Breakfast Buffet, Anima, Sheraton Grand Krakow

Another hotel, another breakfast buffet.

The Sheraton Grand in Krakow is interesting.  While it has an Executive Lounge (that I reviewed last week), and that is open all day, it doesn't serve breakfast (which seems like when lounges are most beneficial to me!).  There are small snacks later in the day, and evening hot food, canapes, and desserts, but, no breakfast.  For breakfast, the only option is the regular restaurant buffet.

I visited 4 mornings.  The first two I sat down for breakfast, but later I was in a rush to get to the office, so I just took it to-go (which was easily accommodated, they would give anyone a box to-go, even if they had already dined it seemed).

The buffet did the job, but I certainly wouldn't pay for this, and mostly ended up supplementing breakfast from elsewhere anyway.  It was fairly extensive, but mostly just not particularly good, or at least, to my tastes.

Setting

Atrium.

The restaurant is located in the Atrium of the Sheraton complex, ground floor.  It is very open, very light filled.  It was generally mildly busy, not the level of frenzy I find most hotel breakfast buffets, even nice ones, have.  I wonder if the hotel was low occupancy?  The lounge was actually deserted during all my visits, and I got a great upgrade with no issues ...

Drinks

Everything was self-serve, even drinks.  The exception being decaf, which I ordered the first two mornings because the machines don't make it, but the staff always seemed very annoyed to fetch it, so I gave up after that.

Robot Coffee.

Coffee drinks are from the same type of robot machine they have in the lounge.  As I mentioned, no decaf available.

Decaf Americano.

I was able to flag someone down to order a decaf Americano.  It was absolutely fine.  ***+.

Tea.

Tea drinkers could get pots of hot water up at the bar, where there were a variety of tea bags to pick from.

Juices, Water.

Spa water and juices were on offer, along with both still and sparkling bottled water (in the fridge below).  I was very happy to see sparkling water included in the buffet cost.

Continental

Like any good hotel breakfast buffet, there is a wide range of cold continental offerings, are mostly the expected American and European classics, but also include a few Polish specialties.  Items that were local and likely unfamiliar had descriptive cards educating you on not only what they were, but a bit of the history or significance behind them.  I loved this touch.

Yogurts.

The yogurt station had big bowls of natural, full fat Greek, and fruity strawberry yogurt, along with individual pots of bircher muesli with raisins on top, and a yogurt and granola parfait with fruity compote in the base.

Yogurt parfait:
I tried a yogurt parfait the first day.  The yogurt was smooth but runny, and sweet, not really a style I like.  It reminded me of Chobani vanilla.  The fruit compote base wasn't labelled, but I think it was some kind of plum maybe?  Sweet.  Granola was soggy on top.  I wasn't into this. *+.

Bircher muesli pot:  

I LOVE LOVE LOVE bircher muesli (when in Australia in particular), so I was pleased to see this.  This was ... odd.  It was extremely rich, as if it was made with cream and yogurt.  Nicely soft oats.  Eh to the raisins and apple on top.  I love rich and creamy things, and have no shame in including whipped cream in my breakfasts, but there was something about this richness I didn't enjoy.  It was "fine", but not something I wanted another day.  **+.

Greek yogurt: 

The Greek yogurt was more like a generic natural style yogurt.  Not rich nor creamy, kinda lumpy, watery.  Very tart.  I didn't care for it.  Maybe this is real Greek yogurt though? **.

Cereals and Seeds/Nuts/Dried Fruits.

The kid in me loved the cereal lineup.  The lineup had granola, corn flakes, and something that looked like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Honey Pops, all of which I skipped, but then two gems: chocolate pops and a large flakes mix that had some coated in sweet creamy coating.  I discovered those frosted chocolate pops in Germany years ago, and always enjoy them with soy milk.  The other one was new to me, and I liked the bigger, crisper form factor of the flakes (compared to most American cereals) and of course, the coating, which was similar to what you get on coated yogurt/white chocolate pretzels.  **** for those cereals, even though I know they are just generic brands, they are special to me.

This area also had a variety of seeds, nuts, and dried fruits to mix into things.

Milks.

To go with the cereal, or I suppose to just drink, was milk: soy, 3.2%, or 1%.  The 1% tasted odd to me, so I went for soy after that.

Honey.

Got honey?  You could select from straight from the honeycomb, or two different styles in pots.

Fruits.

Fruits included whole fruits (bananas, apples, oranges, pears, grapes) and boring cut fruits (melons, pineapple, citrus segments), and fruit salad made with the same.  No berries or interesting fruits.

Salad & Cheese.

The salad selection is very limited, just basic mixed greens, tomato, cucumber, and bell peppers, but, I often find it strange that so many places have huge salad bars as breakfast.  Sometimes I utilize the components to hack a dish, but usually, just seems like a waste compared to other things that could be offered.

This section also had cheeses, including cottage cheese with radish (!) that was more like a spread, Swiss cheese, and two local specialties.  I appreciated the extra detail cards explaining the cheese.  Unfortunately, I didn't actually like the cheeses, which I knew from the night before in the lounge.

More Cheese, Smoked Trout, etc.

Next up was more cheese, VERY fishy smoked trout, and accompaniments like olives and pickles.

Unknown, smoked turkey, smoked pork sausage, chicken sausage.

Some basic cold cuts came next.

I tried the chicken sausage (the thin tubes) - it was ok, mostly tasted like bologna, and had a nice smokey flavor.  ***.

Mostly Unknown.

The next section, with the more interesting options, was mostly unlabelled, besides the Kielbasa Wiejska, which also included an extra details card.

Hot Foods

The hot foods items were all pretty standard, and not particularly good.

Hashbrowns.

The hashbrowns were average, crispy greasy exterior, minced potato inside.  Not particularly good nor bad.  **+.

Scrambled Eggs / Bacon / Kielbasa.

I had no interest in the scrambled eggs or bacon, but I did try the kielbasa.  It was ok-ish, nice snap to the skin.  But not particularly special.  ***.

Grilled Pork Sausage.

The next day the sausage was a lighter color.  I didn't try it.

Dumplings with Chicken / Beans in Tomato Sauce.

Greasy looking dumplings, baked beans with sooo much runny tomato sauce.  I didn't try.

Spring Rolls.

The next day the dumplings were replaced by spring rolls, even though the sign still said dumplings.  I had one not knowing what it, thinking it might be filled with cheese or something.  It was just a generic Asian vegetarian spring roll, greasy, with a strange aftertaste that I did not like.  *.

Pancakes with Apple / Liege Waffles.

On the sweet side, there was "pancakes" filled with apple and standard buffet liege waffles.  The waffles said "homemade", but they didn't taste it.

The pancakes were more like thick crepes than American style pancakes.  But definitely far thicker than crepes.  I wasn't really into the applesauce like filling, nor the flavor of the pancake, nor the fact that they were barely warm.  Syrup available on the side to go with.  **.

American Style Pancakes.

The next day they were American style pancakes, which I didn't try.

Oatmeal.

Jet lag means strange cravings, and I was really craving warm comforting oatmeal.  Thus, one morning I tried it.  It was not very warm, was lumpy, and had a film on top.  Not sweetened.  I added boiling hot water (from the tea station) to both thin it out and warm it up, but it still wasn't great.  Made with cream or at least milk.  *+.

Condiments & Egg Ordering.

You could also order eggs any way (including omelettes).

I got a poached egg.  It was a standard poached egg, but not particularly well cooked.  There was a fair amount of runny white inside.  *+.

Ketchup, mustard, and bbq also available in this station.

Baked Goods & Sweets

I loved baked goods.  I even like some very mass produced ones.  But so often the pastries at hotel breakfast buffets are, well, just not very good.  Generally a large selection, but lacking in quality.  These didn't seem any different.

Croissants & Danishes.

Standard hotel buffet style danishes (cinnamon, pecan, chocolate croissants) and large croissants were available.  I didn't have any, as they didn't look particularly good.

Muffins.

The muffins were not labelled with what kind they were, but I thought one might have been banana, the other chocolate.  Full size large muffins.  These turned out to be great hits.

Chocolate w/ White Chocolate.

I had a chocolate muffin the first day.  It was definitely not breakfast appropriate.  It was a chocolate cake.  A decently moist chocolate cake.  With a few bits of dark chocolate and white chocolate studded on top, drizzled with white chocolate, and with a few pockets of gooey chocolate inside.  

It was good, but just too cake-like for me for breakfast.  As a dessert though, it would be great warm with ice cream (or at least with frosting).  But if you like frosting-less chocolate cake for breakfast, go for it.  *** for breakfast item, ***+ otherwise.

Of course, I couldn't resist getting one a few days later.  I again really did like it, but not as a breakfast item.  ****

Caramel (!) Muffin.

The next day I tried the other, thinking it was banana nut.  It turned out to be a very sweet pound cake style base, again, not really a breakfast style muffin, definitely more cake, but the real surprise was inside: thick rich caramel!  The caramel was sweet and delicious, but, wow.  Talk about not breakfast appropriate.  Not that it stopped me from using a spoon to get it all out.  ***+ caramel, * as a muffin though.

Blueberry.

The most traditional of the muffins was the blueberry.  Crumb top, blue-ish inside with a few bits of blueberry, but no juicy berries.  A bit sweet, but not as cake-like and sweet as the others.  Moist, didn't taste old or processed.  The most breakfast appropriate of the muffins.  Above average for a hotel breakfast buffet.  ***

[ Not Pictured ]

Apple.

Another day there was a sole muffin that was different from the others, although it looked like the caramel one, but with the caramel bits on top missing.  Instead it had a slice of dried apple on top.  Otherwise, the base was the same (pound cake, sweet, eh), but the filling was thick apple sauce/puree that was actually pretty good.  ***+ filling.  

Challah, Halva, Cakes.

Next came challah, two kinds of halva, and pound cakes.  The cakes had different drizzles/toppings daily, and were thick pound cakes, both plain and banana.

The halva was kinda different to have in a breakfast buffet.  One I enjoyed, the other was strangely bitter. ***.

Breads & Spreads.

The other breads were in a basket, not a very extensive selection, just a few slices and rolls. They did have educational signs about the two local breads.  No toasters available.  Jams of many kinds, butter, peanut butter, honey, and nutella on offer.