Breakfast Buffet at Mosiac Restaurant, Westin Sydney

Update Review July 2018 Visit

It had been 4 years since I last had breakfast at Mosaic Restaurant at the Westin Sydney, and, well, absolutely nothing changed.  Its fairly shocking to me actually, looking at the photos and offerings.  Identical.  Even the poor service and broken coffee machines are the same!

This will be a quick photo tour and brief update of the things I tried again on this visit.  At $45 per person (includes self serve tea and coffee), this was hugely over priced, and not nearly the quality of other hotel similarly priced buffets (like Feast! at the Sheraton on the Park, which was actually incredible - stay tuned for that review).

There were exactly 3 things worth consuming in this place: the coffee (decent, not amazing, but better than other hotel breakfast buffets), the bircher muesli (ok, I love this), and poached eggs (no better than others in Sydney, but I just adore the eggs in Australia).

Ronnefeldt Tea.

Tea is self serve, on the side, Ronnefeldt brand.

Juice & Water.

Cold beverages are very basic: apple, grapefruit, orange juice, and ice water.  Oh, and "tomato juice available on request".  Why did you need to request that one?

Not premium beverages at all, but you could opt to pay extra for fresh juice or sparkling water.

Mixed Berry Energizer / Carrot Zinger / After Eight.

And the same smoothies as 4 years ago too.  Seriously, they didn't even change those?

Robot coffee.

There are two coffee machines, one on each side of the buffet, one stocked with full cream milk, one with skim.

One needed something emptied, so it was just flashing and unusable.  The other, when I selected a decaf long black made a lot of noise, and had 3 sips trickle out.  I tried again, same effect.

I told not one, but two different staff members, who both just shrugged and didn't care in any way.  Sigh.

Robot Long Black.

The non-decaf worked, and gave a decent enough coffee.

A few days later the machine was back in action, I again got a regular, and it was again fine.  Again, not amazing, not complex, but, not bitter, not acidic, not too bad.  I was impressed enough.

Better than the Sheraton's, or more hotel coffee actually, so, one point for Westin and Mosiac.

Egg Cook & Hot Buffet.

As before, there is a cook is available for omelets and cooked eggs to order, and the majority of the space is hot items in chafing dishes.

The chafing dish lineup, literally, has not changed in 4 years.  At all.  It also never changed day to day, unlike Feast at the Sheraton where new items came on daily.

"Fried Egg Over Medium with Mushrooms / Spinach / Cheese."

It wasn't until my last day that I tried to order a made to order egg, having given up on everything else.  On my previous visit I had actually had some decent (although very mixed) success with made to order eggs.

I ordered as I did back then, a "fried egg over medium with mushrooms, spinach, and cheese.".  The egg cook confirmed that I didn't want an omelet, I said that was correct, I just wanted some mushrooms and spinach sauteed on the side and put on top, plus some melted cheese on top.

And this is what I got.

1) Fried egg it was.  "Over medium" it was not.  Not over at all.  Just a fried egg, yolk not even remotely set.  Crispy, slightly rubbery whites.  Not what I intended.

2) "mushrooms and spinach sautéed and put on top, plus cheese melted on top".  Uh ... uh ... the strange orange bits were a *tiny* amount of cheese.  Not what I intended.

"Fried Egg Over Medium with Mushrooms / Spinach / Cheese".

I looked under it, and at least discovered the mushrooms.  A couple tiny pieces stuck to the bottom.  No spinach to be found.

I wouldn't call this one a success.

Asian Noodle Station.

Next to one coffee machine is a Asian noodle station, with cold noodles, broth, soy sauce, bok choy, green onions, and fried onions.  I guess the broth is supposed to be hot enough to warm up the noodles?

Clearly, not at all like the made to order noodle bar, with multiple types of noodles, and a zillion more toppings, at Feast.

I tried the crispy shallots, they weren't anything special.

Noodle broth

The broth was just simple broth.

Congee Station.

Next to the other coffee machine, a similar looking station, this time with congee.  Again, soy sauce, green onions, fried shallots, but also fresh chili, pickled cabbage, and shredded pork were available.  No Chinese donuts!

Turkey Bacon / Turkey Sausage.

Poultry based meats, same as before.  Bacon looked flabby.

Crispy Pork Bacon / Pork Sausage.

And the pork versions, sausage and bacon.

Pancakes (Thursday).

I had tried the pancakes before and not liked them, but, breakfast carbs are my favorite, so, I tried again anyway.

They were tiny.  Gummy.  Cold.  No flavor.  Not good.

The only redeeming thing here is the real maple syrup bottle on the side.  But wow, bad pancakes.

French Toast (Friday).

The next day, french toast was in the place of the pancakes.  It looked equally horrible, but ... you know me.

"French Toast".

It was worse than the pancake, if that is possible.  Again, not really warm.  Again, slimy and gummy.  These items do not do well in steam pans.  It was also just plain wheat bread, simple egg wash, no spicing.  Really pretty awful.

They had maple syrup on the side again, and I smothered it, but I really lamented the lack of interesting toppings like the berry sauces and whipped cream from Feast.

Waffles (Saturday).

On Saturday morning, I was planning a light breakfast because I had brunch plans AND a BBQ lunch planned, and was just going to get a poached egg and a little muesli to tide me over until brunch, but I saw ... waffles.  And not thin soggy Eggo-style waffles.  They were liege style.  My plans were foiled.

Liege Waffle.

The waffle, like all the other items, was not hot.  It was soggy from the steam tray.  Seriously folks, look at other breakfast buffets, see how they are successful.  Items like this?  They go under heat lamps and on hot trays, not inside steaming vessels!

I was sad, but determined.  I could make this work.  It had potential.  I saw huge chunks of pearl sugar inside.  I smothered it in Nutella.  Getting better.  But still not quite there.

Then a fresh batch came out.  YES!  I grabbed another, plans for a "light breakfast" quickly vanishing, particularly as I had also already ordered made to order eggs (double oops).  And was ... soggier AND colder?  WHAT?!  Where do they keep these things when not on the line?

So ... I put it into the toaster.  It said "bread only", but, this was ~bread, right?  Shh.  Don't tell.  I stayed close in case I was about to become the idiot who caught things on fire.  The conveyer belt toaster did fine though, no problems.

It was much better after two cycles through the toaster.  Hotter, crispier.  And yes, signature liege style waffle, yeasted, sweet, and studded with big chunks of sugar.  In the end, I enjoyed it, particularly dunked in more sugar (no powdered sugar available, which would make more normal sense, but, I improvised!)

Roasted Rosemary Potato / Hash Brown.

Two types of breakfast potatoes.

Roasted Tomatoes / Button Mushrooms.

Same roasted tomatoes and simple button mushrooms as before, that no one touched.

"Seasonal Vegetables" / Baked Beans.

The "Seasonal Vegetables" were just green beans, served paired with baked beans.  The next day, bok choy.

Scrambled Eggs / Poached Egg.

The scrambled eggs were clearly scary, but I finally tried the poached egg, since, well, Australian eggs.

The poached eggs were clearly a hot item, replenished frequently, each in little (watery) bowls.  They somehow were never hot, even though so frequently restocked.

Poached Egg.

The first time I tried it, the poached egg was actually decent.  Nicely poached with a very oozy yolk, but the egg white was still a bit runny.  Still, great flavor in that egg.  Seriously, love Australian eggs.  I appreciated it with some S&P cracked on top, and with a mediocre baked good to mop up the yolk, but, this was no where near as good as the daily eggs benny specials at Feast or the Sheraton Executive Club Lounge.

The next day, I eagerly took another poached egg, when I saw the chef replenish the station.  A fresh one! Yes!

Except ... it was horrible!!! Stone cold.  Not runny inside, broken yolk that had solidified.  Um, no.

The third day? Watery, undercooked whites, and, sigh, cold.

Runny Yolk!

I tried again and again, selecting a puffier one from the bottom of the tray.  It might have been from an older batch, but at least it looked to have an in-tact yolk?

It did.  It oozed decently, but was still more cooked than usual.  And again though, stone cold.  Sigh.

I tried to order a fresh poach egg, but was just directed to the steam tray.  I don't understand how their buffet just fails to keep things warm properly, when other buffets can get this right ...

Poached Egg (with fried shallots, salt, pepper).

I always kept trying the poached eggs, but, they just weren't ever good.  It was sad, because I do love Australian eggs!

This one was at least well poached, no runny whites, but totally runny yolk.  But, not warm, as always.

I topped it with some fried shallots from the congee station, and fresh cracked pepper and salt from the table.  But alas, not great.

"Hollandaise".

I started getting desperate.  With dreams of the amazing eggs benedict from Sheraton on the Park Executive Club and Feast Restaurant, with the most incredible hollandaise I've ever had, I finally just asked the egg chef if she had hollandaise, as I knew eggs benedict was on the a la carte menu.  She smiled, and gladly got me a little bowl of hollandaise.

I was a bit taken back by the appearance ... it was very thick.  It looked like cheese sauce, or mustard.  But still, I had hopes and dreams.

They were crushed.  It was cold.  It was ... lumpy.  Sorta like gravy that had too much cornstarch or flour added to it.  No rich flavor.  No lemon.  Perhaps the worst hollandaise I've ever had.  Seriously.

Boiled Egg.

Lastly, boiled eggs.

I tried one at one point, it was, well, a boiled egg.  Yolk fully cooked, no remarkable flavor, eh.

Condiments.

Ok, I lied. They did indeed change something. They added more condiments, randomly placed on the hot bar around the plates. Tomato sauce, bbq sauce, chile sauce, and worcestershire, all Beerenberg brand, plus tabasco and maple syrup.

These were valuable, given how flavorless all the food is.

Jams & Spreads.

Same selection of Beerenberg jams, butter or margarine, Kraft peanut butter, and nutella as before.  Do I even need to tell you how they jams pale in comparison to those at Feast?

Toast and Toaster.

Very basic sandwich bread toast and english muffins, along with a conveyer belt toaster.

Fancy Breads.

Slightly more appealing breads were located on the backside, honestly, quite hidden.

The display was attractive - look at the wheat! - but every type of bread was rock solid.

Gluten-Free Bread / Muffins / Granola / Muesli.

The gluten-free folks had their own section, with bread, muffins, and packaged muesli and granola, along with a dedicated toaster.

GF Almond Cinnamon Muffin.

My very last day, on the way out the door, not satisfied, I decided to grab a muffin.  A gluten-free muffin.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  Hey at Sheraton on the Park, the gluten-free stuff was the best!

This ... was not.  Not a moist muffin, strange texture.  On top was a few sliced almonds and cinnamon sugar dusting.  It was crisp on top, which was mildly interesting.

Natural Muesli / Mountain Muesli / Almond & Quinoa Muesli / Graola Clusters / Premium Toasted Muesli.

#allTheMuesli.  Australians love their muesli?

Same annoying to serve spin dispensers as before, frustratingly jammed all the time, impossible to get just a little to come out.

I tried the granola.  Simple granola, meh.

Cereal & Milk.

Kellogg's boxed cereal for the non-muesli crowd: Sultana Bran, Cornflakes, Nutri Grain, Coco Pops and Special K.

Full cream, skim and soy milk on the side.

Nuts / Seeds / Dried Fruit.

Seeds (sunflower, chia, pepita), nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts) and fruits (apple, paw paw, raisins).

I did wish they had the dark chocolate disks here, that they had in the same section in the lounge.  Too premium for the $45/head buffet?

Oh, and oatmeal on request.  It paid to read the signs I guess, if you wanted oatmeal or tomato juice ...

Cut Fruit.

The fruit lineup at Westin properties is usually a highlight, as they take the Westin Wellness brand quite seriously.  Here we had passionfruit, kiwi, oranges, and papaya.

It was a good selection but, not particularly ripe, sweet, nor good.  The passionfruit and kiwi were both quite sour.

Fruit / Yogurt.

Cut fruit continued with melons, pineapple, and giant grapes I first thought were blueberries.

They had incredibly sour skins and big pits inside.

I lamented the lack of berries, but, I know they weren't in season.

Individual pots of low fat Chobani yogurt were available in several flavors.

Bircher Muesli / Stewed Fruit.

And finally, my old favorite, the housemade bircher muesli!  Also in this section was a berry compote, stewed apricots, plums, and prunes.

The stewed plum was fascinating, a whole plum but eh.  The berry compote very mushy, clearly made from defrosted berry mush.  It was sweet, but eh.  I did regularly take a little of the sweet syrup from the apricots and prunes to drizzle over my muesli though.

And then, that muesli.  My old favorite.  I discovered bircher muesli the first time I came to Australia, and I've become a big fan, although, in my nature, a very particular fan.  Not too yogurt-forward, not too much apple, needs to be creamy, yes to mix-ins.  The Westin one had always delighted in the past.

The first day it was again great.  Super creamy, not too tart nor yogurtly, and absolutely loaded up with nuts, seeds, dried fruits, and even topped with some coveted fresh berries.

I eagerly took a huge scoop the next day, only to find, alas, that it was really quite mushy.  Heartbreaking.

Bircher Muesli.

The third day?  Really tart and yogurty.  And mushy.  Sigh.  But still always topped with tons of nuts, seeds, fruits, and even high quality dark chocolate disks some mornings.

Fourth day?  Great toppings, decent enough muesli, not too mushy nor yogurty.  Seriously, such inconsistencies.

Premium Yogurt.

In addition to the low fat generic Chobani, they also had organic full fat yogurt, Queensland Youghurt Company brand, in natural, passionfruit, and blueberry, just like last time.  Sigh, why don't the offer the fun flavors!

As before, each pot had a comical tiny tiny tiny amount of either passionfruit or blueberry on top, but it was still enjoyable yogurt, full fat, super creamy and rich.  Almost like dessert, really.

Pastries.

The pastry section is extensive, and changes slightly daily, all claiming to be fresh baked.  And ... always highly disapointing.

The end station usually had the almond croissant and something else, sometimes donuts, sometimes other croissants, no consistency.

More Pastries.

The remainder of the items are in the full back display, nicely plated up, tempting looking, but ... no winners.  Not a single one.

Savory Croissant.

This was actually the only baked good I ever liked.  It was seed and herb crusted, and slightly savory, a bit flaky.  Good to soak up egg yolk.

Almond Croissant.

"Almond croissant with almond chips topping."

The almond croissant looked pretty good, crusted in powdered sugar and slivered almonds, but, alas, it wasn't a real twice baked croissant.  The croissant itself not buttery not flaky, the top only slightly crisp, mostly just due to the fact that almonds themselves are crispy.

The filling was the super sad part, as it was a really bitter gritty paste, and nearly nonexistant.  The filling is usually the best part of an almond croissant!

Beignet.

Every day had round little beignets, rolled in powdered sugar, and I remembered from my last visit that these were sometimes ok.

This however was not good.  Not fresh, even the sugar coating seemed stale and didn't help it out.  Nothing redeeming about it.

Beignet: Inside

Inside was a tiny bit of jam, not exactly generously stuffed, and it was just generic berry jam, nothing special.

Custard Triangle.

I recognized this one immediately.  It looks like a scone but ... totally isn't.

Filled with a tiny amount of custard, not enough to taste.  Fascinating top that is crispy, almost like feuilletine sprinkled on top, but, it isn't.  Not sure how they do that.

Anyway, I've seen these before at Sheraton on the Park, and been confused by them there too.  #notAScone

Pecan Finger.

They tricked me! I knew the pecan finger was no good, but this had pink stuff on top!  It turned out t be the same item, just with a few bits of freeze dried strawberry.

Same poor filling, same gummy top, same stale not flaky nor buttery pastry.  NO!

Chocolate Pudding Filled Crescent.

I'm not calling this a croissant, as, even if it looked like a crescent, it wasn't a laminated pastry, and clearly wasn't supposed to be.  More like a slightly sweet dinner roll, fluff and puffy, not flaky.

Inside was a bit of chocolate pudding.

Slightly interesting, but not actually very good.

Coconut Bread.

 Why did I start trying quickbreads?  I never like quickbreads.

I don't know.  I wanted a good pastry!

This was just a dense coconut cake/bread.  Eh.

Dried Fruit & Nut Bread.

This one also I believe had a coconut base, but was loaded with bits of dried fruit (ok), seeds (ok), and nuts (uh .... super bitter).  I didn't like it at all due to the horrible bitter aftertaste, almost as if it was rancid.

Apple Turnover.

I don't know why I took this.  I wanted "dessert"?

Not flaky, generic goo inside.  Moving on.

Salad / Cold Cuts / Dressing.

Moving along, we reach the salad area, with basic greens and tomatoes.  And very basic cold cuts: pepperoni, ham, turkey.  Two types of dressing, french and thousand island, plus balsamic and olive oil on the side.

I tried the thousand island to see if maybe it would work in place of hollandaise, but, I realized that didn't quite make sense.  It was fine thousand island, flavorful, creamy.  But totally not what to put on eggs, obviously.

Smoked Salmon / Accompaniments.

Next was a bit more veggies perhaps for salad (cucumbers, radishes), plus smoked salmon and its garnishes: lemon wedges, capers, thin sliced red onion, marinated feta cheese, cream cheese, and an awesome horseradish sour cream.

That sour cream was perhaps the tastiest thing in the buffet.  I literally ate it every day, not even paired with something some days.  Such great horseradish kick.

Cheese / Antipasti.

Finally, cheeses (sliced Wwiss and "low fat cheese", blue, brie, and cheddar), olives, sundried tomatoes, pearl onions, and sliced up gerkins.

The little pickle bits were tasty enough.

Original Review, September 2015

As you mostly likely know by now, given my slew of Sydney restaurant reviews, I visited in Sydney for two weeks in May.  On this visit, I stayed at the Westin (where I had also spent a week in January).  In January, I had executive club access, where I had breakfast every morning.  It was nice to have breakfast right there at the hotel, but it was never that great.  The the yogurt and bircher muesli jars were pretty much the only things that were halfway decent.

So in May, when I knew I was staying for two weeks, and thought that just eating yogurt and muesli would get old very fast, I opted for a rate with full breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Mosiac, instead.

The space is nice: the entire hotel is located within the GPO (General Post Office), a historic building.  The restaurant itself is in an interior atrium, with a glass ceiling, and plenty of sunshine.

The included breakfast was the buffet, normally $42 per person, which, honestly, is just a bit crazy.

Overall, it was certainly an upgrade from the executive lounge, as there were plenty more options, but it really was just a superset of what the lounge had to offer.  The baked goods, hot foods, fruit, meats, and cheeses were all still pretty lackluster.  The made-to-order egg station is a nice addition to just a buffet, but it was highly inconsistent.  I still prefer the Sheraton on the Park executive lounge's breakfast spread, which is really quite impressive.

Drinks

Some buffets offer table service for drinks, but here all drinks are self-serve, both hot and cold, located in the buffet area. This includes water, so you needed to get up to refill your own water glass.  I didn't mind, but for the price point, I'd expect water glasses, and perhaps coffee cups, to be refilled at the tables.

Water, Apple Juice, Orange Juice.

Basic juices seemed like they were from concentrate.

Cranberry Juice, Grapefruit Juice.

The cranberry and grapefruit were a bit better, but, I am still guessing none of it was fresh squeezed.

Fancy Juices/Smoothies.

Each day there was also always a fancier juice and smoothie, in pitchers.  Presumably these were fresh.

The After Eight, made from kiwi, pear, mint, and apple was super sweet, a bit thick though.  

The Mixed Berry Energizer,  made from berries, honey, yogurt, skim milk was far too yogurty for me, I didn't really taste the fruit at all.

I didn't really care for these, but I appreciated that they made the effort to have healthy juices in addition to the standard ones.

Tea.

Hot drinks were also self serve.  Tea was in a basket, with a urn of hot water.  The selection was decent, and included English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Yellow Gold Oolong, Lychee Black Tea, Jasmine Pearls, Chai, Jade Sword Green Tea, and Peppermint.

Coffee Maker.

Coffee came from a robot machine that could make espresso, americanos, and milk based beverages (whole milk).  The beans were ground fresh for each cup, which I appreciated, particularly for decaf.  Many places just use instant for decaf.

The coffee was fine, not particularly notable.

Breads, Cereals

I'm not one for basic breads and cereals generally, but I was there for long enough that I finally checked these areas out.  All were basic and standard, nothing notable.

Gluten-free Station. 

The country of Australia does a really, really good job with gluten-free.  I'm not gluten sensitive, but I'm always shocked by how gluten-conscious everywhere is there.  Every restaurant has either a dedicated gluten-free menu, or clearly labels items.  Airline lounges, hotel buffets, etc all have separate stations.  It really is quite impressive.

The gluten-free area had its own bread and bagels, packaged cereals, and even muffins.  I tried the chocolate muffin, but it wasn't very good, very dry.

Toast.

For the gluten-eaters, a decent selection of sliced bread and english muffins were available, with a standard conveyor belt toaster.

The english muffins were just standard english muffins, nothing special, but nice to use to make egg and cheese sandwiches, with fried eggs from the egg station.

Raisin Toast.

One morning, fairly late into my stay, I decided to give toast a try.  I was kinda out of other options, and the raisin toast looked decent.  It came as very thick slices, loaded up with raisins.  I slathered it with butter, and I think with some cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle on top it might have been decent enough.  But, it was just raisin toast.

Jams, Spreads.

To go along with the toast was a station with little bots of Hank's jams, in assorted flavors.  They didn't seem like the highest quality jams.

There was also Beerenberg honey, Kraft smooth peanut butter, butter, margarine, Nutella, and of course, vegemite.  I give them credit for the Nutella, even though it isn't something I really go for.

Cereal.

The cereal line up was standard Kellogg's choices, just like in the lounge.  Granola Oat Clusters, Natural Muesli, NutriGrain, Special K, Cornflakes Sultana Bran, Coco Pops.

I tried the granola and muesli, but I didn't like either.  Untoasted, not very flavorful.

These dispensers were also infuriating.  They were jammed more often than not, and when you'd finally get some cereal, it usually came pouring out.  They also crushed the cereal.  I don't understand how these dispensers are so popular, when they just fail to do their basic job!

Nuts, Seeds, Milk.

Next to the cereal were walnuts, hazelnuts, and pumpkin seeds, to jazz up your breakfast, plus milk for the cereal.

Continental Selection

The center of the buffet housed the continental selection, none of which was interesting.

Salad Station.

The salad area had mixed leaf salad, cucumbers, olives, cherry tomatoes, peppers.

The olives were fine, unremarkable.

There was no dressing.  I didn't ever see anyone take salad.  Do people eat salad for breakfast?

Smoked Salmon and Accompaniments.

The smoked salmon station always looked good, the platter always kept full full.  Alongside were cubes of cream cheese, thinly sliced red onion, capers, and lemon wedges.

Since the Sheraton on the Park executive lounge had such good smoked salmon, I decided to try this one day, when the rest of my breakfast consisted of piles of baked goods, and I knew I should have some protein.

It wasn't good.  Chewy and stringy, flavorless, not smoky.  This must be why it was always full?  No one ate it?  I at least liked the capers.

Meat and Cheese.

These mostly seemed the same as offered in the lounge in the evening.

The meats were all just sliced deli meat: salami, turkey, and ham.  They never looked tempting.

The sliced cheeses were equally boring, swiss and "low fat cheese".

The "real" cheeses were slightly better, the cheddar had a decent sharpness to it, but the brie was pretty flavorless.

Dried Superfruits.

Next to the cheeses was a "dried superfruits" station with apricots, apples, and cubes of mixed tropical fruit.

Most days I finished my meal with a handful of the sweet cubed tropical fruit. None of it was awesome, but, it was sweet and good enough.

Fruit and Yogurt

The other side of the main area was a mecca of fruit and yogurt.   Like in the lounge, this tended to be the best of the options.

Stewed Fruit, Fresh Fruit.

The fruit section started with stewed fruit (pears, plums, apricots, and prunes), along with fresh fruit (mixed fruit salad, watermelon, grapes, and rockmelon).

The fruit salad sometimes had persimmon, strawberries, and star fruit, which I got excited for every time I saw them, but none were particularly good.

The stewed fruits were my best bet for adding a little fruit sweetness to my yogurts, but, they were just super sweet.

Fresh Fruit, Packaged Yogurt.

The fresh fruit continued with passionfruit, orange segments, kiwi, and pineapple chunks.

I was always excited for the passionfruit and kiwi.

The passionfruit was actually quite good.  Maybe this was just novelty to me, as I don't get it frequently in the US, but I loved sweet and tart flavor.

The kiwi was the best of the fruit, most days it was pretty good.

For packaged yogurt, there was Chobani greek yogurt in fat free or regular and Nestle Ski De Light brand low fat yogurts in assorted flavors.  I tried several of the yogurts (passionfruit mango and blueberry).  They were just standard light yogurt, runny and not creamy, very fake fruit tasting.  They did have little bits of fruit in them though.

Potted Yogurt, Bircher Muesli, Juice Shots.

The final items were the same as we had in the lounge, potted yogurts, muesli, and juice shots.

The yogurts were natural unsweetened yoghurt with granola and berry compote added.  The yogurt was way too tangy for my taste, and the granola on top was always incredibly soggy.  This is so sad, because I do love Australian yogurt, just not this yogurt.
The bircher muesli quickly became my favorite item.  Mixed with shredded apple, the right amount of yogurt to make it pleasantly creamy, but not too tart.  I even liked the scattering of dried fruit and seeds on top, but I always added more, either more dried fruit, or stewed fruit from the fruit bar, or even fresh passionfruit.  My favorite was just drizzling more of the fruit syrup from one of the compotes on top.

On my final day, the muesli was actually different.  It had a lot more random fruit inside (bits of stewed prunes, apricots) and was garnished with a strawberry and seeds rather than the dried fruit.  It wasn't as sweet, and was thicker.  Sadness.  But the other days, this was a real winner.

The final item here was little juice shots, dubbed Carrot Ginger Zingers.  I tried it one day, and, well, yes, that was zinggy!  The ginger was crazy strong.

Hot Foods

The hot food selection never changed from day to day.  This was disappointing, as I was hoping to see some variety here, even if the rest of the buffet never changed.  Even the Sheraton on the Park executive lounge breakfast buffet changed out their hot foods, but alas, nothing ever changed here.

In particular, I'd love to see the simple pancakes alternated with other selections, like french toast, waffles, or even flavored pancakes.  Or some hot porridge?  The Westin executive lounge hot food buffet always included a subset of these items, and it did rotate somewhat, since it featured fewer items every day.

The hots foods here were just as unappealing as up in the executive lounge, although there were always more options.

Swiss Pork Veal Sausages, Bacon.

The first station of breakfast meats never looked worth trying.  Flabby bacon, and "Swiss Pork Veal Sausages".  I love breakfast sausage, but not this style.

Turkey Sausage, Turkey Bacon.

So, I don't like poultry.  Certainly not chicken, not roast turkey.  But ... turkey bacon I can sometimes really like.  I can't explain it.  So, again, several days into the buffet, I finally decided to try these things.

The sausage I really didn't like.  It was seared on the outside nicely, but, well, it tasted like turkey.  My own fault I guess.

The turkey bacon I had decent hopes for, given that, uh, I even like the turkey bacon at Starbucks (shh, don't judge!)  This I didn't like.  It was just kinda flappy, moist from being inside the steam tray, and not crispy.  Meh.

Poached Eggs, Scrambled Eggs.

Since the scrambled eggs in the executive lounge were so so strange, and these looked the same, I skipped them here too.

The poached eggs were decent, well poached with nice runny center, but I always found they weren't quite warm enough.  They did replenish this station frequently, so it was easy to watch and get one fresh (or, likely, fresh out of the water bath where they were being held).

Boiled Eggs.

And, more eggs.  Hard boiled.  I never tried these.

Pancakes with Maple Syrup.

Sure, buffet pancakes aren't generally very good, but, at the Sheraton on the Park executive lounge buffet they sometimes did a decent job.  Not here.

These were just gummy and flavorless.  And like most of the hot foods, strangely moist from being held in a steam tray.

I did appreciate the pot of maple syrup on the side, as I added it to most of my other food.  I know, I have a sugar problem, but, hash browns, bacon, eggs, etc are all just so much better with syrup!

Hash Browns, Roasted Potatoes.

The hash browns and roasted potatoes never looked good, but I saw Ojan take the hash browns several times, so I finally tried one.

Triangle style, shredded potato style.  It was not good.  Not really hot, and very, very oily.  Even slathered with maple syrup, I wasn't able to enjoy it, since all I tasted was oil.

Mushrooms, Roasted Tomatoes.

I never tried either of the first veggie selections, roasted mushrooms and tomatoes.

Green Beans, Baked Beans.

The next veggie station was ... beans, green and baked.

I never tried the green beans, since they really just don't seem like breakfast to me.

I did eventually try the baked beans.  There were several varieties of beans, they were not too mushy, and not too hard.  Decently cooked, but alas, I didn't care for the flavor of the sauce.

Soy Sauce, Sweet Chili Sauce.

The buffet also featured soy sauce and sweet chili sauce.

I love adding sauces to my food.  But ... I really couldn't ever find a use for soy sauce or sweet chili sauce on my breakfast items.  These seems like strange accompaniments, and I never saw anyone use them.

I did try the sweet chili sauce at once point, and it was exactly the kind I like - sweet, gooey.  But honestly, what was I supposed to use it with?

Made to Order Eggs

The buffet had a nice addition of a made to order egg station on the side, offering up omelets and eggs cooked however you wanted.

The quality of what you got however was highly inconsistent.  I tried an omelet one day, and it was really overcooked, super dry, and only had a tiny sprinkle of cheese.  Meh.

Egg Over Medium.

I'm not generally an egg eater, but I do like a good egg and cheese on english muffin.  So, one day, I threw an english muffin in the toaster, got some of the decent cheddar, and ordered an egg over medium to throw on it.

It certainly wasn't medium, the yolk was fully cooked.  The whites were really tough.  It was totally unseasoned, and just not very good at all.  The chef didn't even look to be paying attention while preparing it.

I tried again a few days later, with a different chefs.  I ordered two eggs over medium.  This time they were perfectly cooked, and I really should have taken a photo.  Stunning.  The whites were perfect, the yolk still a bit runny.  Since I knew the egg chef had the makings for omelets, I also asked for some spinach on top, and she took such care in sautéing up some spinach on the side, in a separate pan, and then laying it on top.  Really nicely done!

Egg Over Medium, topped with spinach, onion, mushroom.

Given the success of my second attempt, I tried a third time, again with toppings, but alas, this did not work.  The egg yolks were fully cooked, the whites rubbery, and the veggies drenched in oil.

Sorry I never got a photo of the decent eggs!

Pastry Station

I was excited to see an extensive baked goods area, since baked goods are always my favorite part of breakfast.  Sadly, the pastries looked exactly like the same ones I had encountered in the executive lounge, and they were truly dreadful.  And indeed, they were the same.  And they were again almost all dreadful.  Ugh.

Danishes, Croissants.

A sign on the side listed the varieties of pastry available, but wasn't really accurate.

Not listed anywhere was the item on the far left, jelly donuts!  I remembered these from the lounge  as perhaps the only baked good that wasn't horrible.  I had one again on my first day at this buffet.  Just like before, the donut itself was kinda stale tasting and fried, but, I liked the crispy outside (not that that is normally a feature of a donut) and the jam inside.  It, like before, was almost good.

Then I had one a few days later, and it was gross.  It tasted oily and old, and even all the sugar on the exterior couldn't save it.  The jelly inside was indeed good though.

Plain Croissant.

The croissant varieties listed on the signage were linseed, almond, ham and cheese, or mini plain.  I never saw the ham and cheese ones however, and there were also chocolate filled ones coated in powdered sugar and large plain ones that were not listed.

I started with the almond.  It was not flaky and not moist.  It was oily and not buttery.  It was chewy even.  Really, a gross croissant base, and this was consistent across all their croissants.  It had a dried out almond paste and sliced almonds on top.  Not a winner.

The long croissant with powdered sugar on top turned out to be chocolate, which wasn't listed on the menu as a croissant.  The croissant dough was again not flaky nor buttery, and inside was just a stick of chocolate.  Unremarkable.

Next I tried the other long one, assuming it would be the listed ham and cheese, since the other long one clearly had seeds in it, and must be the linseed.  But ... it didn't have any ham nor cheese in it, and seemed to just be plain.  It also turned out to be my favorite of the baked goods, and I was sad I didn't try it until my second to last day.  Perhaps I just lucked out, but the exterior was actually a bit flaky.  Inside was doughy.  No, it wasn't a perfect specimen of a flaky, buttery croissant.  But, for a buffet croissant, I actually really quite enjoyed it.  It had a pleasant sweetness and savoriness to it.  Good with jam, dunked in the yolk from a poached egg, or honestly, even just on its own.

The final day, I went back for the plain large croissant, and, it was again good!  I even enjoyed it plain, which is a testament, I normally slather my plain croissants in all sorts of toppings.  I really wish I had discovered these sooner, and it makes no sense to me that all the others were so awful, yet the plain were fine.

The mini plain croissant was not as good, and matched the other croissants - dry, stale, not flaky, not buttery, rather gross.

The linseed was just like the others, dry, not flaky, studded with seeds.

Guava Danish. Diamond Custard.

The danishes listed on the sign were: Apple Turnovers, Guava, Diamond Custard, Chocolate, Mixed Berry, Raisin Scroll, Chocolate Custard.

I never discovered the chocolate custard danish, and I'm guessing the chocolate croissant was what they were considering a chocolate danish?

I tried what must have been the guava danish.  This is the mystery danish that I wasn't able to identify when I had it in the Westin executive lounge.  I said it had a "a center filled with a reddish paste (jam?)".  I thought it might be quince.  It turned out to be guava I guess.

The pastry was again crappy, but I liked the sweet filling, so I extracted it and added it to my muesli.

The Diamond Custard had a custard filling that was really bad.  Warm custard is not a good thing.  And of course, the pastry base was gross.

The Mixed Berry danish again had the poor pastry base and some mediocre mixed berry jam/paste inside, with a lattice and drizzle of icing on top.  Not good.

The apple turnover however was the worst.  The pastry itself wasn't any worse than the others, and perhaps was even a bit flaky, but the filling was just a big pile of mush.  I really did not like it.

Muffins: Chocolate, Blueberry, Raspberry, Cinnamon Roll.

The sign didn't mention cinnamon rolls, but they were there every day.

I of course tried one, since, well, cinnamon rolls.  It was totally dried out.  Burnt even.  And it didn't have any cinnamon flavor.

Moving on to the muffins.  I knew that I hated the blueberry and raspberry muffins in the lounge, so this time I tried the chocolate.   It was not the worst thing ever, but was basically a chocolate cupcake or brownie.  Really not a breakfast item.  I liked the little chocolate chips strewn on top.  It was also strangely moist on top ... which works for a chocolately item.  It was  not a good muffin, but not the worst thing on offer.  I particularly liked it if I slathered it with peanut butter.  Because, well, chocolate and peanut butter.  I never said I was a healthy breakfast eater!

Of course, I tried the chocolate one again a few days later, and, it was drier, staler, and had a strange bitter funk to it.  I'm wondering if perhaps they actually only bake these off every couple days, and it depends how fresh you get them?  Next time, I'll have to collate my experiences with day of the week ...

I also tried a raspberry almond muffin in a fit of desperation (er, curiosity).  It was just as bad as I recalled: really strange base flavor, only one raspberry in the whole muffin, gross, gross.

Breads.

The quickbread menu listed banana and carrot, but there was a third variety.  I tried it, and it was loaded up with nuts, seeds, and fruit.  I can't even list all the things I found in it, but it definitely contained dried apple, dried apricot, macadamias, and a bunch of seeds.  Perhaps I'd call it a muesli loaf?  It was ok but nothing special.

The banana bread was dry and not very tasty.

Not listed on a sign anywhere were some rolls in a basket next to the breads (not in this photo).  I thought that they would be sweet, perhaps the chocolate custard filled item I couldn't find before?  Nope.  They turned out to be ... a sundried tomato savory rolls.  Given that I thought it was going to be sweet chocolate, this was quite the surprise.  And, like everything, it was dry and totally stale tasting.  Sigh.

Read More...

Airport Dining: Takeout from Giants Clubhouse @ SFO

Update Reviews, 2019

In early 2019, I flew ... a lot.  Every other week it seemed.  I'll put a positive spin on it: it gave me a chance to try so many things from Giant's Clubhouse at SFO!

January 2019 Visit

Another day cruising through SFO Terminal 3, and another round of takeout from the Giant's Clubhouse.

Last time, I was fairly impressed with the kale caesar salad (with fascinating vegan shrimp!), but not so much with the side of cornbread.  This time, in January, again just wanting a small bite I opted to try another side, and of course, I also wanted something sweet, and, not having not been impressed with the ice cream sundae I had from Yankee Pier around the corner, I decided to try their version.

Both were ok, not great, not memorable.

Jalapeno Jicama Slaw.  $5.95. (Side)

.

The slaw was ... fine.

I didn't really find much jicama, but what I did find was nice, it added a good juicy element to the slaw.  Also in the mix was standard cabbage (purple, green) and carrots.

Plus of course, this is jalapeno slaw, so there was the jalapeno, sliced a larger than I'd expect.  But hey, it *is* jalapeno slaw after all?  It had kick, too much really, when you got a bite with with a big piece in it, and there was a considerable number of those big pieces.

It was lightly dressed, crisp, fresh.  A fine slaw, although I wish the dressing had a bit more going on, at least, more seasoning?  I wanted some cracked black pepper to put on top.

Simple Sundae, Caramel. $6.95.

"Two scoops Strauss Family vanilla ice cream with your choice of chocolate, caramel, or strawberry sauce."

Given how unimpressed I was with the "Funday Sundae" from down the hall at Yankee Pier, I wanted to try their take on a simple sundae.   Sometimes a girl just really wants a little ice cream.

This one at least gave me a few options: chocolate, caramel, or strawberry, and had a good pedigree as the base (Strauss).  I can't say it looked considerably better, but, it had more promise.

The ice cream wasn't really "two scoops" as described, but rather a bunch of small scoops, half scoops, clearly someone had a hard time scooping it.  At least that meant the ice cream was quite frozen, so it didn't melt too quickly on me.

The caramel was amusingly smothering the bottom of the bowl, and then additional caramel was drizzled on top.  It was *very* very thick caramel.  Sweet, generic caramel.  But so thick, it stuck to the spoon and made it so I often had a big mouth full of just caramel.

The ice cream was simple vanilla.  Served to hard to enjoy right when it was served, but time took care of that problem.  I would have been annoyed if I was eating it there, or if I wanted my ice cream right away.  It was fine ice cream, Strauss is a decent brand, and it was certainly better than the icy generic ice cream from Yankee Pier.

It also had two little half-hearted squirts of what looked like canned whipped cream.  No cherry.

So overall, it was, well, a simple sundae.  Fine ice cream, generic simple toppings, no more, no less.  Considerably better than Yankee Pier.  Bring some sprinkles and nuts, and make it your own, and it likely would be a decent little sundae.  Oh, and $1 cheaper than Yankee Pier too ...

March 2019 Visit

Another day, another visit through SFO, that is what it feels like sometimes.   This visit was literally just a month later.

This time I finally opted to get a legit meal, as I was quite hungry, and decided not to wait until the meal served on my flight. As always, I ordered takeaway, and this time, I was shocked by how quickly it arrived, a complete contrast to the agonizingly slow previous visits, and surprising given that I ordered a hot main dish, and not just sides or dessert.

Sadly though, I didn't really care for it.

IT IS OUTTA HERE! $14.95.

"Open faced oven roasted sliced turkey breast, toasted cornbread, cranberry jam, mushroom sauce, potato puree, crispy onion strings."

This is listed as a "sandwich", although, clearly not one, served "open faced", but also, without sliced bread, rather, it uses corn bread as a base. I think calling this an open faced sandwich is a bit of a stretch. But anyway.

Now, I'll admit this was an odd order for me. I don't really eat sandwiches (although, again, I knew it wasn't really going to be one). I don't like turkey. But do you know what I do like? Everything else in the description - crispy onion strings! Potato puree! Mushroom sauce! And I was willing to give the cornbread another try, although it was just ok last time.

When I opened my box, I thought the majority of it was ... gravy. I laughed, but was secretly thrilled, and dove right in.

Once I took a spoonful though, I realized it was the potato puree, a rather thick, gloopy mashed potato. Too far in the "glue" direction for my taste, and clearly overworked in some way. The mushroom sauce was on top of that, and it was gravy-like, with chunks of mediocre mushroom. Not much positive to say about it either.

I was sad, as warmed mashed potatoes and gravy sounded wonderful, but I had more to explore, and moved on to the toppings.

The crispy onion strings were fine, but were more of a garnish than I anticipated, I thought I'd have a reasonable portion of them. They were crispy, and salty, and were a nice contrast to the gloopy potato.

The cranberry jam was also fine, and had some chunks of cranberry. If the potato and gravy had been better, I think I would have really liked mixing it in.

IT IS OUTTA HERE: Underneath.

The majority of the dish however was not the base mash, nor the toppings, it was the cornbread and turkey.

The turkey was really just slightly thicker sliced deli meat, a few slices, and, since I don't like turkey, I didn't bother try it.

Under the turkey was the cornbread, the same as I had before just as a side, and ... just as lackluster. It was warm, but, eh. Nothing particularly great about the cornbread, not the flavor, nor the texture.

This dish had so much hope, and I really thought I could craft some very tasty bites of cornbread + mash + gravy + onion strings + cranberry sauce ... but alas, nope.

I would not get this again.

April 2019 Visit

Yup, another day, another landing in SFO, another visit to the SF Giants Clubhouse to get salads (and this time soup and chili) to bring home for dinner. And yes, just a month later. I was traveling ... too much.

I picked this location based on memories of the kale caesar, and wanted to give the rest of the salad lineup a try.

Large Chowder, Small Chili with Cornbread, 2 Entree Salads, 1 Side Salad. $50.

Ah, airport food and pricing.  A $50 feast?

Clam Chowder. Large. $10.

"Classic New England clam chowder with smoked bacon." 

This was ... mediocre clam chowder.  A bit too thin and watery, not much flavor, and certainly not many clams.  And ... where was the promised smoked bacon?  I didn't find nor taste it.

Generic oyster crackers came on the side.

We got a large, so we could share it, and it was a decently large portion.  The small is $8.25.  I wouldn't get this again, as it was just too boring.

Turkey Chili. Small. $7.25.

"Topped with cheddar cheese and onions, served with toasted corn bread."

I mostly got this for my companion, but I tried some, because sometimes I do love chili.  It was fine, not offensive chili, not much spice, but decent flavor, decent consistency, not too thin, and loaded with vegetables.  The generous amount of vegetables was a bit odd (so much corn!), but wasn't bad exactly.

The turkey was ground turkey, in chunks, and I appreciated that I couldn't really tell it wasn't beef, given how much other flavor was in the chili.

For some reason my chili didn't come with cheddar cheese and onions (boo), and the cheese really would have made a difference.  As would sour cream.  I'm used to loading up my chili.

I got the small for $7.25, and it was a fairly decent serving.  The large is $10, and would certainly be the size to share with someone.

Toasted Corn Bread (Side, with Chili).

I had this as a side before, and didn't love it, and only quasi-realized it was coming with the chili.  I wonder if I could have subbed it out for another side, since they are the same price?

I still tried it, it was warm, toasted, but still just kinda boring corn bread, no real grit to it, no kernels of corn, etc.  My companion threw it out.

This is also available as a side for $5.95, so does make the chili just a <$2 add-on?

Kale Caesar. $10.95.

"Dinosaur kale, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, garlicky sourdough croutons and radishes tossed in a creamy parmesan cheese Caesar dressing. *contains anchovies."

Since I liked this before, I got it again, but remembered to get the dressing on the side this time.

I did forget how it randomly comes with cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, but I did again really like the torn kale base - slightly bitter, super fresh, great hearty texture.  I also liked the grated parmesan, but wished it included larger parmesan shards, or at least shreds, like Yankee Pier.

This also gave me the chance to try the dressing separately, and I did like it.  Loaded with tons of grated parmesan, it had a quite thick consistency, and yes, it had real anchovy in it.  Slightly more ... lemony (?) than I would want, so it had some tang, but still, a good Caesar dressing.  I still prefer the one from Yankee Pier though.

Giant's Super Salad. $10.95.

"Dinosaur kale, dried cranberries, toasted California walnuts, quinoa pilaf tossed with a lemon olive oil salad dressing."

Just to try a different salad, and because this one got decent reviews, I opted for the Giants Super Salad too, with the same torn kale base, and a slew of dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, and mixed quinoa thrown on top.  Had I really thought about this, I wouldn't have gotten it, since I don't like dried cranberries at all, am bored by simple toasted nuts, and only like quinoa when its crispy ... oh, and I hate vinaigrettes ... 

And, uh, predictably, I didn't actually like this.  I liked the kale base, the same as the Caesar, but the mushy quinoa I wanted nothing to do with, I hated the hard dried cranberries, and the walnuts were fine but boring.  And the dressing?  Yup, just lemon vinaigrette.  Meh.

I give Giant's Clubhouse  credit for a healthy, colorful offering though, with protein and textures.  You can of course add on any of the same proteins as the other salads, but it is complete enough as it is with the nuts and quinoa.  It also comes with a suggestion to add feta for $2, which I didn't due since I don't really like feta either..

Simple Mixed Greens with Ranch. $5.95.

This salad is considered just a side salad, and I had my choice of dressing: Caesar, ranch, blue cheese, and lemon olive oil. Since I was already getting the caesar and lemon vinaigrette, I got the ranch to try something else.

The salad was, well, simple mixed baby greens, with slices of radish, and the same cucumbers and tomatoes that the caesar also contained (they had just settled to the bottom so not really seen here). The radish slices were particularly crisp and quite strong flavor, which I appreciated.

The ranch was great, a very herby ranch, and, much like the caesar, was fairly thick. I'd gladly get this ranch again, but I'd want ... carrots to dunk in it? Much like the caesar, the portion was larger than necessary, so I brought it home and did just that.

It was a small salad, correctly sized for a side salad, but felt a bit pricey at $5.95.

Original Review, December 2018

Airport dining.  Generally overpriced, low quality, captive audiences.  Generally something I avoid, but I've been traveling so much lately that doing more complicated dining is just more effort than I want to take sometimes.

So, airport dining it is.  And sometimes, I just want to see how much I agree with the Yelpers ... a fascinating hobby, right?

My destination: the Giants Clubhouse at SFO Terminal 3, adjacent to the gate I stepped off an airplane at.  Yelpers ... *hate* the place.  Really, even for airport dining, they hate it.  I was really curious to find out why, given that the photos all made it look decent, and I couldn't quite understand what it is that they don't like.

I'm glad I took the gamble. Yes, it was airport dining, and I got takeout, but, I found it dramatically higher quality than expected, fresh, decently tasty, and I'd go back to try more. (Update: I did go back more!)

Setting.

This ... is a sports bar.  No question.

And I happened to be there during some dramatic game, that is all I know, as everyone on my fight was watching, making noises together as things happened, and couldn't believe they had to get off the flight during the bottom of the 8th.  They all rushed to the Giants Clubhouse, or other venues playing the game, to stand in the way, not order anything, and keep watching.

Anyway.  Yes, ball game, on all the screens, everywhere.  

Regular full service dining is available, check in at host stand, get seated at a real table, with dedicated wait staff.  Bar seating is available first-come first serve, and is also where you order take out, which is what I did.

The bar looked well stocked, yet reviewers all say the drinks are horrible.

I was able to easily place my takeout order, and the staff were friendly, but it did take a while, nearly 20 minutes, for just a salad and side.  That said, they were quite busy.

Lunch / Dinner Menu - October 2018.

The lunch and dinner menu attempt to really embrace the Giants theme.  This menu is not one you can quickly scan.  It requires reading all the words.

Soups are called "Who's on First" (clam chowder, chili, tomato).  Appetizers are "Get in Line" (chicken wings, garlic fries).  The next section is "Triples Alley", with sliders, tacos, and tostadas.  Then comes salads, just called, "Entree Salads".  I guess the creative energies got lost here?

Sandwiches and burgers too just get called "Sandwiches & Burgers", although each item has nondescriptive game inspired names (e.g. "It is outta here!" is the open faced turkey sandwich on cornbread with mashed potatoes, cranberry jam, mushroom sauce, and crispy onions).  Here you can find chicken, ahi, and veggie burgers, in addition to your classic beef options.

The menu is rounded out by a large collection of interesting sounding sides (jalapeno jicama slaw? turnip jalapeno kimchi?), hot dogs ("Grab Some Pine, Meat!"), and a lackluster "Home Run Desserts" menu with just cookies and ice cream (although, to be fair, it is Strauss).

Kale Ceasar. $10.95 + New Wave Foods Crispy Vegan Shrimp $7.

"Dinosaur kale, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, garlicky sourdough croutons, and radishes tossed in a creamy parmesan cheese Caesar dressing.  *contains anchovies."

I ordered this for three key reasons: first, fresh off a flight, I wanted salad, not something heavy and fried, and I knew I mostly wanted to grab it to bring home to eat in my more comfortable house.  second, I have a serious thing again "caesar" that doesn't have anchovies, so I was thrilled to see that they did it legit.  And third ... all salads had an option of adding on protein, such a steak, grilled chicken, seared ahi, or ... vegan crispy shrimp?  I was fascinated by this idea, and wanted to try it.

I made one error in my order though, forgetting to ask for the dressing on the side, always a move I do for several reasons: I can eat half then and save the rest without it getting soggy, it gives me protection if I don't like the dressing so I can just use something else instead, and, it prevents it from being over/under dressed.  I blame airplane head.

I had no choice but to eat it right away, right?  Plus, the box was warm, which I was not expecting, until I realized the crispy shrimp was freshly heated up.

This was actually a quality salad.  Fresh chunks of kale, torn into appropriate size pieces, I always like them a bit bigger like this.  I found the addition of cucumbers, tomatoes, and radishes a bit odd, but, all were fresh, sliced into just right (e.g. not too small, not too big) size pieces, and added color and additional freshness.  The ratio of cherry tomatoes (sliced in half) was a bit high though, you can't tell from the photo, but, there were really tons of them, and they weren't great, likely haven been refrigerated.  The radishes were pleasantly sharp.  Really, a better base than I was expecting.

Now, the dressing, a critical component.  The salad was dressed just right, plenty coating the veggies, adding creaminess, but not drowning anything.  And the flavor?  Decent.  You could taste plenty of parmesan, a bit of anchovy.  However, Yankee Pier, around the corner, has better Caesar dressing.

The croutons were ok, but I don't like sourdough, and I didn't find them that garlicky.  Another area Yankee Pier wins, theirs are nicely seasoned.

I was pretty pleased at this point, and moved on to the most interesting part: crispy vegan shrimp?!

New Wave Foods: Crispy Vegan Shrimp (close up).

The product is made by New Wave Foods, a small startup in SF, made from soy protein and algae.  Just go with it.

The shrimp, at least on the outside, did indeed look like regular crispy shrimp, the right size and shape.  The panko coating was crispy.  I almost wondered if they accidentally gave me the real crispy shrimp instead of the vegan ones I asked for (also on the menu, for the crispy shrimp tacos).

Where is my breading?! 

And then I found one where the breading had fallen off.  Oh yeah, that is not real shrimp!

Once I bit in I could tell the texture wasn't quite right.  In some ways ... it was better?  Often shrimp are not prepared well, and are chewy, not properly cleaned, etc.  None of those problems here.

New Wave Foods: Crispy Vegan Shrimp (interior).

So, decent texture, crispy exterior, but, not really much flavor, and clearly "fake meat".  I wanted a dipping sauce on the side for these.  But overall, a fascinating item, and I'm glad I tried.

Overall, I was shocked by the quality of this salad.  Every element was well prepared.  The $10.95 base price might be a little high for a small-ish salad, but, it was airport dining, and compared to the other salads available in the terminal for the same price, its clearly much, much higher quality.  The $7 add on for the generous portion of shrimp seemed entirely reasonable too.

I'd get this again.

Side: Toasted Corn Bread. $5.95.

To go with my salad, I also ordered a side of corn bread, the one item from the menu that Yelpers do seem to actually agree is good.

I appreciated that it was toasted, warmed all the way through, crispy on the outside.  I appreciated the grit inside, and the corn kernels.  But ... it didn't really do it for me.  The flavor wasn't there, and mostly, it was just dry, without any honey butter to slather on it.

I took it home, and added honey butter, but still didn't love it.  I had another piece with jam for breakfast, like a corn muffin, and still didn't really like it.  I'm still not sure what about it doesn't do it for me, but, something.

The order was large, 3 full size pieces for $5.95, but I'd prefer a cheaper option with fewer pieces.  I didn't need 3. 

I would not get this again.

Read More...

Breadtop, Sydney

I've been scoping out Breadtop, a chain of bakeries, in Sydney for years.  But I already had my favorite Japanese bakery (Fujipan, sadly now closed), and my favorite bread shop (Dough Collective, also sadly now closed), along with a long list of bakeries to try out, so it took me a long time to finally go make a purchase.

Partially because even among the category of baked goods they produce (e.g. Hong Kong style), there are also 85°C Bakery Cafes nearby, and those I know are good (at least from their Pasadena location), so it took a while for Breadtop to finally make the cut.

It finally did one hot sticky evening, not when I wanted baked goods, which is what most go to Breadtop for, but, when I wanted taro ice cream.  Because, I had *incredible* taro soft serve the day before at Devon Cafe in North Sydney, and I had just tried to get black sesame soft serve at Rice Workshop (don't worry, I got it later), only to find they had closed early, and I needed some ice cream, stat.  I knew Breadtop had little packaged ice creams.

I'd like to say this visit was a success.  I'd like to say I'll be back to have more baked goods.  And, maybe someday, I will.  But I was not pleased with the items I had.

Purple Sweet Potato Mochi.

I've been eyeing the purple sweet potato mochi since the first time I ever stepped inside Breadtop just to scope it out.  They look like dinosaur eggs!  I loved the purple color, although I wished they were purple from taro, not purple sweet potato.  Still, I was eager to try, and added one to my order when I needed to spend a tiny bit more to meet the $5 minimum for using a card (oops, not having Australian currency on hand).

Unfortunately, I didn't like it at all.

The filling was sweet potato paste, thick, not really sweetened, not my thing at all.  And the pretty purple shell was really odd.  I expected a gummy mochi-like shell, and I guess it was kinda gummy, but really it was tough, hard to bite into, and not pleasant.

I took a few bites from outside, a few bites from filling, and discarded it.  I really didn't like it.

Taro Delight Ice Cream.

"Taro ice cream with mochi, shredded coconut and coconut cream."

But I was there for the ice cream.  In the little freezer section, that I literally never saw another human interact with, they have packaged little ice creams.  All sorts of flavors, including pandan and durian.  And, what I had my sights set on: taro!

But not just ice cream, each one was a little sundae, complete with toppings.

This one promised coconut cream (!), shredded coconut, and mochi.

I couldn't wait to get into it.

Taro Delight Ice Cream: Top.

When I peeled back the lid, I can't say it looked appealing.  But I had hope.

It. Was. Horrible. Every aspect of it.  I really believe it had been horribly freezer burned.  I have no other explanation for how it could be so bad.

The first bite I had was of the "coconut cream", the white sauce, I guess.  It did not taste like coconut.  It was not creamy.  It was just sour.  Did not like.  The shredded coconut was soft and soggy.

The mochi was horrible as well, it tasted stale, the texture was odd, not gummy or soft like mochi should be, but also not hard, it is difficult to explain, but trust me that it was very unappealing.

But still, I was in it for the taro ice cream right?

This could win a prize for some of the worst ice cream I've ever encountered.  Seriously.  Like the coconut cream, it too was sour.  And like the coconut cream, it didn't taste like the ingredient it was supposed to be, in this case, taro.  And like the mochi, the texture was all strange, and it tasted stale.  Yes, ice cream can taste stale.

There was something very wrong with this entire thing.  It really, really must have been freezer burned.  I have no other explanation.  So bad.  And nearly $5!

Read More...

HoneyMee, Los Angeles & Irvine

I'll keep this one short.

I discovered amazing soft serve ice cream in Los Angeles.  This discovery was hot on the heels of being introduced to the concept of "milk" soft serve in Tokyo at Silkream, but, it blew away the soft serve from Tokyo (which, I thought was really good to begin with!)

Honeymee makes only one flavor of soft serve: milk.  It is made from Californian milk, so, not quite like in Japan where the shops offering milk ice cream all rave about Hokkaido milk, but, more appropriate for a California location.  Milk soft serve may not sound very exciting, even less so than "vanilla", and the options for toppings aren't exotic either (and mostly are based around honey, which you might expect, given the shop name), but, I assure you, this is a case where simplicity works out.

As a soft serve lover, I'm thrilled to see that the world is now making soft serve even more gourmet, and I can't wait to return to HoneyMee to try more of their creations.

Setting

Honeymee has several shops in the Los Angeles area, the one I first visited was in Little Tokyo, in October.  When I returned to the great LA area, to Irvine, a month later, I was delighted to discover that they had two locations there as well.

Ordering Area: Little Tokyo.

The shop was rather adorable.  I loved the white accents and wood elements.  The menu is displayed, with full images of everything, on colorful screens in front.  It was very easy to know what you'd be getting.

The Irvine location was similar, just without the white wainscoting.

Seating, Honey Products: Little Tokyo.

Seriously, how cute is this?  The place just felt so ... cozy and comfortable.

I loved the assorted honey products they used as decorations, which were not even for sale.  They are just showing off other fun uses of honey and bees wax.

The Irvine location also had a wall of honey products.

Counter Seating: Little Tokyo.

The shop isn't large, but in addition to the little tables, there were also some counters along the wall.

The Irvine location was even smaller.

Food & Drink

Honeymee serves only 4 types of items: ice cream, milkshakes, tea, and waffles (only at some locations). The ice cream is what drew me in, but, my heart skipped a beat when I saw liege waffles on the menu.  I love liege waffles, and they are cooked to order! Alas, my visit was post-lunch, and I really wanted to just try the soft serve.  Next time.

Menu.

The soft serve may only come in one flavor, but, it comes in a number of styles.  The signature creation is the namesake "Honeymee", topped wtih a honey and a small chunk of honeycomb.  If the honeycomb itself is a bit too much for you, the "Sweetie" has just liquid honey.  Craving caffeine? Turn it into an affogato, with coffee and honey.  Or a matcha affogato with matcha and honey.  Not feeling the honey?  The chocolate or caramel sauce are options.  The most elaborate is the "Sweetie Fruitie", with honey and freeze dried fruit.

To any of the ice creams, you can add additional toppings: sliced almonds, granola, honey oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, oreos, honey, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, sea salt..  The standard serving is in a cup (one size only), but you can upgrade to a waffle corn or ... a soft sweet hotdog bun!

For milkshakes, you can go fruity (strawberry, green apple), caffeinated (coffee, matcha), sweet (cookies 'n cream, chocolate, caramel), or floral (lavendar).

Coffee, cold brew, matcha, and assorted teas (sweetened with honey of course), round out the drink menu.

And finally ... waffles.  Liege waffles.  One of my favorite things.  And from reviews I read, HoneyMee does them justice.  They too come in only the plain base, but you can get them topped with honey, cream cheese, nutella, strawberry, blueberry, cream cheese & strawberry, cream cheese & blueberry, or of course, ice cream.  I was so tempted, but simply not hungry enough.

Visit #1: Los Angeles, 2017

Dear Caramel w/ Granola. $4.70 + $0.30.

"True milk ice cream with Ghirardelli® caramel syrup & sprinkles of sea salt from France."

I'll admit that I wasn't really excited by most of HoneyMee's choices for ice cream styles.  I didn't actually want honey.  And I didn't want chocolate or matcha since I didn't want caffeine.  Which left ... caramel.  So, the "Dear Caramel" is was.

Next, toppings.  Here is where I usually go crazy, but, at HoneyMee, the toppings were all ... healthy.  Nuts, seeds, oats ... those aren't really my style.  I was going to skip additional toppings entirely, but they have a $5 minimum for credit card purchases, and a topping was thus needed to hit the minimum.  Thus, I *had* to order one.  I went for the granola, thinking that some crunch would be nice at least.

My creation was handed over a minute late, a with the caramel drizzled down the sides and on top, granola sprinkled over the top, and sea salt shaken on at the end.

Well, huh, it sure did look good.

And it tasted incredible.

The ice cream really was, well, "milk" flavor, for lack of any better description.  It was creamy as could be, not too sweet, but also not tart.  It just tasted fresh and pure, if that makes any sense.

The sweet caramel complimented it beautifully, and I think the honey probably really would have been perfect, particularly if you like honey.

The granola added a nice crunch, what I wanted, but, I'd prefer chopped pralines or at least nuts other than almond slices.  Still, I was glad that I "had" to order it.

My only real complain is that there was only a touch of salt.  The bites I got with the salt and caramel together were absolutely lovely, the salt amped it up just like I hoped it would, but, I think I only had 3 such bites.

Overall though, this was incredible, some of the creamiest soft serve I've had, it melted beautifully, and the simple toppings worked well.  While I do like places to offer more than one size, the size was just right, I was ready to be done with it by the end, but it wasn't too much.

I'd gladly get another, although I think I actually would try honey next time ...

Visit #2: Irvine, April 2018

Yuzu Afogado.

"True milk ice cream with natural honey, yuzu peel & pulp."

In the month between my visits to Honeymee, they introduced a new topping: yuzu, sorta a marmalade-ish syrup.  I was super tempted by this, as it sounded more unique, but I also know that sometimes I don't like citrus desserts.

So I asked if I could try the yuzu first, and was given a little sample cup of it.  I quasi-liked it.  It was a bit tangy and a bit sweet all at once, and a decent texture.  I almost ordered it myself, but decided against it.

Yuzu is available on ice cream, as a milk shake, or in hot or iced tea.  One of my companions did get the new "Yuzu Afogado", which was just a regular Darling topped with the yuzu, pictured here.

Sweetie + Coconut Flakes + Black Sesame Cone.

"True milk ice cream with 100% natural liquid honey swirl."

After much agonizing, I decided to get the honey topping, since my conclusion last time was that I should try the honey.  And just for a bit more texture, I added coconut flakes, which I also thought would combine nicely with the honey.

And then ... I did a crazy thing.  I opted for a cone, rather than a dish.  Why?  Because HoneyMee also added 3 new cones, in vibrant colors, ready for Instagram of course, but also, they were flavored.  Brilliant green matcha, red red velvet, and black black sesame.  They looked cool, and, I would have happily tried any of the flavors.

I thought eating my ice cream last time with a spoon in a cup worked great, but ... I do have a fondness for licking soft serve from a cone, so, cone it was, and black sesame was my entirely random choice.

The first thing I noticed as my massive, single size only, cone was handed over: when you upgrade to a cone, you get a much, much larger portion!  I easily had 1.5x the ice cream as those with cups.

Next of course I noticed that it had a little shelf around it, to catch the toppings as they fell off, and, I think to prevent the cone from turning into a sticky mess when they drizzle the whole thing with honey (which was fairly fun to watch them do).

The honey was indeed the perfect pairing that I hoped it would be.  Sweet and sticky, and really, just perfect with the milk flavor ice cream.  Clearly high quality honey as well.  I was sad when I ran out of honey on the outside, even though, it really was a lot of honey.  I had a bit of remorse that I opted for a cone, since the cups were layered with the caramel/honey/chocolate/etc.

The ice cream was again very creamy, melted perfectly, and tasted like ... milk.  Simple, but so good, it is hard to explain.  I liked the coconut too, but there wasn't much of it.  Next time, I actually think I'd like to try honey and sea salt ...

The cone however was less of a success.  It didn't taste like anything other than a waffle cone.  My companion got a red velvet one, and he felt similar.  We also both wound up with very sticky, honey covered hands.  But, I did love licking the soft serve from the cone, so, not a complete loss.  And ... it also turned out that the inside of the cone was lined with honey!  So, even though I thought I had ran out of honey, once I reached the cone, the honey element came back.  I was thrilled by this.

Overall, I loved my ice cream, and although the cone had flaws, I'd certainly still consider getting a cone again, just because I like to lick cones.  Or I'd get the version in a bun.  Or on a waffle.  Or go back to the cup.  Really, I'd do any option, gladly.

Irvine, May 2018

Another day, another visit to Southern California, back to my office in Irvine.

The day I arrived was a long day (yay, flight delays, yay, meetings), but as soon as I was free at 5pm, I bolted for Honeymee.  It was cold, not sunny "ice cream weather", but, I wanted something to cheer me up.

And it did.

Sweetie + Sea Salt.  $4.70.

This time, I did exactly what I recommended to myself.  The sweetie (e.g. honey topping), plus I asked for sea salt.  If they add it to the caramel and chocolate versions, why not?  "Oh, people love that, sweet and salty", my server said.

One bite in, and I was thrilled.  It wasn't ice cream weather, but I didn't care.  I was shivering.  But I didn't care.  This ice cream.  Is just.  So. Good.

Creamy.  Fascinating "milk" flavor.  Sweet honey.  And, as I hoped, getting a cup rather than a cone was a better move - honey on top, honey drizzled down the sides, honey in the bottom.  It didn't run out in the same way as in the cone.  It did actually trend a bit too sweet for me, but only barely, and it just took making sure I had plenty of ice cream in each spoonful.

It melted perfectly, even though it wasn't very hot outside.

And I'll admit something.  I enhanced my own experience, by bringing my own extra toppings.  The standard Honeymee choices just don't do it for me (besides the honey or caramel).  So I brought my own crushed roasted pecans, white chocolate sprinkles, and caramel crispearls.   I didn't add them until halfway through, since I was perfectly happy enjoying the honey and ice cream at first, but, as I reached the middle, I wanted a bit of texture.  And so I got it.

I loved this.  Will happily get another, every single time I visit.

Read More...

Mr. East Kitchen

What do you do when its 86° in San Francisco?

Wait, rewind, what?

Yeah, it happened.  On a Sunday no less.  To say I was thrilled is an understatement.  I couldn't wait to be outside, and to just enjoy it.

Of course, after a few hours in the heat, I needed something refreshing.  Stat.

I pulled up my latest "order pickup and get fun perks" app of the month, Ritual, and saw I was right near Mr. East Kitchen, a Vietnamese restaurant that is fairly new, located at 5th & Folsom.  They feature bahn mi, pho, and ... boba tea!

The boba is what drew me in, although the menu is pretty limited.  I can't comment on anything else, but, it does seem like a quality establishment, and I hope they succeed.

Open Interior.

The restaurant really is spacious, open, and fairly beautiful inside.  Seating on both sides, huge floor to ceiling windows letting in tons of natural light, and plants everywhere.

A very tranquil, pleasant feeling, immediately making me not feel like I was at 5th & Folsom!

There are also 2 small tables out on the sidewalk.

Drink Station.

Service is order-at-register style, with the drink station adjacent, and kitchen behind.  One staff member takes orders, handles payment, and makes all the drinks (bubble teas, coffee drinks, etc).  He was very busy, even though there were only 2 other people there.

Lychee Fizz, Medium, with Boba. $3.50 + $0.50.

Instead of a classic milky bubble tea, I went for something refreshing.  It was too hot for dairy (well, besides ice cream!)

My drink was fairly simple: ice, sparkling water, two lychees, lychee syrup, and boba.  Well, boba once I reminded the server that I had ordered boba, he first handed it over without.

I also asked for less sweet, and what I got was a pretty sweet drink.  I'm not sure if my less sweet request was ignored along with the boba request, or if this was less sweet?  

It was almost refreshing, the fizzy water and lychee certainly could be refreshing, if the sweetness was toned down.  The lychees inside were fine, likely canned, but not strangely soft or browning.  "Fresh" enough for a canned product.

The boba was done very well, points for that.  Soft, but not mushy, none stuck together.  Quality boba, actually.  I do wish they had options besides just black pearl boba though.

Drinks are available in 2 sizes, medium or large.  I opted for the medium, priced at $3.50, large is $1 more.  Which in this case, I think just means a bigger cup with a bit more sparkling water and ice in it, hence why I didn't go for it.  And since it was sweeter than I wanted anyway, I gladly just added my own extra sparkling water to mellow it out.

The boba was $0.50 extra, and I'm glad I added them.

Overall this was fine, fun to have a sparkling fruity drink actually, and I'd consider it again, but really would want other mix-ins to make it novel.

Read More...

Sushi Fantastic

Update Review June 2019

Remember Sushi Fantastic?  Nah, neither do I.  A casual sushi restaurant just a few blocks from my house, where I ventured years ago to use some free credits on LevelUp, to have some rather forgettable sushi.

Side Salad. $2.

"Iceberg lettuce with miso dressing."

The side salad is a small size, as you'd expect for only $2.

It wasn't quite as advertised, which isn't a bad thing. It wasn't just iceberg lettuce with miso dressing, as there was a chunk of tomato in the container, and other greens (baby spinach in particular), in addition to the iceberg lettuce.

It seemed decent quality though, freshly prepared, crisp lettuce and spinach, no wilting, no browning.  The tomato too seemed as if it had been sliced to order.

It did come dressed already with what I'd consider to be too much vinaigrette, but perhaps that is just because I didn't particularly care for the dressing - I didn't taste miso, and I never really like vinaigrettes anyway.  It sorta just seemed like soy sauce.

Still, for a $2 side salad, a decent product, that could make sense alongside your meal.

Original Review August 2012

I continued on my quest to use my LevelUp free credits, and decided to stop in at Sushi Fantastic, to get a little bit of sushi to go along with my dinner.

Sushi Fantastic is a very casual place, you order at a counter, and then either take your food TOGO or sit in the seating downstairs.  The staff were very friendly.

It didn't quite live up to its name.  I don't really see any reason to go back.

Tamago Nigiri.  $3.

I always end sushi meals with an order of tamago.  I call it my dessert.  When it is good, I love it.  But it is often fairly disappointing, even at great sushi restaurants.  But, I was trying to stick to my $2 free credit budget, so I couldn't actually afford any fish.  Tamago or inari were my choices, so I went with the tamago.

It was listed on the menu for $2, but I was charged $3.  I double checked the online menu after, and saw that it also said $2.  Grumble.

Anyway, my order was served with some mediocre pickled ginger, carrot curls, and some flavorless wasabi.  The tamago was not as sweet as I like, and otherwise unremarkable.  Not bad, but not good.  The rice was actually pretty decent, it didn't fall apart, and had a good vinegar level.

Read More...