Traiteur de Paris

Update Review, June 2025

I wasn't particularly pleased with anything from Traiteur de Paris when I reviewed several of their products a few years ago, but they provide mini desserts for the catering company that my office uses sometime, so I'm a captive audience and tried more items.  I found a few bites that were actually decent enough, or at least, better than the others.

Mini Dessert Cups.

"Our Mini desserts cups with their intense color enable a meal or a cocktail party to be finished with a dash of freshness. In fact, these little glasses are always much appreciated and offer time savings for the caterers and event organizers. You can also use them as an accompaniment for coffee with dessert."

"The classic flavors (chocolate, lemon meringue, Tiramisu-style and raspberry vanilla) have been carefully chosen by the Traiteur de Paris chefs to achieve varied tastes which will please the greatest number of your guests."

This assortment of dessert cups come in 4 flavors: chocolate, tiramisu-style, vanilla & raspberry, and lemon meringue. I tried all but the later, as I don't generally care for lemon desserts or that style of meringue.

They also make an assortment with 4 other flavors: chocolate & whipped cream, "exotic" shortbread (mango/coconut/passionfruit), red fruit panna cotta, and vanilla caramel.

Tiramisu-Style Amuse-Bouche Glass.

"Biscuit soaked in coffee, mascarpone mousse, Chantilly cream, cocoa powder."

I appreciate that they call these "tiramisu-style" rather than just tiramisu, as they aren't exactly tiramisu.  That said, they were pretty tiramisu adjacent.  The little bit of biscuit/cake in the base was soaked in plenty of coffee, and was very moist and flavorful, although there wasn't much of it.  The majority of the glass was filled with a thick, rich mascarpone mousse.  It didn't quite taste like mascarpone to me, but it was really thick and rich, and had a nice consistency.  Chantilly cream on top was good too.  

Overall, a decent little dessert.  ***+.

Update review: I was so excited to see these a month later, but this time, I was much less impressed.  It just tasted so muted, so subtle, and the consistency of the main mousse was a bit grainy and not very pleasant. **+.

Chocolate Amuse-Bouche Glass.

"Chocolate ganache, chocolate mousse and cocoa sauce, white chocolate shavings."

This one was even better.  The base was I think the chocolate mousse, the lightest of the three layers.  It was basically just exceptionally good milk chocolate pudding.  Above that, I think the "cocoa sauce" that was thicker than most sauce but thinner than fudge, super rich, super chocolately, very good as well, and really amped up the over the top chocolate flavor.  And then, the top layer, the ganache, that was a bit thicker, far richer, and just pushed this into highly decadent levels.

Every single layer of this was a high **** on its own, and combined this neared ****+ territory.  The only slight negative is that I wanted something crunchy in here for texture - some cocoa nibs would go really far (and of course, I just added them myself).  But wow, shockingly good.

Update review: Yup, I had another of these a month later too.  It was definitely considerably better than the tiramisu, and each layer was good, but it actually was just a bit too rich for me this time around, and I found myself really wishing it had just some plain whipped cream to balance it out. ***.

Vanilla & Raspberry.

"Biscuit soaked in raspberry syrup, vanilla-flavored sabayon, raspberry jelly, raspberry and chopped pistachios."

This was the least good of the trio.  

The base was a fine crumble, akin to what some cheesecakes have, not what I'd consider "biscuit soaked in raspberry syrup".  Just, compressed, lightly sweet, crumble.  The "vanilla-flavored sabayon" wasn't really frothy like a sabayon usually is, and was more like a panna cotta.  It was fine, but, just a different consistency than expected given the description.  I really did not care for the raspberry jelly on top, just a mass of gelatin, not a good consistency at all.

So, the base was fine but not as expected, the panna cotta-like layer was fine but not as expected, and I quickly discarded the top.  Low ***.

Original Review, October 2021

I've reviewed many wholesale bakeries before, but most have been US based.  Traiteur de Paris, as you may guess from the name, is actually a French foodservice distributor, based in, yup, Paris.  They do however have a US based distribution channel, so I was able to order some of their goods.

"Your Personal French Chef Is Ready to Serve You! Traiteur de Paris - celebrated for their frozen hors d’oeuvres, accompaniments and desserts - offers true haute cuisine, heated and served by great restaurants, hotels and caterers around the globe. Once sworn to secrecy, this ultimate Chef’s helper is now available for gourmets and aspiring Chefs at home."

From their own accolades, their offerings sound great.  The "ultimate Chef's helper!"  Great to show off to your friends and relatives and make them think you are a great home cook!  Served at fine establishments!  Oh my.

Traiteur de Paris makes a large variety of items, but it is only the dessert line that I focused on.

Lemon Meringue Pie.

"Tart, fresh, and light, this lemon meringue pie offers a mix of wonderful textures and a presentation that is at once modern and elegant.

This incomparable dessert is made up of a bed of crispy butter shortbread topped with a creamy and lightly tart lemon custard and a dollop of Italian meringue.

As the final touch, the lemon meringue pie is sprinkled with flaked almonds, as well as orange and lemon zest for a refined finish."

Like most foodservice products, this arrives frozen, which seemed ambitious to me for meringue.  And you could tell, it was very deflated.

The crust was described as "crispy butter shortbread", but, that really isn't what it seemed like to me.  It was gritty and crispy, not buttery, and not anything like shortbread.  It crumbled like rubble.  And it had no flour, doesn't shortbread have flour?  It wasn't bad necessarily, but really strange texture and not shortbread.

The lemon layer I hated, as I generally don't like lemon desserts.  It was so tart and eggy.  And the deflated meringue?  About as good as it looked.

I did like the candied nuts.

I extracted the crust and nuts, and added my own whipped cream, and just made my own little crumble dessert, and was happy enough, but, uh, I don't think that counts as endorsing this product.

**+.

Gianduja Shortbread Cake.

"The Chefs of Traiteur de Paris have joined chocolate fondant cream and Gianduja nuts with crumble crunch to create a mix of textures and flavors that will dance in your mouth.

Ready to serve, the Gianduja shortbread cake is enhanced with a gourmet design composed of almond matchsticks, crushed hazelnuts, bits of candied orange, and crumble crunch."

This was ... pretty.  And it sure sounded fancy.  But I hated it.

The crust was gritty, which wasn't a problem itself, but the flavor was awful, I think I just didn't like the almond powder in it.

The "chocolate fondant cream" was indeed chocolatey and creamy, but, it wasn't particularly good.

The toppings were a mix of crushed nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios) and bits of candied orange, all of which kinda contrasted.  Not a fan.  But it was pretty?

* ... for looks.

Panna Cotta Mango Shortbread.

"A light and refreshing dessert, with a sweet note of coconut." -- GourmetXpress, distributor

"Refreshing and modern, the Panna cotta and mango shortbread is the ideal dessert for the summer.

Enhanced by a touch of coconut, the panna cotta is delicately placed on a elegant coconut crumble base. All is covered with a layer of gelled mango and several pieces of candied mango." -- Traiter de Paris

Since I adore panna cotta, I was pretty interested in this one, although, um, clearly it wasn't quite what I was thinking of when I think of panna cotta ...

This was ... ok.

The crust was my favorite part, a coconut crumble, kinda sweet.  I wanted it with whipped cream.

The panna cotta layer, in the middle, was highly mediocre.  Smooth, decent texture, but, rather flavorless and uninteresting.

The top was the worst part, just, mango flavored goo.

Overall, nothing wrong with it exactly, besides the goo factor, but, just not very good.

**+.

CARAMEL DELIGHT WITH SALTED BUTTER WITH GUÉRANDE SALT.

"Our Caramel delight with salted butter with Guérande salt is a dessert made of 100% caramel which have your caramel-loving gourmands swoon.

Offering a wonderful mix of textures, it is composed of a crumble base, topped with creamy caramel and an airy cream perfumed with caramel, all punctuated with crisp crumble bits. The surprise of this dessert lies in its tender salted butter caramel center (with Guérande salt)." -- Traiteur de Paris

"A crumble base is topped with a light toffee cream with a delicious filling of soft caramel Toffee and Guerande salt." -- GourmetXpress, Distributor

How amazing did this sound?  Salted caramel.  Crumble.  "Airy cream".  It sounded amazing!

How amazing did it taste?  0 amazing.  Actually, no, 11000 amazing.  It was awful.

The crust was way too crumbly, and fell apart immediately.  It tasted like sawdust.

The layer above that was sweet, clearly caramely, so I guess it had that going for it if you want way overpowering sweetness.

The layer on the very top was also too sweet, but at least it was fluffy.  The crumble on top?  More sawdust.

The description was right about one part though - the only surprise was the gooey caramel in the center.  It was a surprise in that it was decent, unlike the rest of it.

Clearly, this dessert was not a winner, and, it seemed so promising!

*.

Fondant with Taïnori® chocolate from Valrhona.

"The pastry chefs of Traiteur de Paris have selected the internationally renowned Grand Cru Taïnori® chocolate to create an exceptional dessert. Containing 64% cacao from the Dominican Republic, this chocolate has an intense and fruity flavor profile.

The Fondant with Taïnori® chocolate from Valrhona® is meltingly soft with a smooth and gooey chocolate center that yields a rich gustatory experience." -- Traiteur de Paris

"Made in France, our fondant is made with 22% of VALRHONA® TAÏNORI® Chocolate from Dominican Republic (64% cocoa) and premium ingredients, such as whole eggs and natural vanilla flavor. Its fruity and intense flavor gives its genuinely unique signature." -- White Toque

Valrhona makes good chocolate.  I know this, I've reviewed their products before.  So, I was excited to try this.

But it wasn't served hot (!), nor with whipped cream or ice cream (!!), both of which were mind boggling to me.  Molten chocolate cake needs to be warm, and it needs something to cut the richness!  Clearly, not the fault of Traiteur de Paris, but rather of our catering team, but still.  Criminal!

So I tried a bite at room temperature, to evaluate, and then took it home to warm up, and serve properly.

At room temperature, it was fine, but boring.  Fairly loose chocolate pudding-like center.  Cake around the outside.  Fine, good quality chocolate, but not particularly interesting.

Fondant with Taïnori® chocolate from Valrhona: Warm!

Once warmed up, it was better.

The center really did turn molten.

But the chocolate flavor wasn't nearly as deep as I expected for something made with such high end chocolate.  I was surprised.

Still, fine, but a molten chocolate cake should be more than fine.

***.

Fondant with Taïnori® chocolate from Valrhona.

The catering team brought these back a few months later.  This time, also stone cold, and it didn't look like they had even *tried* to warm them up, whereas before I think they had warmed them, just, way in advance of service?  These looks like solid cakes.

At room temp, yup, just a soft chocolate cake.  Microwaving it made it properly molten, and adding mexican chocolate ice cream topped it off nicely.

Not my top choice of dessert, but, decent enough.

***.

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Sheraton Grand Krakow, Executive Lounge

In the years leading up to the Covid pandemic, I travelled quite a bit for work, regularly 100-120 nights a year on the road, with Marriott hotels (originally Starwood) as my loyalty chain of choice.  As such, I had fairly high status, and with that, executive lounge access at properties that have them.  I didn't know prior to all those nights in hotels how much I'd value such an amenity, but lounges have become key elements of my stay as a hotel guest, and I highly value a nice lounge.

"Sheraton Club is a space designed for relaxation where you can enjoy refreshments throughout the day and a wide selection of hot and cold snacks and alcoholic beverages in the evening. Access to the Sheraton Club is additionally charged."

When I was in Krakow this year, I had access to the lounge at the Sheraton Grand.  It was easily the least impressive lounge I've been to internationally, and seemed highly underutilized.  During the day, I literally never encountered another guest there when I would cruise through for a drink or snack.  The fact that it isn't open for breakfast, the time when I think most elite business guests really value it, is odd to me.  So, it was pretty ho-hum and boring overall, but I did absolutely adore the crispy peanut snacks they had all day, and some of the desserts were shockingly good.  A nice-to-have, but not defining feature of the property. 

Setting

The lounge is located on the 2nd floor, down at the far end of the hallway.  If you didn't know to look for it, you would not know it was there, just on the lowest guest room floor tucked away.  It is open daily from 6am-11pm, but is largely empty and unattended, quite different from most lounges I've visited.

Seating.

The lounge is fairly small, with just one section.  There are a few soft couches with coffee tables, and a few small dining tables, plus an area where the evening buffet gets set up.  Not really the type of place people linger around outside of the cocktail hour.  It is open to the interior atrium of the main hotel, overlooking the restaurant below.

Drinks

Soft Drinks.

Soft drinks are available to grab all day long.  Sadly no sparkling water, and only sugared drinks.

They had a self-serve filtered water tap that made still or sparkling water, but was located very close to the counter, so you couldn't use it to fill your own bottle (likely intentionally for hygiene reasons?).

There was also beer on tap.

Coffee Machine.

A standard robot coffee machine is also available all day, with cups to go.

Water and Tea.

Spa water and tea bags were available all day long.

Red Wine.

Red wine, vodka, gin, and scotch are available nightly from 6pm-8pm.  No white wine.

My first night, there were two red wines.  Pluvium Spanish wine and Castillo Lagomar Semi Tinto.  I tried both, and didn't care for either.  Both not generally the style of wine I go for anyway.  I don't get the impression that wine is big in Poland - everyone else in the lounge was enjoying the beer on tap, or the vodka, and we saw very small wine lists in general when dining out.

Red Wine Night #2.

The second night a third wine was added, Alto Barrica Red Semi - Dry.  It also wasn't very good.  

Wine selection: below average, **+.

Savory Food

The savory food lineup features several hot dishes, plus cold canapes, and your standard cheeses and charcuterie.  I didn't find anything particularly good.  It changed nightly.

Fennel Soup / Couscous.

Every night started with a soup and a grain.

The fennel soup was ok.  It was very thick.  It needed seasoning, and I wanted something a bit more going on, but it was ok.  **+.

I didn't try the couscous.

Minestrone Soup.

The next night it was minestrone, which I didn't try.

Chicken Strips / Porridge with Bacon.

Nor did I try the chicken strips or porridge, also on offer the second night.

Pork Meat / Pasta with Tomatoes.

The other hot dishes didn't look good, but I tried them anyway.

The "pork meat" was some kind of stew, lackluster quality meat, lackluster flavor.  I didn't care for this.  I think this is a fairly traditional Polish stew.*.

The pasta was literally just basic penne with tomato sauce.  The flagship restaurant on site is an Italian restaurant, so I somewhat expected more from the pasta offering. *+.

Polendusice (?) / Potato.

The next night, for the meat and carbs we had ... this.

The first dish was ... a mystery.  The word it was labelled with, "Polendusice", doesn't translate to anything in English from Polish, and I can't find it anywhere.  I later asked about it and was told it was pork tenderloin.  It was ... not very good.  Tender, but not great flavor in the pork, and it didn't seem very high quality. The brown gravy tasted like from a jar.  *+.

The potato wedges were ok, not great, clearly not freshly fried, but they had good seasoning, and there were tasty sauces to dunk them in.  **+.

Pickles, Olives, Condiments night #1.

I liked the mixed pickles.

The first night had just mayonnaise and "burger sauce" which I didn't try.  The next night though this was bbq sauce and garlic aioli, both of which were tasty.  The garlic aioli was particularly flavorful.  ***+.

Tartines with turkey, salad fixings,
charcuterie, cheese, fruit, nuts.

Most nights had some kind of crostini or tartine, basic salad fixings, and cheese and cold cuts.

I didn't try the turkey open faced tartine.

The salad station was mixed leaves, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  Nothing special, but not bad.  Nice to have some vegetables.

I also tried a few things from the charcuterie platter, including an ok rillettes style product.  

Eh.  **.

Cheese Platter.

I tried a few things from the cheese platter, not knowing what any was exactly, and didn't care for them either.  One looked really promising, grilled, halloumi-like, but I hated the flavor.  From my later research on Polish food, I think this was grilled oscypek (which I confirmed when I saw it at breakfast too).  I later learned (from the excellent description cards at breakfast), that the one that looked like Gouda, but then surprised me with its different taste, was Amber cheese, an aged yellow cheese.  **.

The next day at breakfast, at the restaurant (review coming soon!), I found many of these same items, with labels, which was much more helpful.

Sandwich offering day 2.

The second day this area had a tortilla with cheese (cream?) and cucumber instead of the tartine, which I didn't try.

Tartines with Egg Paste.

Next, another tartine, this time with "egg paste".  I tried this one.

The crostini base was overly crispy.  The egg paste, e.g. egg salad, was fine.  Yay for a little more freshness from tomato and arugula too.  **+.

The next night had a similar item, but on softer baguette slices.

Mushroom & Cabbage Strudel?

The second night had this item, with no label.  I think it was a mushroom and cabbage filled strudel? There may have been leeks too.  The mushrooms were the kind that taste like from a can sadly.  I really couldn't tell if it was leeks or cabbage, but, there was some kind of very cooked down vegetable in there.  Not particularly well seasoned.  The pastry on top was flaky, but was entirely raw on the bottom.

Just not very good. But yay pastry? *.

Canape with Fish Paste.

Did not like this either, very fishy odd taste to the paste. *.

Burrata Salad.

The salad selection the first night was burrata. Again, given the Italian restaurant on site, I had high hopes for the burrata.  The restaurant, and the casual rooftop bar, both feature burrata preps on the menu.

It was ok?  Not as ripe and oozing cream as I'd like, but it tasted fresh.  The drizzle of olive oil and maybe pesto was a decent compliment.  Eh to beets, but that's just my preference.  **+.

Macaroni Salad with Chicken.

The next night the salad was "macaroni" (as labelled) with chicken.  It was just some basic corkscrew pasta with tomatoes and slices of chicken.  Not particularly good. **.

All Day Snacks.

Every day, all day, had some kind of coated peanuts.  I became addicted to them.  Super crunchy shell, flavorful coatings (different color/flavor every day, these were paprika I think?  Other days had orange bbq? ones and green wasabi? ones), all with a peanut inside.  Highlight of the lounge.  I adored these.  Why do we not have them in the US?  *****.

Sweet

So the drinks, the savory food, not really netting the Sheraton Grand Krakow lounge any points in my book.  But you know how much I value good desserts, and here, they shockingly did deliver on some items.

Cake / Filled Croissant.

During the day, a few sweet bites are available.

I tried the filled croissant, it seemed to be filled with some kind of jam.  It was a darker style pastry dough, like it was trying to be wholesome and healthier?  Not much buttery flavor.  Vague fruity filling.  Not very good.  **.

Nutella Donut.

The next day, during the late morning/afternoon, there was a nutella filled donut, the same kind that Marriott hotels have worldwide in their breakfast buffets, and I do kinda like.

Other days had other fillings.  Many of which I hadn't had before at other properties, such as Biscoff or white chocolate, both of which were great.  I do like these, in their own way, but when in Krakow, if you want a donut, I highly recommend going to get an actual Polish donut, even if you just go somewhere like Dobra Pączkarnia.  ***+.

Banana Cake.

In the evening, the afternoon cake was back, but more dressed up this time, with a little cream and dried apple slice.  I did not try this.

Nut Cake.

Another night it was nut cake, that I also didn't try.  Again very dressed up.

Chocolate Cake with Pistachio.

One night, the cake offering was much better looking: chocolate cake with pistachio.  This wasn't really "cake" though, it was VERY rich, and very excellent, flourless chocolate cake style cake.  

So dense, so rich, so chocolatey, so very very good.  Consistency, texture, flavor, all done really well.  It had a fantastic crispy base as well.  I wanted whipped cream to lighten it, or some fresh strawberries or raspberries, but it really was excellent.  ****+.

Brownies.

The second night the other option was brownies, that I didn't try.

Cheesecake.

My final night it was the cheesecake, the same offered in the cafe downstairs, or served in the restaurant, for 40PLN.  Literally same item as the display case in cafe.  Very big slices.

It was good cheesecake.  Ricotta style I think, some lemon to it.  Tasty crust.  ***+.

Tiramisu.

"Mascarpone | savoiardi | cocoa."

Every night also had some kind of pudding.  This thrilled me, as I adore puddings (hence why my blog has a label devoted to pudding reviews!).

The tiramisu was fabulous.  Truly fabulous.  Great actual amaretti flavor from the biscuits on top, well soaked moist but not mushy ladyfingers within, thick rich cream, notes of coffee and chocolate.   Probably the best tiramisu I've had in many years.  I'd gladly get this again.  ****+.

Tiramisù Classico is on the menu at the restaurant for zł 43.

Mascarpone with Peach.

The next night, I was delighted to see another type of pudding-pot, as I just adore puddings in general.  Mascarpone sounded good to me.

It was ... ok-ish.  The base of the jar had the peach, which honestly somewhat reminded me of baby food puree.  Like applesauce, but, peach.  I love fresh peaches, but I wasn't really into this.  There was a lot of it.

Above that, the mascarpone.  It was thick, rich, not very sweet.  It had a strange bitter aftertaste.

The berries on top were fine.

I really wanted to like this more than I did in practice.  *+.

Vanilla Cream with Raspberries.

Another day, another cream.  This one didn't say mascarpone, but I think it was.  And again, there was something just not ... right about it.  Such an odd aftertaste.  "Raspberries" were just goo in the base. Did not like. *.

Panna Cotta with Apple.

Another night, the pudding offering was even more appealing to me: panna cotta!  I even have a label on my blog just for this particular type of pudding, so, clearly a favorite of mine.

It was good.  Well set.  Rich.  Strong cinnamon flavor.  Sweet enough.  I didn't really care about the apple compote or little cookie on top, but the panna cotta was good.  I did want a touch of whipped cream to complete the deal, but it wasn't needed.  ****.

The restaurant has a version of this on their menu too, although that one has rosemary.

Apple Crumble.

And finally, my last night, apple crumble.  (Side note: they really seem to like using amaretti cookies for garnish.  They made no sense here.  I also was not into the tart cherry-apple thing on top).

But the apple pie filling was good, a mushy style with thin sliced apples, but well spiced, and good.  The crumble topping had no clumps, but good flavor and sweetness level, added some texture.  I really wanted it warm with ice cream, but it was good.  ***+.

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Cellarmaker House of Pizza San Francisco

Cellarmaker is a local brewing company, with brewery locations in Berkeley, Oakland (soon), and San Francisco.  The San Francisco outpost also houses their "House of Pizza", pizza restaurant, that slings Detroit style pies alongside their brews.  As a non-beer drinker, the brews side of the establishment isn't interesting to me, but, they do have quite a line up of interesting sounding selections, that change frequently, with plenty of sour beers and large format options, along with guest ciders and beers.  

My experience with Cellarmaker was on the food side of things only (surprise, surprise).  I did not dine-in, but rather, ordered for delivery.  Rather than ordering through a third-party (e.g. DoorDash, Uber Eats, etc), I ordered directly with the restaurant, hoping to support them more directly, and potentially save extra fees.  I wish I could report a good experience, but, alas, it was a bit of a disaster.

Ordering online on their website was easy - they use Toast for both delivery and pickup orders.  The menu was clear, yadda yadda.  Delivery is done via DoorDash silently in the background.  The delivery fee turned out to be higher than the one via DoorDash ordering directly, and menu prices weren't actually any lower. It turns out, it would have been cheaper to order on a third-party site, which surprised me.

Anyway, my order was immediately confirmed, and prepared quickly.  A delivery driver from DoorDash was assigned, and picked it up within 20 minutes.  I was given a reasonable delivery estimate.  But ... it then took 2.5 hours to get to me.  I'll spare you all the details, but, I could sorta follow along and saw the driver literally not move for a full hour, not far from the restaurant.  Since it wasn't an order directly through DoorDash, I couldn't contact their customer support.  After a full hour of no movement, I realized I could call the driver directly.  I did so.  He apologized, and told me the map was wrong.  I confirmed my address.  He said he had to go, hung up, but, at least started moving towards me.  I truly do not know what he was doing for a full hour, just sitting there, not moving, with a wrong map?  Another half an hour elapses, and he's finally in my neighborhood.  But then ... I watch him kinda circling around on the map.  For another 30 minutes.  It has now been 2 hours since he picked up my order.  I call again.  He apologizes again, and says he can't find it.  He repeats my correct address to me.  I give even more clear instructions with landmarks.  Another 25 minutes pass.  And then he shows up.

As you can imagine, this didn't bode well for my food.  2.5 hours post pickup.  The hot food was stone cold, the chilled food warm.  Likely not food safe.  I still risked it, and tried a few bites of each.  Not a smart decision on my part, as I woke up in the middle of the night with severe GI distress.  I spent the entire next day regretting those bites.  Sadness.

The delivery woes aren't Cellermaker's fault exactly, and I'd consider ordering from them again, although sadly not directly.  I'd like to actually try their pizza, they make some fun sounding creations like a Cubano pizza ...

Fried Calamari. $13.

"Buttermilk Marinated Water 2 Table Local Calamari, Onions, Micro Cilantro & Lemon. Served w/ a Remoulade Sauce."

"Dive into a world of crispy perfection with our tender calamari, marinated in rich buttermilk to ensure every bite is bursting with flavor. Each golden ring is delicately fried to achieve that irresistible crunch. And as if that weren't enough, we've paired it with a delectable remoulade sauce that adds a zesty, tangy kick. This dish will have you hooked from the first bite!"

A pizza joint, that partners with a local seafood company like Water 2 Table?  Yup!  On the night I ordered, they had two special appetizers, both seafood based, this, and a local halibut crudo.  Not your typical pizza joint options (nor brewery for that matter).

I'll start by saying it is a bit hard to give this a fair evaluation, given that it was literally stone cold when it arrived, 2+ hours post pickup, and, packaged alongside a cold cider and sparkling water.  

The calamari was nicely battered, and the coating was tasty, it reminded me a bit of onion rings, lightly flaky.  Good salt level.  I suspect it was crispy at some point.  The ring pieces were pretty chewy however, kinda the texture that makes people think they don't like calamari.  The tentacles were better, and also held more batter.  Decent distribution of rings and bodies.  As I had it, this was really just **+ though, *** once I reheated it, but, I think it may have been much better served at the restaurant.

I appreciated the lemon wedge to squeeze over it.  The remoulade however was not very flavorful.  No real zing to it.  No bits of caper.  Sorta seemed just like mayo.  Below average.  **+.

Panna Cotta. $10.

"Sweet Panna Cotta served with a Cherry or Strawberry Compote."

Panna cotta.  Oh yes.  Something near and dear to me, such that it has its own label on my blog.  I love a good panna cotta (or any style of pudding, really).  This is the only dessert that Cellarmaker offers, but, it is all I wanted anyway.  It had been a while since I had panna cotta!

The panna cotta was ... well, um, very cream forward?  I know panna cotta *is* cream after all, but, that was all I could taste here.  Lovely cream, but, just cream.  No hint of vanilla, no buttermilk tang, just, cream.  Sweetened cream.  To be fair, they don't advertise it as a vanilla bean or buttermilk panna cotta.  The description just says "sweet panna cotta".  So, it is what they say it is. The consistency was good, smooth, not grainy, thick set.  A skin on top that I actually liked.  Nice jiggle.  But ... besides cream, no flavor to it.  Nice execution, but no flavor, ***.

The panna cotta is available with either a cherry or strawberry compote topping, I opted for strawberry, which came on the side.  This was definitely needed to add some flavor to the dish.  That said, I didn't really love the compote.  It was sweet, but also a touch acidic, almost like a mostarda.  Nice soft hunks of berry though.  **.

I ended up topping mine with fresh strawberries and raspberries, plus some sprinkles, and a little coconut crumble, and enjoyed it far more that way.  **** in the end, with my additions.

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Feast, Sheraton on the Park, Sydney

Um, ouch.

You know when people say things like "I'm so full it literally hurts!", and you kinda roll your eyes at them?  Yeah, go ahead and eye roll at me. Because I'm going to say it.  I'm so full it hurts.  Because, I went to Feast, the buffet restaurant at the Sheraton on the Park.

"With almost 20 different nationalities in the kitchen, the diversity of flavours is immense. Savour a world of flavours with meats and seafood grilled to perfection, local favourites that feature authentic tastes and new presentations – the food reflects the wonderful melting pot of cultures we live in today. The open kitchens serve up the freshest food a la minute, while the buffet-style displays encourage an interactive dining experience. 

The stone hearth oven will be the heart and soul of Feast and re-defines the entire dining experience at Sheraton on the Park. Connect with your loved ones over restorative comfort fresh roasts and wood fired pizza and exquisite hot desserts like nowhere else in Sydney, be delightfully intoxicated by aromas of freshly baked bread and pastries emanating from the ovens, be dazzled by range of desserts from the Patisserie that tops all expectations of sweet indulgences and promises to offer the greatest variety in town."

It is quite the buffet.  Dubbed the "International Seafood Buffet", seafood is clearly a star attraction, but there is also a hot foods area, a salad bar, extensive cheese/charcuterie/antipasti, a made to order noodle bar, a chef's action station ... and wow, the dessert.  Each area is extensive.

The buffet is open for lunch and dinner daily, starting at $109 for mid-week lunch, up to $129 for weekend dinner (or more when they are running specials), along with Sunday brunch ($149, includes sparkling).  I opted for dinner, on a Monday night ($89 at the time, not including any drinks, but this is now $109).  I worked hard to get my money's worth!

Would I return?  Probably not.  It wasn't worth $109.  It was a fun experience though, and mostly just made me really appreciate the Executive Lounge even more than I already did, because I realized that many of the items were the same, and, well, I got them for free upstairs.  It did also make me wish the lounge would get better desserts, as they were more extensive and better in the restaurant.

Setting

Restaurant Entrance.

The restaurant is located on the 1st floor of the Sheraton on the Park (NOT the ground floor, where the lobby and Gallery restaurant area), with an open entrance into the hotel.

Interior.

Inside is a large open space, with multiple large buffet sections (this one is the charcuterie bar).  There is also a live action station, with a chef making items to order.

Tables are set fairly elegantly, with bread plate and knife, multiple forks and knives, cloth napkins, and wine glasses.  In the middle of each table is a bucket for shells and a pot of water with lemon, I think for cleaning your fingers?

Chilled Seafood

Since this is the "International Seafood Buffet", it is no surprise that seafood is the highlight, and the very first island.

Lobster is only part of the more expensive weekend buffet, but the week day buffet did have 3 different types of crab, which I was excited by.  There was also no bugs of any sort, a surprise, given that local seafood is so focused around these.

I wasn't very impressed with this area.

Chilled Seafood Island.

The chilled seafood display, mostly on ice, wraps around the entire first section.

Sashimi.

I skipped the sashimi.

Mussels with Sweet Chili Sauce. 

I also skipped the mussels with sweet chili sauce on the side, although in retrospect I kinda wish I had tried them.

Seafood Salad.

I took a chunk of calamari out of the seafood salad, which had assorted greens, veggies, and chilled cooked seafood in it.

It was horrible.  Very, very, very fishy. *+.

Blue Swimmer Crab.

The first crab I tried was the blue swimmer crab.

This was the most leggy of the three.  It was not very good, extremely salty, and very fishy.  Certainly not worth the extraction effort (yes, tools were provided). **.

Spanner Crab.

Next I tried the spanner crab.  These chunks included big body cavities loaded with meat, so were easier to get a nice portion out of.

They weren't crazy salty.  The meat was ... fine?  Not particularly flavorful in any way.  However, there were lots of bits of shell in here, whomever pre-cracked pieces really made a bit of a mess.

Again, it certainly didn't seem worth the effort, very mediocre. **+.

Jonah Crab.

The final crab was Jonah crab claws.  The easiest of the three to eat since they were large claws and mostly pre-cracked, but also ... they were horrible.

Really icy and waterlogged. *+.

Vannemei Prawn.

 I skipped the prawns, they looked similar to the ones I had in the lounge two days prior.

Sydney Rock Oysters.

And I skipped the oysters, I'm not really an oyster person, and we had these in the lounge every day.  I was surprised to see only one type of oyster.

Tiger Prawn.

 Other prawns that I skipped.

Smoked Salmon and Accompanments.

The smoked salmon, capers, creme fraiche, onions, louis sauce, lemons were identical to what we had in the lounge.  I like all of these, and eat them nightly up there. ***+

Sushi.

The sushi selection was also about the same as upstairs in the lounge, with basic nigiri (eel, prawn), a couple basic rolls, and pickled diakon, ginger, seaweed, sushi, wasabi.

I really liked the sides, quite juicy and fresh.

I also tried the crazier roll, filled with crab stick (I think), cucumber, spicy mayo, and topped with bonito flakes.  I actually really liked the crab stick and spicy mayo.  The best of the chilled seafood items. ***.

Hot Foods

A random scattering of hot buffet foods filled another section.  

"Select from a World of Flavours."

No real rhyme or reason to this section, it was just a bit of ... everything?  

Hot Foods Side.

This was standard buffet style, occupying one long side of a buffet that had dessert on the far side.

Cream of Sweet Potato and Corn.

Token soup of the day.

Beef Curry / Prawn Crackers.

I got some prawn crackers to dunk in other things, and quite liked them.  Crispy and fluffy.

I didn't try the beef curry, which was very generously garnished with parsley!

Roasted Vegetables / Honey Soy Chicken Wings.

The honey soy chicken wings were in the lounge the night before.

The "Roasted Vegetables" made me laugh.  The signage was actually generally quite good, but then, this.  I suspect it changes sometimes, and they just use the generic sign?  Anyway, it was one item, pumpkin.

I'm honestly not sure why I decided to try it.  On the first round even.  But I'm glad I did.

The vegetable in question was pumpkin, it was roasted perfectly, and drizzled with a sweet addicting glaze.  I really loved the glaze, and although I wasn't really in the mood for pumpkin, this was a highlight of all the savories. ***+.

Grilled Lamb Chop with Ratatouille / Steamed Corn.

I skipped the lamb as I don't like lamb.

I also skipped the corn, although in retrospect I wish I hadn't.  Corn was in season in Australia, and it certainly wasn't in the US.  Ooops.

Steamed Whole Salmon with Bernaise Sauce.

Well, this was a looker.  A whole salmon on the buffet line.

And I was the first to be brave enough to break into it.

It was ... ok.  It was kinda cold, certainly didn't hold heat well in the buffet.  It was cooked through, not overcooked, but I love medium-rare salmon.  It didn't have much taste to it.

The bernaise was sadly not good.  Too ... something.  I'm not sure.  Too oily.  Too thick.  Kinda broken.  I guess not really the sort of thing that works well in a buffet after al.

Overall potential here, but, just not great.

Beer Battered Fish with Tartare Sauce.

The beer battered fish though, that was pretty great.

I had fish & chips the night before at Rockpool.  I had the fried fish in the lounge a few days prior.  I had fish & chips at my office.  I had a lot of fried fish on this trip.

I skipped it from the buffet the first round, as there were so many other things to try.  But I went back for it, and I'm glad I did.

It was good.  I really liked the flavorful, well seasoned, crispy batter.  It was somehow really still piping hot.  The fish itself was just eh, kinda firm, uninteresting, but still fine.

The tartar I had in the lounge was better, more herby, this was just too much plain mayo taste, and I actually preferred my fish and chips with other sauces I had on my plate from around the buffet (sweet chili, Chinese vinegar, even just soy).

Still, the best seafood of the night. ****.

Fish & chips is also on the a la carte menu for $32, probably a better value than the buffet.

Farro Saute with Vegetables / Potato Wedges.

Neither of these called out to me, so I skipped.

Salad Bar

Moving on, a salad bar.  For those who want to pretend to be healthy at the buffet.

I mock, but actually, I really liked some items there.  Then again, this came at a point in my trip where I had been seriously over indulging in heavy food at basically every single meal, and I think my body really, really wanted vegetables.

Salad Ingredients.

I won't enumerate everything here, but there was assorted types of greens, only a few veggies, lots of crunchy things (nuts, seeds, coconut, dried fruit) and, several types of sprouts.

I actually loved the sprouted things, returning for seconds.  All three types were good, but I particularly enjoyed the ones that I think were pea sprouts (so fresh and flavorful!) and the ones I think were sprouted mung beans (so crispy!). ****.

Nothing here was labelled.

Beetroot and Apple Salad / Tomato, Olive, Basil, Capsicum Salad.

I'm guessing the composed salads of the day are also what is featured in the lounge.  There were two here, one with beetroot and apple, the other tomato, olive, capsicum (likely labelled "antipasti" upstairs!)

Randomly were bins of nuts, and whole apples in the back.

Asian Chicken Noodle Salad / Farro Salad.

Two more composed salads, one was Asian chicken noodle, the other farro based.

Croutons, Cucumber, Salmon?

I'm really not sure why these items were in their own little section down here.

Dips / Salad Dressing.

None of the dips were labelled, but I was very excited to see 4 types, rather than just the two we had upstairs.  I hoped my favorites would be there, but alas, they weren't.

I tried these two though.

The roasted red pepper one was fine but not a flavor I really care for (which was true when I had it previous years in the lounge). ***.

The light pink one was really flavorless. ***.

There were two unlabelled salad dressings here as well, one was creamy, and what I used with my sprouts.

Beet Dip, Eggplant Dip, Dressing.

The beet and eggplant dip were the same as in the lounge, which I had been eating all week, so skipped here.  Interestingly, there were no chips to go with the dips here.  I used prawn chips from the curry.

Two more unlabelled vinaigrette looking dressings completed this section.

Cheese / Charcuterie / Antipasti

The other side of the salad bar was more cold items.

Bread and Butter.

I'm not sure who goes to a buffet like this and gets bread, but, there were several types, with packets of butter or margarine.

Cheese, Fruit, Roasted Veggies.

Cheeses were next (blue, cheddar, gouda, brie), plus cut fruit (melons, kiwi), and some roast veggies (eggplant, red onion).

Nothing interesting to me.

Dried Fruit / Crackers / Pate / Pickles / Onions.

Much like the nuts on the other side, there were jars of dried fruit in the back row here.  I really doubt anyone ever takes any of that stuff, it is hard to reach, doesn't really have tongs, and, well, why?

This section also had the crackers to go with the cheese, and a few other things that I skipped.

Stuff.

Honestly, I don't know how to categorize this section.  Nothing was labelled.

Roasted mushrooms went along with the roasted eggplant and red onion that were next to them, but the jars in front?  I tried a few things, pickled garlic and onions, and some kind of fermented citrus.  I have no idea what the creamy white ones were, they looked like yogurt and cottage cheese perhaps?

Charcuterie Carving.

The charcuterie was large format, being sliced periodically throughout the night.  Some of this actually looked pretty good, but I had plenty of protein with the fried fish, salmon, and crab, so I decided not to try it.

Carving Station

Moving on the to far end, another signature station, the Carving Station, which features different proteins nightly.

Lamb Leg, Spatchcock.

On my visit though, this was highly uninteresting: lamb, which I don't like, and spatchcock, ugh, little birds.

Mint Jelly / Sweet Chili / Mustard / Tomato Sauce.

I was excited by all the sauces though, and used some of the sweet chili with my fried fish and crab.

Seeded Mustard / Cranberry Sauce / Apple Sauce / Mustard.

There were more sauces, more mustard.

Noodle Bar & Chef's Specials

The final savory station was at the far end, with a wood fire oven, and several chefs running action stations.

Chef Station.

This section had a few buffet style items, plus the more signature made to order noodle bar and chef's specials.

Noodle Bar.

The array of choices at the noodle bar was vast, although, at least on my visit, all Asian style.  5 types of noodles (shanghai, "fine noodle", egg, Singapore, rice noodle), a few veggies to add in, toppings, sauces.  I didn't make a noodle bowl, but I tried a few things.

The seaweed was the same as down in the sushi bar.  The "shallots" were uh, chives?  I liked the chinese vinegar, chili oil, and soy sauces though, to dip my seafood into.

Prawn Crackers / Pappadums.

More prawn crackers were here, alongside, very randomly pappadums.  Uh, now they can check off the Indian box?

Steamed Rice / Stir Fried Asian Greens.

The asian greens were ... green beans?

Bo-ring.

Stir Fried Noodles with Pork.

I recognized this one, as they had it in the lounge that night too (where I had swung by prior to get a drink).

Pasta Special.

There was a sign for a pasta special, penne with nap sauce, but I didn't see it anywhere.  I think you had to ask for it?

Mixed Seafood.

This wasn't labelled, and I was surprised when I pulled the lid off the steamer basket to reveal an array of steamed seafood.

I tried a chunk of crab from here, it was fine, nice to have a warm piece. ***.

Chef's Special: Fried Pork Patties with Fresh Noodle / Garlic Fried Rice / Pizza.

And lastly, the chef's specials.

Which includes daily pizza, for, the kids?

The fried rice was in the red thing, but the other big bowl was fried shallots.  There they were!

Chef's Special: Fried Pork Patties with Fresh Noodle.

This chef's special seemed odd to me.  The noodles looked like they were cold, and the pork patties were set out on this grill post-cooking ... it wasn't a grill they were actually cooked on.

Dessert

And then ... dessert.

To say I over-indulged at this point is an understatement.  I'm a dessert girl, and, um, this was an entire buffet, devoted to dessert.

I can't say it was actually awesome, but there were a few things that I enjoyed, far superior to the selections in the lounge.  

Dessert.  All Dessert.

Yes, this was all dessert.

There were candy jars.  Puddings.  Mini cakes.  Large format cakes. Chocolates.  Hot items. Ice cream.  Bring. It. On.

That said, there were a number of dessert categories entirely missing, like cookies/biscuits.  Aren't those always crowd pleasers?  And pies.  No Australian items either.  Not that I necessarily wanted these things, but, the selection, while huge, seemed to skip major types of desserts.

Ice Cream and Sauces.

To start the lineup, ice cream (with cones on the side).

The selection was kinda lame: chocolate ice cream, "Mixed Berry Ice Cream", and mango sorbet.

Since I don't have caffeine in the evening I tried just a tiny bite of the chocolate, and it was good, rich, creamy, but alas, not what I could have in evening.

So I went for the "Mixed Berry Ice Cream", that was ... totally sorbet.  I'm sorry, this was not ice cream.  It was icy and fruity and not creamy.  I'm fairly certain it did not have dairy in it.  Sad, sad, sad.

I really did wish they had vanilla, or at least some other fairly neutral ice cream, to use to pair with my desserts.  Minus a few points here.

The ice cream/sorbet also had all garnish inside the containers - a bit hard to see here, but there were little meringues on the chocolate, frozen mango slices on the mango sorbet, and berries on top the mixed berry.

The sauces were not labelled, but were chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, and I think sweetened condensed milk (or maybe creme anglais?).

I ended up using a lot of that last one, as there was no whipped cream available either, and, you know me, I need whipped cream or ice cream to pair with my desserts.  How could I have apple crisp without ... something?  So, scoops of sweetened condensed milk it was.

Hot Desserts: Apple Crumble, Chocolate.

There were two hot desserts, which made me very happy.  I love hot desserts!

First up was apple crumble.  It was actually pretty good.  The apples were nicely cooked, well spiced with cinnamon, and the very generous crumble on top was crispy and buttery.  There were a few plump raisins in the mix too.  It was also fairly warm.  I really wanted vanilla ice cream to go with it though.  I settled for some whipped cream from one of the cakes on my first go-around, and then just added tons of the sweetened condensed milk on subsequent rounds.  Yes, I said "rounds".

The crumble was my forth pick overall for sweets, and yes, I went back for "just a bit more" 3 more times. ***+.

The second hot dessert looked like sticky toffee pudding, and wasn't labelled, so I took a scoop, including plenty of what I thought was toffee/caramel sauce.  It ... wasn't.  It was chocolate sauce.  And, chocolate cake.  Warm, super moist, but, not what I wanted. ***.

Chocolate Mud Cake.

If I was eating chocolate ... I likely would have tried the chocolate mud cake.  I don't like cakes, but, this one had some serious fudge layers.

Coffee Caramel Slice / Chocolate Mud Pie / Mango Panna Cotta / Banana Caramel Gateau.

I didn't try any of the little cakes from here, but, being a pudding, an panna cotta lover, I grabbed one of those little jars.

Mango Panna Cotta.

So this ... was interesting.

Impossible to eat given the larger spoons on the tables, so I asked for a mini spoon, the kind that go with coffee.  I'm really not sure how you were supposed to really fit a big spoon into these.

Even with the small spoon, it was hard to eat, the boba came spilling out no matter how careful I was.

Anyway.

The base, the "panna cotta" was totally not panna cotta.  It was not creamy.  It was firm, slimy, and tasted like plain jello.  The orange layer, I guess mango, was also not great, just a gel.  Both seemed heavy in the gelatin.

But the green popping boba?  They were fantastic!  I think green apple, really sweet and flavorful, absolutely bursting with flavor and liquid.  Why were they on top of my panna cotta though?  So. Strange, but I did love them.  The popping boba were in top few dessert bites, but, I'll rank the overall dessert lower since the rest of it was so poor.  My second choice overall, just, uh, for the boba.  ***.

White Chocolate / Milk Chocolate / Marshmallows.

In the very back, where no one else seemed to grab for, was white chocolate studded with gummy candy and sprinkles, milk chocolate studded with nuts and dried fruit, and mini marshmallows, the same ones I had seen in the Air New Zealand lounge.

I may have snuck a piece of each of the chocolates into my bag.  For later.  Shhh, don't tell.  I loved all of these.  ****+.

Fruit Tart / Chocolate Mousse / Tiramisu / Lemon and Lime Petit Gateau.

The back row here had a fruit tart that I felt compelled to try since it was something different.

It was not good.  The shell was chalky.  The filling was just apple, really mushy, with a strange gel.  The fruit on top was fine I guess, and I really love their fluffy whipped cream, but, the tart was horrible.  **+.

I also tried the tiramisu, even though, obviously caffeinated.  I mostly avoided the cocoa powder on top, and only took a tiny bit of the super moist soaked cake (just to evaluate!).  It was easy to avoid these things, and basically just get a big scoop of mascarpone.  It was quite good, very rich and creamy, nice sweetness. Above average tiramisu. My #3, I wish I could have indulged more though, but, #caffeine. ***+.

I didn't try the petit gateau since it was lemon and lime, not flavors I go for in dessert.

Lemon and Lime Petit Gateau / Strawberry Lemon Cold Cheesecake. 

The "Strawberry Lemon Cold Cheesecake" I had in the lounge a few days prior, and it wasn't good then.  I did laugh at the sign though.  Did they mean "lemon curd", not "lemon cold"?  I'm not sure.  Also, it really wasn't cheesecake, maybe the white layer was supposed to be, but, this was a layer cake.

Opera Cake Slice / Orange Chocolate Petit Gateau / Chocolate Mousse.

I didn't try anything from here, since all chocolate.  If I could make a take-home bag though, I certainly would have grabbed a chocolate mousse.

Strawberry Mousse / Triple Chocolate Brownie / Opera Cake.

In the back was triple chocolate brownies, chunks of brownie, on a platter, that also randomly had a few tufts of whipped cream, slices of strawberry, and chocolate straws.

I stayed away from the brownies, but used this as an area I could take some whipped cream from, without destroying the presentation, or taking from individual pieces.  No one would know it was missing from the brownie platter, right? My desserts needed whipped cream!

Strawberry Mousse.

I skipped the strawberry mousse on my first round, but after the lackluster panna cotta, but good popping boba, I was inspired to try it, as i really was in the mood for pudding, even if strawberry is never my first choice.

This was no different from the panna cotta.  It certainly was not mousse.  It too was firm, slimy, and like jello.  Someone went heavy on the gelatin this evening.  And it too had tasty popping boba on top, although I liked the green ones a bit more.  At least the boba were consistently tasty. ***.

Strawberry Triffle Cake.

I took some triffle cake on my third round, I'm not really sure why, as I don't like cake that much.  I think I was drawn in by all the whipped cream.

And, well, I liked the whipped cream of course, but the cake was no different from the mini cakes, dry, not fresh tasting, not good.  **+.

Coconut Sago with Nata de Coco.

In front of the triffle cake was a big pot of coconut sago.

I had literally been craving this exactly for several days prior, so I was thrilled, thrilled, thrilled to see it.

Coconut Sago with Nata de Coco.

The ice cream area had little bowls for dessert, but I went straight to the soup station and got a much bigger bowl.  I knew I'd want it for this.

The sago I appreciated because I wanted it so badly, but it wasn't actually that great.  It was a bit watered down, the broth at least wasn't overwhelmingly sweet like can sometimes be.  There wasn't much sago in it, but what was there was good, small style, white tapioca, not mushy, not clumpy.

The chunks of mango were kinda meh, and I couldn't figure out if I liked the nata de coco, but I think I did, they were a nice texture.

So overall, actually lackluster, but at least interesting, and I really did want it, and easily finished my bowl, and went back for a bit more.  I think it was my favorite item, in the end, but mostly just because I wanted it. ***+.

Biscotti.

The only cookie-like item, biscotti, which the lounge also had during the day, and I never tried because, well, who cares about biscotti?

Candy.

There were a number of candy jars randomly placed throughout the dessert bar, but the very end had four in a row, with gummy bears, chocolate covered raspberry licorice bullets, and hard candies.  I love candy, but, given al the other sweet options, these weren't high on my list.  Still, a nice touch for those who just want a tiny bit of something sweet?  Also, I do quite like those licorice bullets, a regular in the lounge during tea time. 

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