odd combination, and it really, really felt like it needed cheese.  Cheese and nuts just go hand and hand ...

Anyway, this was a fine quality salad - good fresh baby greens and baby spinach, the tomato was actually juicy and reasonably tasty for a February tomato, and the almonds were nice for crunch, but I couldn't quite figure out the spicing on them.  

I asked for dressing on the side since I don't care for their dressings (they only offer vinaigrette), and I did try it - it was thick, tangy, and totally not my thing.

I brought it home, rounded it out with other toppings, and added my own dressing, and was pleased with it.  I think I may have gotten the full sized garden salad ($8) that was described as having the tomatoes and almonds ... either that, or amazing value for a side salad!

***.

Mixed Greens (Side). $3.50. (March 2021)

One day I was really craving juicy tomatoes and crunchy nuts, and I remembered this salad.  I was pleased to see I received the same thing, so, that previous side salad *was* correct!

Again, the side salad is a great value for the price, loaded with goodies.  I asked for no balsamic vinaigrette since I didn't like it before, and had my own dressing on standby.

It was exactly the same as last time: fresh mixed greens, tons of spiced slivered almonds, juicy tomatoes, lots of seasoning.  I had it with my own dressing and cheese, and really enjoyed it.  I think some poached shrimp would go great on it too.

***.

Westin Martin Place, Sydney, Executive Lounge

Update Review, July 2018 Visits

In my first few years of regularly visiting Sydney, I rotated between two Starwood properties: The Westin Martin Place and The Sheraton on the Park (now, Sheraton Grand).  I often split my time even on the same trip, sometimes to balance cost, and other times just to have the chance to experience both, as they both were strong contenders in the "Julie's favorite hotels" category at the time, and I had some FOMO.   Eventually, I settled on the Sheraton as my "home base", to the extent that I left items in long term storage there, so I wouldn't need to travel with them all the time.   The hotel itself, the amazing staff, and in particular the spa and the executive lounge (old reviews here), just pulled ahead of the Westin by, well, miles.

But earlier on, I did appreciate some aspects of the Westin (which, sadly, is a Westin no more).  You can read all my earlier reviews of the lounge in my 2016 update review, 2015 update review, and original review, and of the restaurant, to start, as I'll skip all the general info here, and focus just on my final visit, in 2018.

Evening Canapes

Canapes are served 6pm-8pm, with a small cold well for drinks, a tiny buffet, and a personal little platter of "canapes" that is brought to your table, rather than more common extensive buffet setup.  The platter feels more personal in a way, but, I really prefer picking my goodies (and, uh, having unlimited access?)

Drinks

Wine.

The wine area is not self service, but did offer a sparkling option (with strawberries), a couple whites, and three red wines (shiraz, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon).

Spirits.

A decent line up of spirits was available, with very basic mixers.  Again, not self-serve.

Pinor Noir / Sparkling Water.

The pinot was fairly low end, screw top.  It wasn't offensive, but not a very complex flavor.

Sauvignon Blanc.

One night I wanted white, so I tried the sauvignon blanc.  It was not good, very harsh, very acidic, very mineral-y.

Shiraz.

I went back to red, screw top Shiraz this time.

It wasn't bad exactly, but thad zero complexity.

Cabernet Sauvignon.

I tried the last red wine, a cabernet sauvignon.

I really, really did not like it.  Harsh, bitter, tannic ... nothing positive to say here.

Buffet

The buffet selection did not change at all from my prior visits.  Not at tiny bit.  Same exact items, same very boring thing, every night.  No hot items.  No variety between days, nor between the years.

Pepperoni / Artichokes / Bell Peppers.

The cold well started out fairly uninspired, with generic looking pepperoni and antipasti that I didn't try.

Cheese Platters, Dips.

The "cheese platters" were as sad as I remembered.

One platter held only slices of provolone, super thin, with walnuts scattered on top, and a pot of honey. #random  It was ... fine?  I mean, how exciting is super thin provolone going to be?

In front was three dips, just labelled as "assorted", but I recalled loving at least some of these before.

The leftmost one was a spicy red pepper spread, I think made with cream cheese.  It had nice heat, good creamy flavor, and reminded me a bit of a salsa dip I used to make.  I liked it.

The middle white dip was just yogurt and cucumber, thick, tangy, major meh.

Last was one that looked like hummus, so I nearly skipped it because I don't like hummus, but I tried it hoping I was wrong.  Nope, hummus.  Thick, chickpea hummus.

Cheese & Dried Fruit.

The other cheese platter had a chunk of blue cheese, a chunk of a triple creme, a hard cheese, assorted dried fruit, and a standard fork and knife to serve.

The triple cream was just ... there.  Not that flavorful nor ripe, just, a generic cheese.  The hard cheese, same thing, perhaps cheddarish?

Mortadella / Mushrooms / Eggplant.

I stayed away from the slimy looking eggplant.  I should have stayed away from the mushrooms too, they were just slimy roast button mushrooms.

I do like mortadella in general, but this had a thick rind, and was oily.  I didn't like it.

Nothing good in this section.

Dried Paw Paw / Walnuts / Dark Chocolate.

I didn't want it in the evening as I avoid caffeine, but the dark chocolate disks were a nice touch.

I think these were the "Westin wellness offerings": dried fruit, nuts, dark chocolate.

Olives, Crackers, Dried Apricots.

I was excited when I saw cloves of garlic in the olives.  Yay, garlic!

But ... it was actually raw garlic.  Not roasted and mellowed out at all.  It killed my palette.

Crackers were all quite standard.

Pastries.

And ... the sweets.

The leftover muffins and danishes from breakfast, and hard cookies.  I stayed away.

Canapes Platter (Wed).

The canapes were delivered to us at tables as we sat, same format as last time I was there: a hot soup shooter, a vegetarian bite, a meat bite, a seafood bite, and a piece of chocolate.

The lineup the first day of this trip: chickpea soup, beef with bernaise sauce, fried rice, smoked salmon mousse in cucumber, chocolate heart.

Chickpea soup.
Well, it was decently warm.  But had a film on top.  Tasted like chickpea. Not my thing at all.

Beef with bernaise.
One bite of very chewy beef. The "sauce" was more like a puree, decent flavor in that though.  Not very warm.  Best bite, for the sauce?

Fried rice.
Not very warm, but crispy.  Served on top of ... sweet potato puree? It was like baby food. Eh. Second best bite, the crisp rice was nice until it was ruined by the mush under it.

Smoked salmon mousse in cucumber wrap.
Eh. Slimy not fresh cucumber wrap, oily mousse.  Not good.  Tied for last place with that soup.

Heart shaped chocolate.
The chocolates every night were a surprise, as no one ever knew what kind they were.

Heart Shaped Chocolate.

The chocolate shell was a fairly mediocre, boring milk chocolate, with a darker drizzle that wasn't detectable in taste.

Heart Shaped Chocolate: Inside.

But inside was the real surprise.  A creamy ganache.  Citrus flavored.  Meh.

Canapes Platter (Thurs).

The next night, the lineup was: Cauliflower soup, beef with bernaise, eggplant over puree, ricotta whip on toast, chocolate.

Cauliflower soup:
Warm, creamy, but cauliflower, not a flavor I like.

Beef with bernaise:
The bernaise was again enjoyable, but, the beef chunk I got this time was literally just a bit of fat.  Really gross.  Also, dried out and not warm.

Eggplant over puree:
I didn't catch the type of puree, I think maybe sweet potato again? Creamy, slightly warm, not bad. I didn't have the eggplant.

Ricotta whip on toast:
The toast was super crispy, wheat bread, not great.  The whipped spread on top was ricotta based, creamy, fine I guess?

White / Milk Triangle Chocolate: This was a strange one.  There was a little bit of milk chocolate on the exterior shell, which was also white chocolate, but inside was ... strawberry cream?  It was very strange, and I couldn't decide if I liked it or not.

Canapes Platter (Friday).

The next day, I planned to no longer get the canapes, as they were never good, and only went up to the lounge to get a glass of wine on Friday, having already eaten dinner.  But when I was offered the canapes and asked what they were, I heard a few good things in the lineup, so, I tried it.  I should have known better!

The lineup: Mushroom soup, crispy potato over rainbow carrot puree, beef with polenta, salmon rilletes on toast, chocolate.  See why I was drawn in? Polenta? Salmon rilletes? How bad could that be?  Heh.

Mushroom soup:

The best of the soups I guess, because I do like mushroom, but, eh.  Not very warm, thick, but good mushroom flavor.

Crispy potato over rainbow carrot puree:

A new baby food tonight!  Rainbow carrot puree, dark red.  Very carrot flavored, if you like that sort of thing.  Potato was cold, not seasoned, just a chunk of roast potato.

Beef with polenta:

Chewy beef.  Cold oily stiff polenta.  Not so good.

Salmon rilletes on toast:

So bad.  Fishy.  Mushy.  Not seasoned.  Not good at all.

Dark chocolate:
This chocolate was another surprise.  The shell was dark chocolate, snappy, of the sweeter variety.  But what was inside?

Chocolate Cross Section.

There was a layer of milk chocolate mousse (fine), a layer of sweet white goo (no idea what it was), and a thin layer of gooey citrusy caramel.  I don't really like citrus flavors, so that wasn't for me, and I was a bit surprised by the whole thing.  It was fine overall, but not something I'd want another of.

Canapes (Saturday).

My final night I again did not plan to even bother with the canapes, but, I spotted what looked like potato salad, and the chocolate of the night looked good, so, I asked what the lineup was.

I was told: potato soup, beef over something, brussels sprout, chicken and potato salad, and a chocolate.

I knew by then that the beef was always awful, and I didn't really want a random brussels sprout, so i asked if I could just have the others.  It was no problem.

They brought me a platter doubled up on soup and potato salad though, which I declined, saying I really just wanted one of each, to try.  I had other dinner plans after all, and really I had just stopped by for some sparkling water.

Potato Soup:
The potato soup was ok-ish.  Warm, thick, creamy, but nothing you couldn't get from a can.

Potato Salad:
The potato salad I actually really liked.  Well cooked potato, creamy, seasoned.  It is a shame it also had a chunk of chicken in it.  I kinda regretted sending the second away.

Cup Shaped Chocolate:
And finally, the chocolate was a cup shape, with a generic fairly low end milk chocolate shell, and layered white chocolate filling, and crunchy sugar top.

White Chocolate Ganache Filling.

It was not a good chocolate, but at least it was different.  I did like the crunchy sweet pearl sugar on top, and the filling was decently sweet and creamy.

Special Dessert: Saturday.

I don't know why, but on Saturday night, they also randomly had a fancy looking dessert.

Pre-plated, and only 4 available.  "There are only 4, you should grab one now!", said the lounge staff member, when I commented, "Wow, fancy".  She explained it was a special gift from the kitchen.  Methinks someone's event had extra?  Anyway, I wasn't upset to get leftovers.

The tart sadly turned out to be lemon or lime, I couldn't quite tell, but it was exactly the sort of citrus curd that I don't care for.  Nicely creamy though.  The tart shell was a bit soft, not particularly sweet nor buttery, but at least not rock solid.  So, eh to the tart, although the cream on top was tasty.

The macaron ... well, I never like macarons, but I tried it.  Doh, also lemon.  It was a nicely made macaron though, crispy light cookie, creamy buttercream filling.  Both components had very strong lemon flavor, which I'm sure was great if you liked lemon.

And finally, what looked like just a few chunks of mandarin ... actually it was candied!  I enjoyed it.

Update Review #2, February 2016

Last week, you read my update on the incredible executive lounge at the Sheraton on the Park.  During my visit in January/February 2016, I also returned to the Westin, to spend a week there.  As I said last time, I can't ever pick between the two properties, as each have their strengths, so, I often split my time, and stay at both.  I know I'm ridiculous.

I won't cover the basics of the Westin Lounge again, as you can read about those in my original review.

Just like the Sheraton on the Park, a few things were re-arranged in the Westin Executive Lounge since my previous visit.  The breads and toaster were moved from the end of the hot bar to the cold area, which allowed for a few more hot dishes to be added.  The cereal and pastries were moved from the end of the cold bar to the front counter, to make room for the toast.  But besides that, things were basically the same.

Coffee drinks are made by a Nespresso machine, a big step up from the instant decaf at the Sheraton Executive Lounge.  Nespresso decaf is actually fairly good, and, depending on who is working the lounge, some of the staff allow you to make it yourself, which I always prefer, as I have a kinda custom drink I make: a long Americano, topped with a tiny bit of foam.

I'm not sure what other beverages are available besides the tap water and basic juice at the end of the buffet; I always ask for sparkling water, and Pellegrino is brought to me, but, I'm not sure what other options there are.  Unlike the Sheraton, I am not able to just grab my own sparkling water, which is a bit annoying, given how much sparkling water I drink, and how slow the service can be.

The Westin lounge is far less busy than the Sheraton, which does make it more relaxed, it sorta feels a bit like a living room.  It is also much smaller, more intimate.  But, it is just a small room, with no private balconies overlooking the park, like I enjoyed so much at the Sheraton.

So, great coffee, mediocre space.  But, we are here to talk about the food.  And the food doesn't even begin to compare.  At breakfast, although there is hot food, there are no pancakes, nor waffles.  Although there is cereal, there is no delicious house made granola.  The pastries are quite bad.  In the evening, the canapes are more of what you'd expect, rather than a full meal you could get at the Sheraton.  The wine is lackluster.  So, food-wise, it doesn't even come close to the Sheraton.  But you remember that from my last review, right?

Breakfast

Congee and Toppings.

The newly expanded hot food section was set up for Chinese New Year.  Every day had a pot of congee, with toppings such as chilies, scallions, fried onions, little eggs or tofu, soy sauce, and hot sauce (no fried doughnuts!)

I tried the congee, and it was ok I guess, but, very plain, as expected.  I like congee when I turn it into hot breakfast cereal, with cinnamon and maple syrup, but those sorts of toppings were not available.  I could have added honey I guess?  Anyway, watery, plain congee.  Not exciting.

Pork Dumplings.

The second Chinese New Year selection rotated daily.  It was just steamed white rice and veggies the first day, but pork dumplings the next.  Dumplings can do ok in steam trays (well, steamed dumplings), so I tried one.  The wrapper was ok, but I didn't care for the fairly flavorless lump of indistinguishable pork in the middle.  I kinda think they just got these from a frozen supplier, and no real heart went into making them, but I give them credit for trying to celebrate the New Year.

Scallop Dumplings.

The next day, the serving vessel was empty, but labelled "scallop dumplings".  Since I love scallops, this sounded good to me, so I asked if more were coming.  I was assured that a fresh batch was coming right up.

So I made up my sauce mix of soy and chili sauce, and eagerly awaited my dumplings.  They were delivered to me at my table, such service!

"Scallop" Dumpling Inside.

But, what was inside the dumpling left much to be desired.  Good thing I don't have a shrimp allergy!  Yes, there was a tiny chunk of scallop, but, it was mostly shrimp.  The scallop was rubbery and very, very fishy.

The dumpling dough fell right off, was too thick, and was also rubbery.  These really weren't good, but, again, I give them credit for putting up some Chinese New Year offerings, it was thoughtful if nothing else.

BBQ Pork Buns.

The pork dim sum on my final day was ok, better than the ones we had at the Sheraton actually, but not particularly great.  Fluffy dough, decently sweet bbq pork.

Cold Well.

The cold well was basically the same, with assorted sliced deli meats, cheese, and smoked salmon, and lots of fruit, yogurt, and muesli.

The bircher muesli was in a big bowl, rather than served in individual pots as before, which I actually preferred so I could take as much or little as I wanted.  It was loaded up with all sorts of goodies, including nuts (whole walnut halves, that were too bitter) and some dried fruit.  It wasn't quite as good as I remembered, but I like it more than the version at the Sheraton on the Park, particularly when I add some fruit to it.

Speaking of the fruit, the Westin does a nice job with fruit.  There was lots of assorted cut fresh fruit (pineapple, oranges, grapefruit, different melons, passionfruit, and kiwi), plus stewed fruit (plums, prunes, etc), and a lovely fruit salad with dragonfruit, starfruit, peaches, mango, and more.  I really loved the passionfruit.  I'm not sure if it was particularly high quality or fresh, but, we just never have passionfruit in the US and it was a real treat to have it every morning.

My go-to breakfast, as last time, was bircher muesli or yogurt, topped with some of the goo from the stewed fruit, and some exotic fruit from the fruit salad.  Not particularly exciting, but, it did the job and was tasty enough.

The yogurt options were individual plain Chobani greek yogurt containers (boring, can get this anywhere!), individual Queensland Yoghurt Company pots (Australian company), and glass jars of natural yogurt topped with a tiny bit of fruit and granola.

I remembered loving the yogurt in glass jars before, but this time, I wasn't very impressed.  The yogurt was a thin runny style, the granola on top was soggy, and there was only a sprinkle of it, and the fruit was a single raspberry.

Queensland Yoghurt Company Blueberry Yogurt.

The Queensland Yoghurt Company offerings were new though, and decent.  Super thick, creamy, full fat yogurt.

Most days the lounge had just plain yogurt, but I was able to snag a blueberry flavor one day, and passionfruit another.  Queensland Yoghurt Company actually makes a slew of flavors like Mixed Berry, Mango, Rhubarb, Apple & Cinnamon, Raspberry, Lemon Myrtle, and even Coffee, but I never saw those in the lounge.

I laughed at the "flavors" though; in the blueberry, I'm not exaggerating, there wasn't even a half a teaspoon of blue stuff in it.  The passionfruit was marginally better, but, again, not much fruit actually mixed in.

Passionfruit Yoghurt.

"Feeling like a zesty pick-me-up? We use only real passionfruit pulp lovingly extracted from the vine to create an irresistible combination. The sharpness of the passion awakens the tastebuds to absorb the creamy decadence of the yoghurt, somehow delivering a fresh and exhilarating - yet slightly nutty - award-winning pureness."

The same went for the passionfruit.

I liked the creamy yogurt, but it also didn't have nearly enough passionfruit.  There really, really wasn't much fruit to mix in.  I didn't really mind though, as we had the full fruit selection on the side in the breakfast buffet and I could add fresher fruit anyway, but it was a bit comical.

Anyway, I liked the Queensland Yoghurt, it reminded me somewhat of Noosa, my favorite creamy thick yogurt in the US.

Cereal, Fruit, Toppings.

The cereal moved locations, but was the same, Kellogg's options, no house made granola nor muesli.  Whole fruit included apples, bananas, and peaches.  The peaches were fine.

Pastries.

You probably recall that I had nothing good to say about the pastries in either the lounge or Mosiac restaurant downstairs last time but, I really did enjoy some pastries at the Sheraton on the Park, so, I tried again.

I started with the sliced almond topped blueberry muffin, far left bottom row.  Even the almond slices on top were soggy!  How is that possible?  The muffin was moist and gummy, and really not good at all.  I did not try any more muffins.

I also tried a plain croissant, remembering that they were the only decent item downstairs before.  I think downstairs they had bigger ones?  These seemed smaller.  Anyway, it wasn't awful, but it wasn't a flaky, fresh, buttery croissant by any means.

The custard and chocolate chip swirl (middle, top shelf) was a nice surprise.  The custard was creamy, and I thought the chocolate chips were raisins, so I was quite happy to discover that they were chocolate chips instead.  Overall, not a quality item by any means, but, it did the trick.

Plum (?) Danish, Chocolate Croissant.

After a few days, I got really sick of just having yogurt and fruit, and lackluster dim sum, so I started getting crazy and trying all the pastries.

I gave up on the muffins quickly, and didn't go near the raisin swirls or turnovers since I actually hated them last time, but, I did try a few more selections.

Starting with the lattice topped danish.  I still am not sure what the filling was, but, I think it was plum.  The pastry was kinda soggy, it wasn't crispy, and it was glazed on top, making it even soggier.  I did like the large pearl sugar on top.  It wasn't good exactly, but, I needed something sweet, and it did the trick.

The chocolate croissant however was a shocker.  Loaded up with chocolate, two bars.  The chocolate was deep and rich.  The croissant had layers.  It wasn't flaky exactly, and it was actually hard and crispy, but, not in bad way ... it almost reminded me of a kouign amann.  I was actually quite happy with this treat.

So of course, I got the chocolate croissant again a few days later.  It was awful!  Not crispy, soggy.  Not much chocolate.  Meh, meh, meh.

Evening Canapes

The evening snack selection was largely unchanged from my last visit.  Nothing very exciting, and, nothing of the calibre of the Sheraton on the Park.

Cheeses, Dried Fruit, Figs.

First, cheese and dried fruit.

The brie was decent enough, particularly when combined with fresh sliced figs.  It ran out very quickly every night though, and the wedge was never replenished.  One was all we got each night.  This was a stark constrast to the Sheraton, where everything was replenished all evening.  I didn't have the boring looking cheddar or gorgonzola.

I still liked the dried fruit bits and macadamias, nice to munch on.

Dips, Dried Beef, Antipasti.

The dried beef was again fairly tasty, basically, like non-chewy beef jerky.

I really liked the "green dip" and the "orange dip", although I have no idea what they actually were, creamy, likely cream cheese based?  The white dip was more like tzatziki, tangy, and I wasn't into that.  And, like last time, I still wasn't sure what to put these dips on.  I used crackers, but, I really wanted some raw veggies, or perhaps chips like at the Sheraton on the Park.

Speaking of veggies, the antipasti platter had marinated grilled veggies, including zucchini, red peppers, and onions, plus artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, and caperberries.  All fine, but, without bread or salad ingredients, I wasn't really into them.

Plated Canapes: Sweet Corn Soup, Pork, Veggie Frittata, Sushi, Chocolate.

I wasn't planning to order the plated canapes since they were so bad on our previous visits, but, Ojan ordered for both of us when I was up getting other food.  As before, the canapes changed nightly, and they didn't tell you what the tray would contain, but, there is usually a soup shooter to start and a chocolate to finish, with some random items in between.

Starting at the top, with the hot soup, progressing to the chocolate finale:

The soup was a sweet corn soup, served warmish.  It had a congealed cap on top that was a bit off putting, but the flavor was ok.

Next was pork something, with very oily bacon bits on top.  I had pork belly nearly every day for a good week and a half prior, and was totally sick of pork belly by this point.  Ojan took a bite of his canape and made a horrible face, telling me not to try it.  I tried the greasy bacon bits, and heeded his warning.

Next came veggie fritatta.  I don't like frittata ever, and, again, Ojan took one bite of his and didn't take a second bite, again telling me not to bother trying.

Next we each had a piece of sushi.  Each person had a different type of sushi.  Ojan got a shrimp nigiri, the women next to me had salmon nigiri, and I got a random roll with avocado, cucumber, and shrimp.  Since it had avocado, which I'm allergic to, I gave it to Ojan.  No soy sauce, no wasabi, no ginger provided.

Finally, a chocolate.  The shell was dark chocolate and was pretty nice, but the filling was orange flavored, which I don't really care for.

So, these were just about the same as on my previous visit, and I don't recommend.

Update Review #1, May 2015

In May, I returned to my favorite city, Syndey, and again stayed at the Westin Martin Place.  Much was the same as on my previous visit, except that the evening canapé selection, which I really thought were quite bad during my first stay, was much improved.  Please go read the original review for details about the lounge in general, my breakfast reviews, and the previous canapé experiences.

Mint Tea.

I normally drink coffee when in the lounge in the morning, and wine or a cocktail at night, but one evening I was feeling really sleepy, and just wanted mint tea.

I felt a bit lame ordering mint tea when surrounded by folks drinking alcohol, but, it is what I wanted.  I was thrilled when an entire pot of loose leaf tea was brought over, with a clear glass cup.  The tea service here is quite nice, and I imagine would be lovely in the afternoon as well.

Evening Canapés.

As I've said before, the canapé platter is different every night, but always follows the same format: soup, vegetarian bite, meat bite, seafood bite, chocolate.  An entirely vegetarian option is also available.

(From right, since that was the order in which they should be consumed):

• Creamy potato soup: This was actually good.  It was thick, creamy, warm, potato soup.  Basically like slightly liquidy, really creamy, mashed potatoes.  Decently seasoned.  Far better than any of the soups I had before.
• Cream cheese filled wonton moneybag with sweet chili sauce: This was also actually good.  The wonton was crispy.  It was hot.  Inside was cream cheese that was, well, creamy.  I liked the contrast of the crispy exterior and creamy inside.  Served over sweet chili sauce.  I always like wontons in sweet chili sauce, and it turns out that sweet chili and cream cheese combine nicely.  I quite enjoyed this bite.
• Pork neck on bread: This was not good.  The square cube was described as pork neck I think.  It was tough and tasted like catfood.  The little round of bread it was served on was dried out and stale.
• Kingfish over avocado puree with salsa on top:  This looked like sushi from a distance, particularly since I was told it was kingfish, but I think it was a pressed fish sausage perhaps that had been sliced into a disk?  It certainly wasn't raw fish.  It was really fishy and I didn't care for the taste at all.  Served over avocado puree, which I had to avoid since I'm allergic to avocado.  The salsa on top was fine.
• Chocolate: Definitely the best chocolate we ever had in the lounge.  Dark chocolate shell, good quality chocolate.  Inside was a softer chocolate, also quite good.

Overall, I liked three of the five items quite a bit, and would have eaten more of them.  It was shocking how much better this was than previous visits.  Good on ya Westin!

I also ventured back to the buffet.  It was mostly the same, with some slight changes.

This time, the nuts were macadamias instead of hazelnuts, and the dried fruit was apricots rather than pears.  The crackers, cheese, meats, olives, antipasti, and dips all seemed the same.  I liked the smoky gouda cheese the most.  The brie didn't seem ripe enough.  I really liked the dried beef.  I'm not sure what it is about it ... it is just dried beef, super thinly sliced, and I'm sure not that high of quality.  But I like the flavor and the chew to it.  I also enjoyed the cream cheese based spreads, but again thought it was strange that crackers were the only thing available to spread them on.

So, nothing amazing, not nearly the calibre of the Sheraton on the Park, but decent for a nibble of cheese/spreads/crackers.

Original Review, January 2015 Visit

During my recent trip to Sydney, I stayed at the Westin for the first part of my trip.  We ended up moving hotels for several reasons, to the Sheraton on the Park down the street (stay tuned for that lounge review next!), but for the first 8 days, the Westin was home.

The Westin is a lovely hotel, located in Martin Place, inside the historic General Post Office.  They offer two styles of rooms, historic rooms inside the GPO, and more modern rooms in the newer tower building.  We had a suite in the tower building, and as always at a Westin property, we greatly appreciated the Signature Westin Heavenly Bead and Shower.

But this isn't Julie's Hotel Review Club, is it?  You are here to read about food.  Perhaps not normally what you focus on when staying in a hotel, but, for me, it matters!

Our suite came with access to the Executive Lounge, which served breakfast and evening canapés daily, and which we obviously had to check out.

I failed to take any general photos, but the lounge was pretty small, although it was never crowded.  They also didn't have the standard security on the doors requiring a keycard, so anyone could just walk in.  I quickly understood why, it really wasn't that great of a destination, and not up to par with most other executive lounges I've visited.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served Monday - Friday 6:30am - 10:30am, and Saturday - Sunday 7:00am - 10:30am.  I appreciated that they served until 10:30am, since it meant that those of us having trouble adapting to the time zone could still get breakfast, or, it was possible to eat a little, get in a workout, and then go back for more.  Most hotel lounges only serve until 10am during the week, so this was most welcome.

Breakfast is mostly continental, with a few hot buffet items.  There is a coffee machine that makes espresso drinks, but every time I approached it, I was intercepted by staff who wanted to make the drinks and carry them back to tables.  They did this to everyone.  Given that the machine is just a robot machine, this was unnecessary, and honestly, a bit annoying.  I wanted to just be able to push the button and get my drink.  I appreciated that they did have real decaf coffee however, not just instant.  They did not have any togo cups though, so coffee was only for consumption while inside the lounge.  Sparkling water came in glass bottles, which were also only for consumption inside the lounge, even though they were small individual sized bottles.  If you tried to walk out with one, you were chased down, as no glass was allowed outside the lounge.

Overall, service was fine, but not particularly friendly, and in general, was more invasive and took away from my experience than added to it.

Hot Food Buffet.

The hot foods buffet always had scrambled eggs, plus two other items that rotated between hard boiled eggs, bacon, sausages, baked beans, and green beans.  I mostly avoided this stuff, but Ojan said it wasn't horrible.  There was also toast, a toaster, and an assortment of jams (Hank's brand) and butter.

At one point I got desperate after trying everything else in the lounge and not really liking anything, and tried the scrambled eggs.  They were a fresh batch, and didn't look that bad ...

The eggs were really, really strange.  Watery and moist in a strange way.  I honestly wouldn't have known they were eggs.  I'm not sure how Ojan managed to eat these every day.  I certainly didn't try them again.

Cereal, Baked Goods.

Moving on to the safer, continental zone.  There were little boxes of Kellog's cereal (Coco Pops, Sultana Bran, Just Right, Weet-Bix, Nutri-Grain, Special K, and Cornflakes).  I never had any cereal, as I'm really not a cereal fan.

And then, the area I always look forward to in breakfast buffets: baked goods!  You know how much I love my baked goods, particularly for breakfast.

The baked goods didn't look good.  And they weren't good.  They didn't seem remotely fresh.  But I kept trying them, day by day, assuming I'd find at least one that was ok.  They were all awful.

Blueberry Muffin.

The first morning I wanted to just grab a muffin and coffee to bring back to my room, as I was really jetlagged and didn't want to be around people, so I went for a blueberry muffin, as it looked the best.  The danishes and croissants looked horrible.

The muffin was moist on top, but in a damp way, not in a good, moist, fresh muffin way.  It was dry inside.  The flakes of oats on top made it even more dry.  The base didn't have an interesting flavor.  The blueberries were fine I guess.  This was not a very good muffin, and certainly didn't seem remotely fresh.

A few days later I tried the almond raspberry muffin.  It had the same gummy top as the blueberry, with bits of raspberry inside.  The base flavor was even worse, my notes just say "nasty flavor'.  The only thing I liked was the almond slivers on top.

I never tried the third option, chocolate.

I guess I give them credit for almond slivers on top of the raspberry almond, and oats on top of the blueberry, a little touch of flair?  But wow, not good muffins.

Danish.

After giving up on the muffins, I tried several assorted danishes.  Some were this style with a crust on top, others were round open ones you can see in the earlier photo.

They all had really horrible pastry.  It was stale and dry.  It wasn't buttery.  It was even somewhat ... spongy?

I never figured out what kind this one was.  Nor did I figure out the type of the round one I tried, with a center filled with a reddish paste (jam?) and a single blueberry.  I thought it might be quince?  But I really have no idea.  Again, the pastry was horrible, just really not good.  The sweet filling was ok, and I actually extracted it to add to my muesli, but I wouldn't get another of these.

I never tried the plain croissants, since the basic pastry wasn't good.

Jelly Donut.

On my very last visit, they had a new baked good: jelly donuts!  Even though I had sworn off the pastries, I eagerly dug in.

Like all the baked goods, the donut was clearly not fresh.  The dough had a staleness to it, and the top was all crispy, perhaps due to the powdered sugar coating, but more likely due to not being fresh.  But it wasn't entirely unpleasant, and it wasn't too oily.

Inside was a nice jam.  I'm a sucker for jelly donuts.  What can I say?

Was this a good jelly donut?  No way.  But, it was certainly the best of the baked goods, and I did somewhat enjoy it with my coffee.  If I had stayed at the Westin longer, I probably would have tried another donut, if they ever showed up again.

Bircher muesli, greek yogurt, assorted yogurts.

Moving along to the more palatable options, the chilled items.

First, packaged yogurts: Chiobani Greek yogurt, Yoplait and Nestle flavored yogurts.  Like the Kellog's cereals, all were just regular yogurts you could buy in a grocery store.

The bircher muesli was the item I was most looking forward to. On my first visit to Australia, I absolutely fell in love with bircher muesli.   I loved it everywhere I went - hotel breakfast buffets, fancy restaurants, even on flights.  I got addicted.

This muesli came in individual little jars, topped with dried fruit.  But ... it wasn't great.  It was just cold soggy oatmeal, with some raisins and dried fruit sprinkled on top.  I added fresh fruit as well, but it still was never quite right.  I observed others around me also adding fruit, or jam, or anything after a few bites, so I clearly wasn't alone in finding it too plain.

I also tried the "natural unsweetened yogurt" jars.  These were much better, and the winning thing from the entire buffet.  The yogurt was rich and creamy, and they were topped with a little sweet compote and a few bits of granola.  I really wished there was more granola available to add, but none of the boxed cereals seemed quite right.  The yogurt jars were not great as presented, but I added a lot more fruit and actually somewhat enjoyed it.  It became my go-to breakfast, but I wouldn't rave about it.

Fresh Fruit, Meat.

And finally, the fruit I keep mentioning.  Besides the yogurt, the fruit was perhaps the best part of the buffet, although it also wasn't great.

I was initially quite excited to see halves of kiwi and passion fruit, since tropical fruits are more rare where I was coming from.  But the kiwi was mushy.  The passion fruit was a bit dried out and fairly mediocre, but for someone who doesn't have easy access to passion fruit normally, it was nice.

The fruit salad had a lot of great ingredients, including mango, strawberries, figs, and blueberries, but again, none of the fruit was particularly good.  The mango was probably the best, usually ripe, but not all that flavorful.

On another visit the fruit salad was jazzed up a bit with dragonfruit and starfruit.  I give them credit for including interesting fruits in the mix, but besides the mango, it was never that great.

The stewed apricots were just sweet and mushy, but I liked to add them to my yogurt.

Evening Canapés

Canapés are served every night from 6pm - 8pm.  While I appreciated the breakfast hours, I didn't feel the same for canapés.  I wanted them as a little snack in the evening, before heading out to dinner.  But not starting until 6pm made that a bit hard.  Were these really supposed to be pre-dinner snacks?

Anyway, on paper, the canapé service sounded better than most lounges.  There was a basic buffet of cheese/crackers/dried fruit, but then each night a set of 5 made to order bites was brought to you at your table once you settled in.  In practice, these plated canapés were some of the worst food I've ever tasted.  After trying it on two separate occasions I decided to never ever return in the evening.  No wonder the lounge was always empty!

Crackers, dried fruit, nuts.

The buffet started off a bit boring, with basic crackers, one type of nuts (hazelnuts), one type of dried fruit (pears), and a few soft drinks.  On the other side was a small selection of wine.

Cheese, meat, dips, antipasti.

Next was an antipasti platter, with marinated peppers, artichokes, eggplant, and olives, which I didn't try, as they aren't really my thing and didn't look very good.

Next were dips.  I was excited for the trio of dips, until I realized I had nothing to dip in them.  No crudite nor chips to be found, were we supposed to use the crackers?  I tried to awkwardly put dips on my cheese, and then eventually just ate some by the spoonful.  The taziki style one was my favorite, but none were very good.

The cheese platter had several cheeses, including a rather flavorless gouda, a blue cheese that was a bit too stinky for my liking, and a decent triple cream.  There were also nuts and dried fruit cubes.

Ojan went for the "dried beef", but didn't take more than a bite or two before declaring that we needed to just go elsewhere.

Canapés, night one.

The first night, I was thrilled to see this platter arrive.  Look at the plating! And delivered to our table!  No buffet canapés here!  But wow, this was really not good.  And clearly not made to order, they were just hiding around the corner somewhere, as nothing was hot.

From right:

• Consume: I never like consume.  It was too rich for me, with an oil smear on top.
• Fried barramuni ball with sweet chili sauce: Now we were talking! I love fish, I love sweet chili sauce.  But this was horrible.  Lukewarm, fishy, and super oily.  Spongy-oily.  Not good at all.
• Tomato and mozzarella: I tried this before Ojan, and didn't get to warn him how bad it was.  His facial expression as he bit in revealed that he agreed with me completely, and that he wished I had stopped him from even trying.  How could a little tomato and mozzarella bite be that bad?  Well, the little piece of bread on the bottom was soaked in olive oil, the tomato was mealy, and I honestly couldn't identity the mozzarella as cheese, let alone mozzarella.
• Grilled beef over mixed vegetables: Ojan tried this before me, and told me to not even bother.  Normally I *still* try everything, but given how awful everything else was, I took his advice for once, and just skipped it. 
• Chocolate petit four: I'm still not sure what was inside here.  Ojan first thought it was nougat, and then he declared it was marzipan.  I'm not convinced it was either.  But there was something creamy, and something cake-like.  I never eat chocolate in the evening, but since everything else was such a disappointment, I finished this bite, even though it wasn't anything special.

Canapés, night two.

I never intended to try the canapés again.  But another night I visited the lounge, just for a drink.  I forgot to say that I didn't want any awful canapés, and the next thing I knew, this platter showed up.  I tried them out of morbid curiosity, and wow, they were just as bad as the first night.

From top left:

• Salmon mousse on a cucumber slice.  The cucumber was soggy, and the mousse was awful.  It had a nasty fishy taste, and the mouthfeel of pure Crisco.  I think it probably was cream cheese based?
• Carrot (?) soup.  It was thick, it was warm, and that was about all I can say about this.  I guess better than the consume from the prior night.
• Mixed shredded veggies with soy gelée.  These were mushy, and awful.  Why were they even trying with gelées?
• Lamb over pumpkin puree.  I don't like even good lamb, so I didn't try this, but the pumpkin puree had a nice flavor.
• Chocolate: A thin chocolate shell, with strawberry cream filling.  Something sweet to cleanse the pallet from the rest of it, but, again, not good.