Sydney Common, Sheraton Grand Sydney

When I visit Sydney, I generally stay at the Sheraton Grand (née Sheraton on the Park).  The hotel has one of the best executive club lounges (included with my status) where I frequently grab a very satisfying and fast breakfast, and linger over evening snacks, desserts, and drinks.  I could be completely happy eating my meals there, but the hotel also has a full service restaurant.  Prior to 2024, this was Feast, which I've reviewed before, a massive buffet restaurant, featuring a huge spread at both breakfast and an epic evening seafood offering.  But Feast shut down last year, to be gutted and transformed into a whole new concept: Sydney Common.  

"Sydney Common celebrates contemporary, ingredient-focused woodfire cooking, with a uniquely Australian accent. Guests can dine from the restaurant's a la carte menu, bar

menu, set menu or tasting menu, known as the ‘Market Menu'. "

It really is quite the transformation.  Sydney Common maintains the breakfast buffet setup (although updated), but ditched the buffet concept in the evenings.  They pivoted the focus from seafood to general woodfire cooking, and brought in a new head chef.  And of course, they gave the decor a contemporary makeover.

The result?  A really inviting space, with a great vibe.  I've only visited for breakfast, but the dinner menu really does look fabulous too.  I really enjoyed my daily breakfasts.

Setting

Sydney Common is fairly huge.  While I think the footprint is about the same as Feast, its predecessor, it feels far more open and expansive.  It is broken into several distinct areas with different styles of seating, and, at least a breakfast, many different buffet sections.  I never visited in the evening when it is a formal dining experience, with no buffets.

Large Dining Area.

The main dining room gets plenty of light, and has a very open layout, with spaces flowing together from the main hotel space, into the entrance, and throughout large areas of seating, and buffet or open kitchen sections.

Soft tones throughout give it a very casual, but contemporary feel.

Cozy Side Room.

My favorite place is a small side area, a bit further away from the buffet, as far from the entrance as you can get, with a really calm and serene environment.  You can't see here, but the entire area is lined with windows overlooking Hyde Park.  Others rarely seemed to gravitate towards it, so it was always my little oasis in the mornings.

Drinks

Coffee and tea orders are taken by the host when they seat you, or by waitstaff circulating the room later.  These are all included in the buffet price.  A tap with both still and sparkling water is accessible for guest use, which is a big win for me over the old space - I love sparkling water, and previously it was bottled and charged on consumption.

Decaf Long Black.

Every morning, I started my day with a long black up in the Executive Club, so by the time I wandered down to the restaurant, I was ready for a decaf.  I was very pleased with the result every morning - always delivered to my table within 3-5 minutes, and it never had any decaf funk to it.  This was a step up from the old Feast restaurant coffee setup that was highly inconsistent in quality, and generally quite slow.   ****.

The new space has a dedicated coffee bar by the entrance, with full time staffing, that I think helps tremendously here (it doubles as just a coffee shop too, for those who just swing by for coffee, not breakfast).

Juice Station.

If you desire juice, there is a staffed juice station, where you can ask for whatever custom blend you wish, or they can suggest some for you.  All are made right there, using whole fresh fruits and vegetables.  During busier hours, a staff member also frequently circulates the dining room with a tray offering several fresh juice shots.  Given my severe watermelon allergy, I stayed away from this area entirely.

Continental

For those wanting simple continental items, the lineup is extensive, and very attractively laid out across several different rooms.  

Breads.

The bread section goes beyond standard sliced bread, and features assorted large loaves you can slice from (although pre-sliced simple bread is an option too).  Two large toasters are available for guest use.

To top your toast, there is butter, Nutella, Vegemite, and several kinds of nut butters.  Four kinds of honey are also offered, including one right off the honeycomb, and another actually produced on site by the Sheraton rooftop bees.  The jam/jelly lineup includes some unique flavors, not just simple strawberry or grape.

One morning when my stomach wasn't feeling great, I had a slice of fluffy brioche, topped with whipped cream (from the waffle station) and a drizzle of the fancy honey, and it really hit the spot.  The bread was quite fresh.

Bagels, English Muffins, Mini Muffins.

The backside of the bread station has standard English muffins (not crumpets) and bagels, and 4 kinds of mini muffins.  The old Feast space had more fun bagels, e.g. rainbow bagels, and hung them on a bagel wall, so this was slightly less exciting.  I've never found anything in this area to be interesting, but they did seem fairly popular.

Protip: if you are looking for cream cheese to go with your bagel, it is hiding over with the yogurts.

Mini Breads, Pastries.

If that wasn't enough bread options for you, next comes mini baguettes, rolls, croissants, and many kinds of danishes.  These are unchanged from the Feast offerings, and I never found them compelling.

Donuts, Pastries.

The back side of that station always had several kinds of mini donuts (jam filled, mini ring donuts), banana bread (offscreen), and some kind of daily sweet special (orange poppyseed cake on this day).

Regular readers of my blog know that I eat a lot of donuts, as my office has a weekly donut rotation, and thus, I tend to be a bit of a donut snob.  And yet ...

Mini Filled Berliners.

I have a weakness for these little berliners.  They aren't freshly made.  They aren't lofty.  They shouldn't really be very compelling.  And yet ... I find myself surprised by how much I enjoy them.  Somehow the powdered sugar coated skin that I sorta peel off and eat first, the sweet dough, and the decent enough mixed berry jam filling just does it for me.  Even better turned into a dessert with fresh berries and whipped cream from the waffle station.  ****.

One day, I was surprised that my little filled donut did not have the usual berry filling.  Instead, it was pale yellow.  It didn't really taste like apple, mango, pineapple, lemon, or anything I'd guess.  It wasn't custard.  I still don't know what it was.  It was fine but I liked it far less.

Jam Donut.

One morning had large size filled donuts.  I gleefully took one, even though it looked a bit dark.

Sadly these were not good.  The donuts had a fairly stale taste, not great flavor to the base, and were a bit over-fried.  The filling was legit just goo, not pleasant good like pie-from-a-can style, but, but, just mush goo.  Not the same as the little donuts.  Nothing about this was good :(  0 stars.  I think this must be from a different vendor than the minis.

Cereal.

If you are looking for something simple for breakfast, abundant cereal options are laid out.  Cocoa pops, rice bubbles, corn flakes, Special K, and of course, the local favorite, Weet Bix make up the basics.

Nuts, Seeds, Muesli, Granola.

This section is followed by an extensive lineup of granolas and mueslis, some gluten-free.  6 different kinds total!  All Brookfarm brand.

This area also had av ariety of nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, cashews), seeds (sunflower), and dried fruit (pineapple, banana, coconut, raisins, dates).

Muesli, Granola.

Here we had an untoasted muesli (apple, apricot, macadamia), a toasted granola (honey & coconut), and a gluten-free baked option (cranberry & macadamia muesli).  I really did like the macadamias and twigs in the later one, and often grabbed bits of fruit from the first.

Good quality products. ***+.

More Granola.

Another gluten-free granola (cacao & coconut), and two more toasted granolas (nutty maple vanilla, toasted honey coconut) rounded out the cold cereal offerings.

Fresh Fruit.

Fruits are along the back wall, with a variety of whole fruits (apples, bananas, nectarines, plums), cut fruits (mango, melons, kiwi), and stewed fruits (apricots, pears, etc).  As I have a severe watermelon allergy, I had to avoid this section, although one morning when I was there right at opening I tried the mango.  It looked juicy and ripe, but wasn't particularly flavorful, and didn't seem any better than US based mango, which is sad, as the mango in Sydney is usually fabulous.

Note that berries are not in this section - instead they are over by the waffle station.  Berries were never included before, so the fact that they exist, and are away from the melons, brought me great joy.

Salad Bar.

A small salad bar hast just a simple base offering of spinach or rocket, plus raw tomatoes, cucumbers, and sprouts, along with roast zucchini or cauliflower, olives and marinated artichokes, and makings for fresh mashed avocado.  Fairly minimal, given how extensive other stations are, but then again, how many people want salad at breakfast?  

I really did like having the fresh sprouts to add to my egg dishes, and the roast cauliflower was well prepared, not too mushy.  ****.

This section is thoughtfully located next to the vegan station.

Charcuterie.

I didn't try any of the basic sliced deli meats (ham, salami, beef pastrami), served with condiments (capers, pickled onions, cornichons, grainy mustard). We had all those garnishes in the lounge in the evenings, and I regularly enjoyed the pickled onions and cornichons, just, not what I generally want at 6:30am breakfast.

Fish Charcuterie.

Seafood lovers are not left out of the charcuterie, with smoked salmon (fairly standard), cured pepper crusted mackerel (very intense!), and barramundi rilettes.  I fell in love with the rilletes.  It wasn't really what I wanted so early in the morning, but it was so well seasoned, and so creamy, that I found myself going for it time and time again.  I wish I knew the brand, or if they made it in house.

 Smoked salmon: ***, mackerel: ***, barramundi: ****+.

Accompaniments of shallots, lemon, and cream cheese were available to pair with.

Yogurts, Cheese, Muesli, Dips.

A *very* easy to miss cold well is off to one side of the room near the juice station, that has individual pots of assorted yogurts (greek, regular, berry, chia, and bircher muesli), along with cheeses (sliced deli meats, fresh cheeses, triple cremes, and strangely, the cream cheese), veggie sticks (carrots, celery, cucumbers), a bunch of dips (babaganoush, beetroot, labaneh with za'atar), and crackers.  

I did find it slightly inconvenient to have the potted yogurts, as I often was assembling a medley of items, and didn't necessarily want that much yogurt, and I hate wasting.  The old Feast space had the yogurt in big bowls along with the chilled fruits, so you could take as little or much as you wanted.

I tried several of the dips and found them "fine", but not really what I wanted in the mornings.  We also often had these in the lounge in the evening.  I don't think they make any of them in house.  That said, I adored the labaneh - I really love labaneh, and although I'd prefer it without the za'atar so I could use it more like yogurt with fruit, I still quite liked it.  Very thick, rich, creamy, tangy.  **** labaneh.

The actual yogurts were fine, the same are served in the lounge, which is usually where I have them when I'm opting for a quick breakfast.  Full fat creamy yogurts, better than what we tend to have in the US, but I prefer a few other Australian brands (including, amusingly, the ones served in the Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines lounges in the Sydney airport).  *** yogurts.

The bircher museli I always want to like more than I do.  It is just a bit too acidic for my tastes, and I don't like the sunflower seeds they put on top as a garnish.  Again though, those airline lounges ... some of the best bircher muesli I've ever had.  **+ for the Sydney Common version though.  It is creamy, but, just not my style.

Hot 

The hot offerings are extensive as well.  You can select from classic buffet style items, but there is also a special side station with a roast of the day (and these were usually stunning!), along with a live action waffle station.

Hot Buffet.

The hot buffet features two rows of items a back row in open pans, and a front row in cast iron covered pots.  I appreciate that they are trying to keep things warm, but, I found needing to remove lids, carry a plate (or two), serve myself, etc, to be fairly cumbersome.  I also saw many guests not realize the buffet was double deep, with different items in front and back, and miss out.

Anyway, this section had a bit of everything: classic American style breakfast items, British, Asian ...  I'm sure I'm missing some, but there was at least:

• Hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs
• Roast tomatoes, sauteed mixed Asian vegetables, roast pumpkin
• Baked beans, roast potatoes
• Bacon, many different kinds of sausages

I did regularly enjoy the mixed Asian vegetables, in particular, the fancy mushrooms.

Oatmeal and Toppings.

This area concluded with oatmeal and toppings for it (sliced almonds, brown sugar, honey, syrup).

I tried the oatmeal several times.  Some days it was quite good, others it was incredibly watery and flavorless, and others it was thick and stodgy.  Definitely some room for improvement on the consistency with the oatmeal (I was always there at the same time of day, so it wasn't a timing thing).  I generally added fresh berries and other nuts/seeds from the cold cereal station to mine, and finished it with a dollop of whipped cream - such an extra magic touch, but it melted in beautifully!  

Live Action Station: Waffles.

The waffle station is ... interesting.  It is staffed by an attendant who makes the waffles, and then puts them out into this stand.  They call it a "live" station, but I saw very low turnover during the hours I was there for the waffles, so they weren't actually particularly fresh nor warm any time I tried them.

The flavor of the batter was actually quite nice, and they were well cooked, crisp outside, and I loved the toppings lineup, but, cold waffles aren't really appealing.  **.

Waffle Toppings.

The toppings section for the waffles however were the highlight of my buffet experience nearly every day.

This area always had fresh berries (blueberries, strawberries, and usually, raspberries) that were constantly restocked.  The person manning this station was cutting fresh strawberries as often, if not more, than they were making waffles.  I adored having the fresh berries, which did not exist in the Feast buffet.  This station also had the fun goodies: shaved chocolate, sprinkles, white chocolate disks, and marshmallows.  I am a kid at heart and add sprinkles to everything, so I took full advantage of this area, plus, even if I find marshmallows generally boring in the US, I really do like the Australian ones, as they are softer, and less plastic tasting.  A few disks of creamy white chocolate always made it onto my plate as well.  And of course, copious amounts of whipped cream, which I added to everything ranging from scrambled eggs and oatmeal to just a side of fresh berries (with sprinkles of course).  ****+ toppings line up.

I'll knock them down half a star as they no longer have actual candy - the Feast buffet had candy jars with jelly beans, gummy candy, etc, which, I'll admit is totally not necessary at breakfast, but I always enjoyed.

Daily Roast: Salmon.

And then there is the "daily roast".  This station always had an impressive very large fish or animal protein attractively garnished.  And since I was generally there at the start of service, it was usually in pristine condition.  The first day?  A lovely whole roast salmon.

I don't generally enjoy fully cooked salmon, but I couldn't resist trying the beautiful roast salmon.

I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.  Incredibly moist.  The mustard glaze was great too.  It isn't really what I normally want for breakfast, but, it really was quite good.  I had some with my eggs as a very upscale eggs benny topping!  ***+.

The salmon showed up several times during my stay, and I always took a little bit, and it was consistently good.

Daily Roast: Beef.

Don't fear if you don't care for seafood, as red meat made a showing too.

I never tried the beef, as I just couldn't bring myself to want that pre-7am, but even it looked pretty good (fairly rare, nice crusting).

The roast fennel garnish though was very under cooked, clearly for looks, not for eating.  Oops.

Daily Roast: Ham.

I'm not a ham eater at all, but even it looked pretty dramatically good - juicy, amazingly rendered fat, zomg.  Made me wish I liked it!

I did have the baby roast corn that were served with it, and enjoyed it - nicely charred, not mushy, and a bit unusual.  ***+.

Made to Order Stations

After all that, multiple rooms of buffets, you still have the chance to have made to order dishes.  Yes, this breakfast experience just keeps on giving.  This is an area they greatly improved between Feast and Sydney Common.  At Feast, the same station was for both eggs and noodles, with a single chef running both stations, and frequently very confused guests.  The stations were now entirely separate, with plenty of space, and separate chefs as well.

These stations were highlights of my daily visit, and I never skipped them, unless in a real rush.  I also started a trend, which amused me, of people visiting the noodle station to make a bowl, and then topping it with a fried or poached egg from the other station.  Multiple guests saw my antics, and immediately asked for the same thing, and I later heard several of them evangelizing this to other guests.  Who knew my crazy ways would catch on?

Egg Station with Omelettes.

The egg station was probably the busiest station in the restaurant.  Here you could get eggs cooked any way (including poached, which isn't always an option at buffet egg stations) or omelets.  Standard omelet fillings were available such as onions, peppers, mushrooms, tomato, spinach, herbs, cheeses, ham, bacon.  Order from the staff, sometimes get given a little slip with a number on it for your order, and come back in a bit and your eggs will be waiting for you.

One change from Feast is that this station had ample staffing - always at least one egg chef, but often two, and, as I mentioned in the intro, it no longer did double duty with the noodle station.

I got a poached egg nearly every morning, and it was generally flawless.  I was quite impressed with the consistency and quality - no runny egg white bits, and equally important, no not runny yolks.  At Feast, the execution on the eggs was never nearly as consistent, and I think having the stations separate really made a huge difference.  I also just loved the taste of the eggs.  I really don't understand it, but they just taste better in Australia in general, and here in particular.  I never care that much for cooked eggs in the US, but here ... swoon.  I ate them nearly every day, and never grew sick of them.

I always paired my poached egg with some veggies freshly cooked from the noodle bar, and topped it with my "special sauce" drizzle of soy sauce and chile crisp from the noodle bar, and maple syrup from the waffle bar, along with some pork floss, fried shallots, and fried garlic from the noodle bar, and, well, adored it.  Sweet and savory and lightly spicy and full of textures.  Loved it, daily.  Somehow I never got a photo though, always too excited to dig in.  *****.

Noodle Mix-ins.

At the noodle station, you start by grabbing a bowl and filling it with your style and quantity of noodles (rice or hokkien), your veggies (changed daily, but usually included some kind of cabbage, bok choy, wood ear mushrooms, bamboo), and protein (tofu, fish balls, fish cakes, prawns, quail eggs), all of which are raw.  You hand it to the chef, who cooks the contents in boiling water, and then asks which of the two soup bases you'd like.  The soup bases changed but always had a vegetarian and non-vegetarian option.  I particularly liked it when they had a spicy one on offer, really quite flavorful.

I regularly got vegetables from this station to enjoy with my breakfast poached eggs, particularly earlier in my stay when I was always STARVING when I woke up, and very jetlag and time zone confused.  I never, ever eat vegetables with my breakfast in normal life, but they were an essential part of my breakfast experience here, particularly those first few days.  In particular, I loved having juicy hunks of cabbage and delicious wood ear mushrooms (that go sooo well with a poached egg oozing yolk all over them ...).   I rarely got the proteins, even though the prawns looked appealing, they always seemed like too much work.  I did appreciate the bounce of the hokkien noodles from time to time.  **** for my veggies, and the chef who never minded that I wasn't getting a full noodle bowl (since I was using with my poached eggs).

Noodle Station Toppings.

The noodle station toppings lineup was one of my favorite areas in the entire buffet.  

It had some fresh herbs, bottled hot sauces, and youtiao chunks that I never really went for, but also had pork floss, fried shallots, fried garlic, roast peanuts, chile crunch, soy sauce, and sweet soy sauce that I used daily as my egg and veggie toppings.  I love, love, love pork floss, and that in particular was a highlight for me, and whatever kind of special extra fried roast peanuts these are, they are delightful too.  This station is what completed my dishes, and made me wake up and jump out of bed with delight daily.  *****.

Dim Sum.

At the noodle bar, there is also a single dim sum item in a steamer basket.  It changes daily, rotating between different kinds of steamed buns (chicken, bbq pork, beef, veggie) and many styles of dumplings/suimai.

I generally found them lackluster, strangely the executive lounge had better dim sum nightly.

Special Diets

Like Feast before it, Sydney Common has good options for those with gluten-free or vegan diets.  All stations are well labelled with allergens, but there is also a dedicated section.

Gluten-Free Breads.

While not vast, gluten-free breads are separated entirely from the regular breads and pastries, in a different area.  They are clearly marked, and have their own toaster.

This section always had some kind of lightly sweet option, like the spiced fruit bread pictured here.  Other days it was gluten-free fruit/nut balls or small danishes.  

Vegan Proteins.

Next to the salad bar was a station with vegan proteins.  It never changed, always vegan sausage and falafel.  It seemed strangely out of place to me, as the items weren't kept warm, and they were far from the regular sausages, and they were far from the extensive lineups of other hot foods that are vegan as well (e.g. the Asian veggies, baked beans, oatmeal, etc).  I never really saw people taking items from here.

Vegan Spreads.

Next to those was a little station of vegan spreads.  This included peanut butter and almond butter, and cashew "spread" or macadamia "spread", plus vegan mayonnaise and onion jam.  The regular nut butters were also included in the other normal spreads for bread station, so again, sorta odd placement here.