Westin Martin Place, Sydney, Executive Lounge

Update Review, July 2018 Visits

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

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

Evening Canapes

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

Drinks

Wine.

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

Spirits.

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

Pinor Noir / Sparkling Water.

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

Sauvignon Blanc.

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

Shiraz.

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

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

Cabernet Sauvignon.

I tried the last red wine, a cabernet sauvignon.

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

Buffet

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

Pepperoni / Artichokes / Bell Peppers.

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

Cheese Platters, Dips.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheese & Dried Fruit.

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

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

Mortadella / Mushrooms / Eggplant.

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

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

Nothing good in this section.

Dried Paw Paw / Walnuts / Dark Chocolate.

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

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

Olives, Crackers, Dried Apricots.

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

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

Crackers were all quite standard.

Pastries.

And ... the sweets.

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

Canapes Platter (Wed).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Heart Shaped Chocolate.

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

Heart Shaped Chocolate: Inside.

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

Canapes Platter (Thurs).

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

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

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

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

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

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

Canapes Platter (Friday).

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

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

Mushroom soup:

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

Crispy potato over rainbow carrot puree:

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

Beef with polenta:

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

Salmon rilletes on toast:

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

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

Chocolate Cross Section.

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

Canapes (Saturday).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

White Chocolate Ganache Filling.

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

Special Dessert: Saturday.

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

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

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

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

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

Update Review #2, February 2016

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Breakfast

Congee and Toppings.

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

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

Pork Dumplings.

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

Scallop Dumplings.

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

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

"Scallop" Dumpling Inside.

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

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

BBQ Pork Buns.

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

Cold Well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Queensland Yoghurt Company Blueberry Yogurt.

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

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

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

Passionfruit Yoghurt.

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

The same went for the passionfruit.

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

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

Cereal, Fruit, Toppings.

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

Pastries.

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

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

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

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

Plum (?) Danish, Chocolate Croissant.

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

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

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

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

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

Evening Canapes

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

Cheeses, Dried Fruit, Figs.

First, cheese and dried fruit.

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

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

Dips, Dried Beef, Antipasti.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Update Review #1, May 2015

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

Mint Tea.

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

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

Evening Canapés.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Original Review, January 2015 Visit

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

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

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

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

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

Breakfast

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

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

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

Hot Food Buffet.

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

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

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

Cereal, Baked Goods.

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

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

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

Blueberry Muffin.

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

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

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

I never tried the third option, chocolate.

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

Danish.

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

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

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

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

Jelly Donut.

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

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

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

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

Bircher muesli, greek yogurt, assorted yogurts.

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

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

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

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

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

Fresh Fruit, Meat.

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

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

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

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

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

Evening Canapés

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

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

Crackers, dried fruit, nuts.

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

Cheese, meat, dips, antipasti.

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

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

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

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

Canapés, night one.

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

From right:

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

Canapés, night two.

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

From top left:

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

Read More...

Lula's Chocolates

Chocolate.  Yes, I am one of the 99% of the world that love chocolate.  I start my day, literally every day, with a piece of chocolate, often a truffle, alongside my coffee.  Honestly, it is what makes me jump out of bed in the morning.

But the rest of my day involves very little chocolate.  Sure, I love a good chocolate cupcake from time to time, or a cookie with chocolate chunks in it, or sometimes a chocolate molten cake but ... its rarely my "go to" style of dessert. 

But my morning chocolates?  Oh yes.

So I was thrilled when I was given chocolate tasting as one of the choices of "fun event" as part of a work (virtual) conference.  A few days before the event, a box of chocolates arrived in the mail, assorted chocolates, from Lulu's chocolates, with a note telling me ... NOT to eat them until the event.  It was excruciating!

For the event, the Founder and Head Chocolatier Scott Lund lead us in a tasting, telling us history of his family and confection making, describing the types of chocolate, and of course, telling us what all our goodies were.  I learned plenty of fun facts about chocolate, from sourcing to how they mark the tops of hand dipped chocolate.  It was educational yet interesting, quite interactive (he asked us lots of trivia questions!), and of course, a wonderful excuse to taste some chocolate.

If you'd like to pick some of these up, Lulu's is based in Monterey, California, but they also distribute via Whole Foods and a few other grocery stores.

Box of a dozen chocolates.

"These small-batch, hand-crafted butter cremes, caramels, nut clusters, and truffles are classic chocolate redefined. Each box includes equal parts butter cremes, caramels, nut clusters, and truffles."

For the event, we were shipped boxes of 13 (chocolatier's dozen?) assorted chocolates, several each of each type that Lula's makes: caramels, butter creams, truffles, and nut clusters.

It became a fun guessing game to identify which I had in my box.

Caramels

"Our small-batch, slow-cooked caramels feature a smooth, rich, and unrivaled combination of chew and chocolately.Discover how well salty and sweet play together with our signature sea salt caramels."

Our boxes contained two styles of caramels, thin luxury salt flavor ones, and larger, square "signature" caramels.

Guide to the Smaller Caramels.

Lula's makes 9 kinds of specialty caramels, all the same shape, all with dark chocolate coating, just with different salts (or spices) used to flavor and top the pieces.  The salts come from all around the world.

My box contained 3 kinds of caramels, and even with the guide, I found it quite hard to guess which was which.  Tasting them didn't generally help either ... my salt tasting skills are not developed enough to know pacific blue salt from hiwa kai salt from alaea salt ...

My mission to determine which 3 I had was made more difficult by not even knowing which 3 I might have.   I was able to rule out the pacific blue, cyprus flake, and fleur de sel, as none were clearly classic white salts.  Which left 6.  I also rules out sriracha as that one was supposed to have the accent marks clustered rather than evenly distributed.  Down to 5.  But from here, I was just guessing.

Anyway, caramels are some of my least favorites in any box of assorted chocolates.   I like chocolate, I love caramel ... just, not together.  The Lula's caramels were clearly well made, but, not something I gravitate towards.

Vintage Merlot?

"With a grape tint, this salt poured in a long band along the surface of the caramel results in a lovely bouquet for any palate."

The flecks on top almost looked like they had a purple-ish hue, so my guess is that this was the "vintage merlot"?  Either than, or it was the himalayan pink (pink tint) or alaea (red tint).  Or, um, even the hiwa kai (grey tint).  See, this was hard!!!

The caramel was good ... for a caramel.

Dark chocolate coating was smooth and clearly high quality.  The caramel had a deep flavor to it, a nice pull and chew to it.

But it was still a caramel, and I still just felt like the chocolate and caramel didn't compliment each other.  I wanted to nibble the high quality chocolate off the sides, and just eat the caramel center later.

I never figured out if I was correct in my guess of which salt it was, I didn't detect a "lovely bouquet" in this ...

**+ because I just don't care for caramels, but, I give credit for what was clearly a well made piece.

Hiwa Kai?

"Large, course, and distinctly charcoal-hued, this beautiful Hawaiian salt is sprinkled breezily across the length of the caramel."

Another caramel, another quasi-educated guess.  The salt *was* down the length, and the hue did seem charcoal and was certainly large and course ...

I really adored the salt on top.  The large crystals were perfect for giving a serious pop of flavor.

The caramel itself seemed much the same though, I didn't taste anything different in the caramel, it again had a good chew, but isn't really my thing.  Same with the dark chocolate - fine quality, but, eh?

So again, overall mostly **+, but I did like the salt a bit more on this one.

Himalayan Pink? Vanilla Bean?

""Marked by the soft pink tint, this coarse salt is hand-mined deep in the Himalayan Mountains and scattered lightly over the surface."

My final caramel was the hardest to ID.  The salt was coarse, and it was scattered over the entire surface, rather than down the length, but I truly couldn't tell if it was "marked by a soft pink tint" (Himalayan Pink) or not (Vanilla Bean).  Tasting it did not help.

This one was much like the others - thick, rich caramel inside, decent depth of flavor, and decent enough dark chocolate coating.  And, much like the others, I found it just "ok", not really appreciating the melding of the chocolate and caramel flavors.

Yet again, **+.

Guide to Square Caramels.

Lula's also makes larger caramels, generally part of their assorted chocolate boxes, in 7 varieties, milk or dark chocolate coated, or with nuts such as almonds, cashews, and macadamias, all with their signature sea salt caramel filling.

Our box had only one of this kind, the basic milk chocolate.

Milk Chocolate.

Well ... I liked this even less than the other caramels.  In those, while I didn't like the combination of dark chocolate and caramel, I did still like the dark chocolate.  This one ... the milk chocolate clashed even more for me than the dark chocolate had with the caramel, and the caramel was extremely chewy.

I had a hard time liking this one, it just seemed sweet, and more like a classic candy bar, than a nice piece.

**+.

Truffles

Truffle's Guide.

"At first bite you detect the unique difference in Lula's truffles - a lighter, creamier, more perfectly accented ganache in flavors designed to delight every chocolate lover's palate."

Truffles are generally my favorite types, so I was happy to see four in our box, out of Lula's lineup of 10 pieces.  Two were easy to distinguish - cafe with the coffee bean on top, and blood orange, one of few round pieces, but the other two I mostly had to guess - cinnamon and chocolate?  Although warm cholula or lavender were my next guesses.

Blood Orange.

The first truffle I tried was the one I could fairly easily identify: blood orange.  I picked it first because I wanted dark chocolate, and I wanted to save the only other one I could guess (cafe) for last.

While I like oranges, blood oranges in particular, orange and chocolate isn't generally a combo I go for, even though I know it is a classic pairing.

This piece basically met my expectations.  Smooth dark chocolate shell, smoother, lighter but still dark, chocolate ganache inside.  All fine, but not extraordinary.  The orange flavor was very intense, the blood orange Lula's uses comes from Italy.

Overall, fine.  But not really my thing.

**+.

Cafe.

This was one of the easiest pieces in the box to identify, clearly marked with a coffee bean on top.

The shell to this had a nice snap, and the coffee bean provided additional crunch.  Inside was smooth dark ganache.  The ganache didn't seem coffee flavored as I expected however, the only coffee flavor I detected came from the bean itself as I crunched it up in my mouth.  The bean was of course an intense flavor, but, I wished for more flavor throughout.

Still a nice enough piece, ***+.

Chocolate?  Warm Cholula?

Now the guessing game really began.  Was this the "chocolate" one?  "Warm cholula"?  Even ... maybe perhaps "lavender"?  My eyes couldn't tell if this was slightly purple hued, and the granules on top didn't look large enough to be the chocolate, but didn't seem light enough in color to be the cholula.

I think it was the chocolate, but I'm really not 100% certain.  I say this only because I couldn't taste lavender, and it didn't really seem to have any zing to it from hot sauce ...

It turned out to be my favorite piece, whatever it was.

Thick, smooth, rich dark chocolate ganache inside.  It seemed richer and darker than the others.  Snappy, slightly sweet, dark chocolate shell.  A very decadent feeling piece, and I enjoyed it slowly (you know, two bites).

****.

Lavender?  Cinnamon?  Chocolate?

Lavender?  Cinnamon?  Chocolate?  I think lavender?

While looking at this one I couldn't quite tell which it was, and had guessed lavender, but as soon as I took a bite it became clear.   Cinnamon!

This piece was much like the previous, a rich, dark, smooth chocolate ganache inside, lovely texture, and seriously, so rich.  But this time it truly did have a different taste to it, quite clearly fairly sharp cinnamon.

I really appreciated the stronger flavor, and the smooth creamy nature of the filling, but I wasn't particularly into the cinnamon, as it seemed to clash with the lovely chocolate.  Another one that I could tell was really a quality piece, just not my pick.

**+.

Butter Creams

Butter Creams.

"Every butter cream is distinctively marked with a letter designating the flavor." 

Butter cremes come in a dozen flavors, ranging from fruity (cherry cordial, raspberry, orange, lemon), to nutty (almond, pecan), to flavors like mint, vanilla, and coconut.

The butter creams were easy to figure out which was which, all round pieces, as promised, with distinctive markings.  Our box contained only 2.

Milk Chocolate Penuche.

I started the the penuche, easily marked with a "P" for penuche.

If you are wondering what penuche is, so were we, and it was explained to be a fudge-like candy made from brown sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla.

This was ... really, really sweet.  The filling, a light blonde color, reminded me of a maple sugar candy, just without the maple taste, if that makes any sense.  Just, sweet.  So sweet.  It was smooth, creamy, and unlike anything I've had before.  Penuche, I guess.

The milk chocolate shell didn't offset the sweetness.  

I was happy to try something so different, but, this piece didn't really have a place in my life.  Too sweet.

**.

Dark Chocolate Mint.

The final buttercream piece was easily the most distinctive: it came wrapped in foil.  The only one in the box presented this way.  Inside was a dark chocolate piece, marked with a "M" for mint, just like the penuche.

This was a decent piece: smooth dark chocolate coating, and fairly minty filling.  The mint didn't taste fake nor medicinal.  Like a big peppermint patty, just, higher quality than your standard York.

***.

Nut Clusters

Nut Clusters Guide.

"A collection of perfectly fresh nuts complemented by Lula's dark and milk chocolate."

Nut clusters are commonly amongst my favorite pieces in assorted boxes of chocolates, so I was glad to see three in our box - two dark, one milk.  I wouldn't have been able to tell which was which though had the class leader not tell us, they all looked ~the same, and the guide wasn't exactly helpful -  "almonds, cashews, pecans, & macadamia nuts", is all it said.

Milk Chocolate Macadamia.

Yes, macadamias.  One of my favorite nuts. In the class, we learned that the macadamias come from Hawaii.  I was quite excited for this one, although I do generally prefer dark chocolate with my macadamias.

It was, yet again, a perfectly well made piece.  3 full macadamias inside.  Smothered in plenty of milk chocolate.  No complaints really about the construction, the ratios, the quality of the nuts or the chocolate, but ... it was rather boring.  I'm not sure why, but no flavors popped.  That said, the day I tried this was the day after I had polished off a bag (yes, entire bag) of dark chocolate macadamias from Hawaii, so, uh, perhaps my baseline was skewed having had so many from a company that specializes just in pieces like this, and were dark rather than milk chocolate ...

Anyway, a fine piece, it just didn't excite me.  ***.

Dark Chocolate Almond.

My final nut cluster was the most boring sounding to me, as almonds are rather ... "everyday" nuts for me.  And indeed, the almonds used by Lula's are Californian.  Nothing exotic here.

The piece was good, whole almonds, plenty of them.  Quality dark chocolate.  

It didn't blow me away, there was nothing particularly unique about it, just a decently well made standard piece.  

***.

Dark Chocolate Cashew.

The last cluster I tried was also dark chocolate, this time with cashews.  In the class, we learned that Lula's sources the cashews from India.  I find cashews rather polarizing, sometimes I love them, sometimes I hate, but smothered in dark chocolate,  I had hope.

It was much like the almond cluster for me.  Whole cashews, at least 3 in my piece.  Good crunch from them.  Quality smooth dark chocolate.  And yet, boring.

I think what this piece, and the other nut clusters, was missing was salt.  For me, I just needed something to make the flavors pop a bit more ...

***.

Read More...

Basil Cart

Oh Thai food.  I love it.

Correction.  

I love it when I'm in Sydney (where the now closed Sailor's Thai will always hold a special place in my heart, specifically the canteen, although I dined at the full restaurant too, or even casual delivery like Spice I Am.  My favorite still is Longrain, even though sometimes inconsistent, and always the best choice for a group and I always yearn for their caramelized pork hock!  Longrain even has a location in Tokyo, which I can also recommend.).  I've loved it in Singapore.  But in the US?  It so commonly lets me down.  I've tried high end Thai (like Michelin starred Kin Khao, that was actually good, but not extraordinary), I've tried fast food style, and everything in-between.  There is never one particular thing that fails, sometimes, sure it is the spice level, or the freshness of produce, but usually, the flavor profiles just aren't as complex as I want them to be.  There is something magical about good thai food, this perfect harmony of sweet and sour and spicy ... and, well, we just don't see it often here.

The best I've found in SF, for the curious, is Lapat's Thai Noodle Bar (not particularly authentic, but really extensive, interesting menu, and well prepared), or for reliable but quite Americanized Thai, there is always Osha (which I've used for many private events).

Anyway, the takeout and delivery heavy days of COVID lead me to try another in SF, this time, one without a storefront: Basil Cart.

"Akin to the street food of Bangkok, vendors have a focus on what they do best. Basil Cart will provide what we do best while using high quality ingredients (non-GMO and sustainable meats) for our mindful and health-conscious community of San Francisco. "

Basil Cart operates out of one of the "cloud kitchens", located at 60 Morris St, a warehouse converted into a slew of mini kitchens.  They are available for pickup, or, more commonly, delivery.  They don't have *tons* of reviews on Yelp so far, but those that exist are strong: 4.5 stars overall.

I know very little about the business, besides that they offer a large Thai menu, and also do some catering.

Delivery

"An online food delivery service built for easy and reliable ordering for groups 🤩 "

I ordered delivery via a catering service, Catermate, which I think is relatively new in the area.  They are good for handling large group orders, and have a curated list of restaurants they work and deliver directly from.  Delivery was on time, I received a text message when my order had been picked up, and when it was delivered.  No issues at all, and they even included a hand written customized note to my team!

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

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

I was pleased with my delivery experience. The hot food arrived hot, the cold dishes were still chilled, and everything was very well labelled.  It arrived right on time.  Kudos to the Catermate team for the ordering/delivery experience.

Cuisine

The Basil Cart menu is fairly extensive, all your Thai classics, plus a couple less commonly seen items.  All are well designated if they are gluten-free or vegan (or, uh, really, "vegan friendly").

Starters

The starters section of the menu from Basil Cart is extensive to say the least.  Healthy options like avocado fresh summer rolls, plenty of fried things, soups, and hybrid items like potstickers, egg rolls, and even thai samosas.  And, uh, fried calamari?  We ordered several items.

Basil Fried Calamari. (gf). $13.95.

"Lightly battered calamari tossed in Thai basil, jalapeño and lime served with sweet chili sauce with ground peanuts."

Not a common appetizer at Thai restaurants (the last time I had it at a Thai restaurant was probably back at Muum Maam in Sydney), but I love calamari, and I love sweet chili sauce, so, this sounded like it had potential.

The calamari was large rings, not the more standard smaller style you find at American style restaurants, and no body pieces like often found in Italian fried calamari.

The batter was quite flavorful, but soft and soggy.  Obviously, a downside of delivery.  Much of the coating was falling off.

I liked the generous slices of jalapeño and plentiful Thai basil, but I don't care too much for red bell peppers, so I avoided those - and they seemed rather out of place anyway.

It sadly did not come with the sweet chili sauce it was supposed to.

Overall, I think this was likely good when fresh - the calamari wasn't chewy, fishy, nor rubbery, and I liked the flavor of the batter, but it was pretty soggy when we got it.  I threw some into the toaster oven, and it crisped up nicely, although was a bit greasy.

***, but it had potential to be so much more.

Update: I had some cold the next day as leftovers, and actually liked it more than way.  Really great texture of the calamari, although the coating was obviously soft and soggy.  Tossed on top of leftover papaya salad it was quite enjoyable.  ***+ as leftovers.  My favorite of the appetizers.

Vegetable Egg Rolls (vegan). $7.50.

"Fresh mixed vegetables; served with sweet chili sauce."

The spring rolls came 5 to an order, and smelt like freshly fried food, in a good way.  Mmm.  They did include the sweet chili sauce with this.

Because this was delivery, they were a bit soft though.  A quick toast in the toaster oven revived them with no problem.

The spring rolls were ... fine.  They did re-crisp nicely.  Inside was fairly standard spring roll filling - mushy cabbage, carrots, maybe something else.  Lightly seasoned.  The wrappers were a bit oily.  Sweet chili sauce was average, quite sweet.

Not really my thing, but they were "fine". **+.

Samosa Puffs (3). $12.95.

"Homemade savory spiced chicken and potato stuffed in flaky pastry shell."

I dislike chicken, but Osha Thai has a (vegetarian) version of thai samosas that I truly love, and I have always found quite unique, so I took a risk on these, mostly really wanting to try another version of what I thought was a signature dish at Osha!  I guess thai samosas *are* a thing?

These came with no dipping sauce.

These were good.  Much bigger size than an Indian samosa, or the ones at Osha Thai.  The style was quite similar to Osha though - super flaky pastry wrapper, thick and flavorful, albeit a touch greasy.  Inside was really well spiced potato bits and a few small pieces of chicken.  Since I don't care for chicken, this thrilled me.  There was no other filling, unlike the Osha ones that also contain carrots and peas.  The filling was quite flavorful and savory, although strangely a bit sweet too.

Overall, these were a solid item.  I really enjoyed the pastry, just wished it wasn't quite as greasy.  I enjoyed the filling, but wished these were a vegetarian version.  Still, tasty.

***+.

Craft Greens (Yum)

The "craft greens", er, "salads" section has 4 options, including a glass noodle salad and a crispy rice salad, neither of which sounded particularly "green" forward.  Since we were ordering so many noodles and heavier dishes, we skipped those, opting for the lighter sounding options.

Turkey (chicken?) Larb (gf). $13.95.

"Ground chicken tossed with Thai lime dressing, cilantro, red onion, kaffir lime leaves, mint, cilantro, and a touch of crushed roasted rice served with Romaine leaf lettuce."

I've had larb exactly twice in my life, but I really loved it from Lapat's Thai Noodle Bar, in SF, where I had a catfish version (not so much the version from House of Thai, also catfish).  Basil Cart allows you to pick your protein on nearly every dish ... except the larb, available in a poultry version only.  Now, unless it is duck, I rarely want anything to do with poultry, but, I wanted to try the larb so badly that I got it anyway.

The larb was listed in one place as turkey, and another as chicken.  I'm still not sure which it was. I'm not really a fan of either, and this tasted, well, like poultry.  At least it was ground.

The dish was tasty overall - lots of flavor, although, like many of the dishes, it was a bit too sweet for my tastes, although it did have a nice acid component from the lime.  I liked the juicy tomatoes, fresh harsh red onion, and juicy greens.  The green beans were a bit out of place, and I don't like bell peppers so I ate around them.

Overall, fresh and flavorful, and I'm glad I got it, but, I wished it wasn't chicken based.

***.

Papaya Salad (gf, vegan-friendly). $11.95.
Add prawns ($3).

"Shredded green papaya, garlic, peanuts, Thai chili, cherry tomatoes, and green beans tossed in Thai lime sauce; served over mixed greens."

So, the "vegan-friendly" designation almost made me not order the classic payaya salad.  A good papaya salad has seafood funk!  It should have fish sauce, it should have tiny little dried shrimps ... vegan?  Eh?  Minus one point, just in concept.  I crave a good fish sauce base, like the version from Kin Khao.

And to be fair, I actually *did* decide not to order it, but someone else in the group wanted it.  So we got it.  To the papaya salad you could add prawns for an additional $3, the only protein option, which I did, hoping to jazz it up a little.  Minus one point for not having crispy caramelized pork or beef options, like the ever memorable version with crispy sweet pork on top at Sailer's Thai Canteen (and the ok version from the updated format of the full restaurant).

The salad was fairly standard, lots of shredded green papaya and carrots, fresh, juicy.  Some thinly sliced beans, halves of tomato.  And, some peas?

Flavor was where it let me down.  Which, I blame on it being vegan.  It just didn't have that deep funk to it, it needed fish sauce.  It needed mini dried shrimps.  It was also not sour, mostly just a bit sweet.  Like many dishes from Basil Cart, just, a bit too sweet for me.

Anyway, it was fresh and fine, and there was *plenty* of peanut to provide crunch and flavor, but, I wanted some depth to this, some fishy funk, and spice.  About on par with the generic and unremarkable version at Chai Yo.

The prawns were large size, juicy, well cleaned, not rubbery.  Good prawns.  6 were included for the add-on price.

***.

Update: it was actually much better the next day, as the papaya and lettuce clearly soaked up more sauce. Still not complex flavor, but, I liked it more.  Good topped with the leftover calamari.  ***+.

Curries (Gaang)

Curries (mostly) come vegetable based by default, but you can add in non-GMO tofu or chicken ($1.50), extra mixed veggies ($2), Revier sustainable flank steak ($3), or prawns ($4).  They come a la carte, but sides of regular, brown, or sticky rice are also available ($1.50, $2.75, $3.50, respectively).

The curry options weren't particularly novel, all your standards: red, green, or yellow curry, plus pumpkin choo chee salmon or massamun beef curry.  We ordered several.

Massumun Braised Beef Curry (gf). $17.

"Revier sustainable beef braised with Massamun curry and coconut milk with white sweet potato, carrot, red onion, and peanuts."

Massumun curry comes only in a beef version, and was the choice of one of my co-diners.  I was a bit put off by the look when I opened it, just piles of oil!

The curry itself was ... fine, although, yes, very oily.  Flavor was rich from coconut milk, but like the other dishes, I wanted it spicier and more complex.  I didn't really like the flavor much at all.  I did like the thicker style of curry, due to the peanut.

Massumun Braised Beef Curry: close up.

Once I dug in I found chunks of steak similar to those in the other beef dish we selected, although larger.  It also had the same carrots as many of our dishes, and of course hunks of white sweet potato.

The carrots, like in other dishes, were a bit mushy, the potato was average.  The beef though let me down somewhat.  It really does have nice flavor, seems high quality, but, it was a bit chewy.  I think I just don't like flank steak.  The larger hunks here worked better than the thin slices in our noodle dish however.

Massumum curry is never a top choice of mine, besides sometimes loving beautifully fall apart slow cooked beef sometimes used, so I wasn't surprised to feel pretty meh about this, particularly given the use of flank steak.

***, largely due to my own personal preferences.

Update: Cold leftovers, of *just* the beef, were tasty enough.  I certainly wouldn't get it again, but I didn't mind finishing up some hunks of meat.

Green Curry (gf, vegan). $13.95.
Add Mixed Vegetables ($2).

"Spicy. Eggplant, basil, red bell pepper, and green beans stewed with Thai green curry spices and coconut milk."

For the green curry, we went all on on the veggies, augmenting the eggplant/green bean/red bell pepper base with the mixed veggie add-on for $2.  This seemed to add bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and potatoes?  I'm still curious what happens if you don't add on - would this just be the curry sauce and very minor veg?  

Anyway, I asked for our order in general to be spicy, which it wasn't, but this dish even said spicy in the name.  But ... yeah, it was not spicy at all.

Fairly standard green curry, coconut milk based so creamy, decent flavor, veggies cooked well enough, veggie size pieces good, the eggplant certainly required cutting.

Overall, fine, not remarkable, I wanted more spice.

***.

Noodles & Rice

The carb heavy portion of the menu is filled with assorted fried rice entree dishes (yes of course there is one served in a pineapple ...), and a few noodle dishes (both dry and soup versions).  

Just like the curries, the noodle section (mostly) comes vegetable based by default, but you can add in non-GMO tofu or chicken ($1.50), extra mixed veggies ($2), Revier sustainable flank steak ($3), or prawns ($4).  

Not a menu category I usually spend much time on, and yet, I picked three dishes from here.

Pad Se Ew (gf). $13.50.
Add steak (+$3).

"Fresh wide rice noodles, cage-free egg, bok choy, and broccoli."

For my first noodle dish, I went for my standard Thai noodle choice, pad see ew (sorry pad thai lovers, I moved on from pad thai long ago ... it was a great intro to thai food for me, but I find the sweeter nature less appealing now).  I added steak just to make a bit more interesting (again, just given the choices of chicken, shrimp, steak, tofu, or veg).

The noodles were decent, not too mushy, but clearly not "hot out of the wok".  Fairly greasy though and they sat quite heavy.  Some dark soy sauce flavor, but not much.  I liked the bits of egg.

Veggies were cooked ok, broccoli, bok choy, and a (random) carrot.

The steak was ... ok.  A bit chewy, which I guess is expected for flank steak.  A bit fatty.  But the flavor was good and the quality was clear.  If only it wasn't flank steak.

Overall, this was "fine" but not remarkable, and I'd prefer something less heavy.  The greasy level really threw me off.  Slightly less enjoyable than the versions from Modern Thai and Navin Thai.

**+.

Pad Key Mow / Drunken Noodles (gf, vegan). $13.95.
Add mixed veggies (+$2).

"Fresh wide rice noodles, vegetables, bell pepper, Thai basil, garlic chili."

I've never had Pad Kee Mow (commonly known as "Drunken Noodles") before.  I've often wanted to order it, but its been the item always nudged into the "if we need something else" slot.  Which, inevitably, we never do.  So I finally ordered it, not entirely knowing what to expect, but looking forward to tasty noodles (and no, there is no alcohol in here).  To these I ordered the extra veggies, to keep it vegan friendly for a fellow diner.

I liked the pad key mow more than the pad se ew - it was slightly less greasy, but it too felt pretty heavy.  The veggies were well cooked, but I wasn't into the bell peppers or summer squash (because I don't like them in general), and the cauliflower felt a bit out of place.  Noodles were the same as pad se ew.  Flavor was mild, it seemed slightly soy based.  The thai basil and chiles I was expecting to make this a spicer dish weren't really present.  I did miss the egg from the pad se ew.

Overall, fine, glad to try something different, but it was pretty similar to the pad se ew, just, with veggies, no egg, a touch more flavor, and less grease.

***.

Update: I had a lot of leftover noodles, and had some of this cold, with some chili crunch on top.  That was much better :)

Kao Soi (gf). $14.50. Toppings.
Add Prawns ($4).

"Spicy. Egg noodles in curry broth and boiled free-range egg topped with fried onion, pickled mustard greens, bean sprouts, and crispy noodles."

And finally, a *really* random order for me.  I don't tend to go for carb heavy dishes in general, and so many noodle dishes was already more than I generally would pick.  And soups?  Meh.  And yet, I picked a noodle soup.

Why?  Well, it sounded very unique, and Yelp reviews were really strong.  Plus, uh, perhaps I was drawn in by the "crispy noodles" and "fried onion" aspects.

I was fascinated by it, and enjoyed it far more than I expected.   My favorite of the savory dishes, no question.

This large dish contained the egg noodles (thin style, unlike the pad se ew and key mow that used wide rice noodles), and the crispy noodles (a bit soggy actually, likely from moisture from the cooked noodles), plus a lime, cilantro, bean sprouts, fried onion bits, and what looked like mint.  I didn't find the pickled mustard greens.

I actually really liked the egg noodles.  In general, I'm definitely an egg noodle not rice noodle girl, and these were really nicely prepared, slightly al dente, had some savory quality going on (I think they had a light sauce on them?), and, well, they just seemed remarkably fresh.  Maybe after all the heavy, oily dishes I was just appreciating the simple noodles?  Noodles, the fresh ones, were the shocker hit.

The rest of the toppings helped compliment the soup, although I'm not really sure why I'd want both fresh and crispy noodles, particularly as the ones I perched on top obviously got pretty soft fast.  I liked having the fresh veggie garnishes.

Noodles? ****+.  Toppings? ****.

Kao Soi: broth.

The main body of the soup was packaged separately, so that it wouldn't get soggy.  Major bonus points for doing it this way.  The broth also contained the add-on shrimp (5 of them, plump, juicy, cooked fine), and, yup, a hard boiled egg.

I'll admit, this was odd to me.  Everything about this dish was novel and new, which, well, I loved.  I can't say I want a hard boiled egg in my soup, but, hey.  Authentic I guess?

The curry was delicious, although this wasn't really a "soup" in a thin sense, the curry was just as thick as any of the actual curry dishes, just, this had no veggies in it, and comes with all the toppings and noodles, rather than being served over rice.  It was quite rich, flavorful, well seasoned.

Anyway.  It had a touch of spice, more than the other dishes, although I certainly wouldn't call it "spicy" as advertised.

Curry itself: ***+.

Kao Soi: Composed.

I truly enjoyed putting together my perfect bowl, with the fresh noodles in the curry sauce (which, uh, I did thin out a little to make more soup-like), fresh crisp bean sprouts and herbs, and the crispy noodles, although I think just the noodles and curry, or even curry & rice, would be pretty glorious.

I'm so glad I tried this, favorite savory dish, **** overall, would get again in a heartbeat.

Wok Fried (Kap Khao)

Just like the curries and noodles, the wok fried section (mostly) comes vegetable based by default, but you can add in non-GMO tofu or chicken ($1.50), extra mixed veggies ($2), Revier sustainable flank steak ($3), or prawns ($4).  They also come a la carte, but sides of regular, brown, or sticky rice are also available ($1.50, $2.75, $3.50, respectively).

Cashew Nut. (gf). $13.50.
Bonus: prawns?

"Sautéed white beech mushrooms, onion, bell pepper, carrot, cashews, white sweet potato, and roasted sweet chili paste."

This one we left as standard, no add-on protein or extra veg, as it seemed to have plenty going on in it.  It came with prawns however, which we weren't opposed to.

The mix of veggies was as expected, same carrots that seemed to show up nearly everywhere, bell peppers that I avoided, green onions, and plenty of slimy beech mushrooms and a couple hunks of shite sweet potato, with a distinct pattern to the outside.  There was also some bok choy not included in the description.  It was all rounded out by plentiful cashews.  They really did NOT skip on the cashews!

The veggies were all cooked fine, I liked the mix of textures, and crunch from the nuts in particular, although, you have to like slimy beech mushrooms of course.  It was pretty heavily sauced, with a fairly sweet chile paste, not much spice nor depth.

Overall, flavorful (but sweet) and a bit different from our other dishes.  Not one I'd order again though, just too sweet for my taste.

***.

Prik King Salmon. $18.95.

"Salmon, Prik King curry paste, green beans, red bell pepper, kefir lime leaves."

I am not generally a fan of cooked salmon, but, I wanted seafood besides the calamari starter and prawns you could add on to things, and this was the only non-prawn dish.

The salmon was battered and fried, rather oily, but quite tasty as a result.  The coating was quite flavorful, and it wasn't fishy.  Not crispy, perhaps from takeout, but, flavorful.  Portion included many pieces - 6 generous sized hunks of salmon.

The green beans were, uh, too green beany for me?  Fresh and crisp, well cooked, but, just not my thing.  I also don't care for bell peppers, so the plentiful bell peppers I rather avoided.  I did like the red onions.  Carrots were a bit mushy.

But the salmon was tasty, the sauce flavorful and a bit spicy, and I enjoyed it.  Not something I'd necessarily order again, but was a nice change.

***+.

Update: I liked it as leftovers too, both lightly reheated in the toaster oven and cold.  It held up very well until the next day.  The green beans, in the sauce, cold, I actually liked too.  As leftovers? ***+.

Sides

The sides menu isn't really exciting, just the rices (regular, brown, coconut sticky), mixed veggies, and steamed edamame.

Side Steamed Vegetables (vegan). $5.50.

"Steamed broccoli, bok choy, cauliflower, cabbage, zucchini, yellow squash, and carrot."

To lighten our load just a bit, we opted for sides of steamed veggies, rather than lots of rice.  The veggie mix was the same as what you could add on to any of the entrees.

This was just a pile of steamed veggies, but they were good, fresh.  I didn't find any zucchini, but otherwise it was as advertised.  The veggies were well cooked, and I really love juicy cabbage.  I do wish the mix included mushrooms.

Price seemed a bit high for the portion and simple nature.

***.

Coconut Rice. $3.95.

For rice, I only tried the exciting one, coconut.

It was decent, mushy and sticky as I wanted, a bit creamy, and lots of toasted coconut shredded on top.  Good enough coconut flavor.  Savory and aromatic.

We also had plain white jasmine rice, but I didn't try it.

***.

Peanut Sauce. $1.50.

I ordered extra sauce because I'm a sauce girl.  Through and through.  I knew I'd want more sauce, for ... something.

The peanut sauce was hot (I think intentionally, but perhaps just from being in the bag with hot food?).  It was thick, peanuty, and, well, good.  It made me want some roti to dunk in.

***.

Dessert

Of course I was eager for dessert!  I'm a dessert girl through and through, but its been ages since I've had Thai desserts in particular.  While I love my pies, fruit crisps, cake, cookies, etc, etc, I was excited for a slight change of pace.  I really miss the extensive lineup of Thai desserts you can find in Sydney, like at my favorite little thai hawker cart, Thanon Khaosan, Samorsorn thai, or the mediocre ones from classic Chat Thai or Home Thai.

Basil Cart offers 2 dessert options, both featuring forbidden sticky rice, one with mango, one with lime custard.  I of course ordered both, but alas, only the mango version was delivered.

Mango with Coconut Forbidden Sticky Rice. $10.50.

I never have high hopes for mango sticky rice in the US, just due to the mango quality.  We just don't have access to fresh locally grown mango here, and it just doesn't compare to options where it is grown locally.

Still, I order it frequently, as I do love coconut sticky rice, and usually a sweet coconut or condensed cream helps "save" it slightly.  I was thrilled to see they used black sticky rice, a full mango, and the mint garnish was a nice touch.

The mango was as expected in the US, fresh, ripe, but, not as flavorful as I'd like.  ***,

The black forbidden sticky rice was glorious, exactly what I wanted, so sticky and glutinous.  And of course I loved the sweet coconut cream on top.  The rice and cream alone made this worth getting.  ****+ for the rice and cream.  

At $10.50, this was on par with higher end restaurant pricing, not like the usual $5 or less that most takeout mango sticky rice is (e.g. the mediocre version from Bang San Thai, or equally mediocre version from Modern Thai that I dubbed too pricey at $7).

Overall ***+ since the mango wasn't great, and its such a huge percentage of the dish, but I'd still get it again in a heartbeat, because, ZOMG, that sticky rice.  It made me really wish that we had received our order of the sticky rice with custard!

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