Recently in Buffet Category

Girls love pampering, chocolate and gossip. To finish off my heavenly weekend (keep in mind this was wayyyy back at the beginning of this month), I had a manicure and a pedicure... and then arranged for high tea with the girls. I love high tea. All of us turned up in pretty summer dresses and stuffed ourselves with enough sugar to last a year. We spoke about uni, work, family, partners, holidays and aspirations. Nora then joked about it being called 'high tea' because we were so high on sugar. But who could resist? Everything was mouth-watering goodness.

freshly baked raison scones... I lathered mine up with plenty of cream and strawberry jam

sandwiches and more! proscuitto with pickled onion, smoked salmon with capers...

tarts

strawberry jelly

custard rolls

mixed berry cheesecake

mud cake

petite lemon meringue and fruit tarts

panna cotta

chocolate fountain

passionfruit

The warm foods were delectable morsels of pleasure. The home-baked pies consisted of chunky pieces of pumpkin, gravy and steak. And the rissoles were spiced with traceable bits of chorizo... so wholesome and rich.

finger foods, quickes, rissoles, mini pies

creme brulee... perhaps the biggest disappointment of the weekend. There was too much egg and the topping was a hardly crystalised :'(

Sarah, Nae, Nora, me, Jods, Eugenia, Oli and Alicia.

High tea at Swissotel is a 2 hour marathon of fun. It runs between 2 - 4pm and is $29 on weekends, and $25 on weekdays.

High Tea
Crossroads Bar, Swissotel Sydney
Level 8, 68 Market Street
Phone: (02) 9238 8888

For the last four days, Zen and I have been hiding out in Melbourne -another of our spontaneous holidays. I love the internet age... we were able to plan and book everything from airfare, accomodation to restaurants, all just a day before flying!

We boarded a Virgin flight from Sydney airport at 6.30am.

And arrived at the Royce Hotel in Melbourne at around 8am.

Royce Hotel provides stunning five-star accomodation in a super convenient location. It was just a short tram ride into the CBD, which meant Zen and I were able to familiarise ourselves with the tram ticketing system and routes. Our room also had a balcony with panoramic views to St Kilda Road, and the grounds of Melbourne Grammar School.

Interior of Royce Hotel's reception.

This holiday couldn't have come at a better time. As you can see, I was able to experiment with my new wide angle lens -the Canon UltraSonic EFS 10-22 F/3.5-4.5 USM.

Time for a big breakfast! Here we are at the Dish restaurant, which as the website says, is not your ordinary hotel restaurant. It offers a sophisticated ambience and award winning cuisine. And we are in luck! It's a buffet breaky...

Grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, pan-fried bacon and scrambled eggs...

fresh fruits, danish pastry and bircher museli...

Watch out for the next post on The Great Ocean Road!

Royce Hotel
379 St Kilda Road Melbourne Victoria 3004
Phone: 1800 820 090 or +61 3 9677 9900
Website: www. roycehotels.com.au

On Friday night, Dianne, Florence and I celebrated an early Christmas at the Corn Exchange Restaurant for a $70 seafood and dessert extravaganza. As you can see, the variety was endless! *drools*

fresh oysters and smoked salmon with capers

fresh balmain bugs

fresh blue swimmer crabs

sushi...

sashimi of salmon, kingfish and tuna

sweet chilli octopus salad

antipasto

breads

whole ocean trout with capers and onion vinaigrette

spaetzle with orange and poppy seed butter

fish quenelles with a tomato coulis

roast turkey with cranberry jus

caramelised carrots

fruit and jelly in martini glasses

profiteroles

christmas yule log

fruit tarts

more desserts...

creme brulee & other cakes

tropical fruit salad

cheese platter

Flo, Dianne & me

Dianne and me :-)

Corn Exchange Restaurant
Four Points by Sheraton
161 Sussex Street, Darling Harbour
Tel : 02 9290 4816

With special thanks to my brother & Accor, Zen and I enjoyed a free scrumptious seafood buffet at the Baygarden restaurant. On a Saturday night dinner, this was worth $62 per person! Novotel Brighton Beach offers panaromic views of the airport and seaside. The restaurant captures this stunning environment with outdoor seating and a tropical interior design.

Desserts included mini fruit flans, a very luxurious sticky date pudding, mini orange and chocolate cakes, tiramisu, carrot cake, fruit salad, bread & butter pudding and lots of other tiny delicate things.

Mini Fruit Flan

The Sticky Date Pudding was smothered in a rich butterscotch sauce. The sweetness was indulging and every bite was so moist. Yum...

Mini Orange and Chocolate Cakes

Another Chocolate Cake

Other desserts...

This was my plate of dessert, which featured the fruit salad, carrot cake, tiramisu and a yummy sticky date pudding.

Roast Pumpkin and Olives with Rosemary... lovely when dipped with the freshly baked sourdough loaf.

Stir-Fried King Prawns

Salads

The seafood section consisted of smoked blue lip mussels, smoken salmon with capers, Nambucca oysters, balmain bugs, king prawns & blue swimmer crabs.

A refreshing salad of rockmelon and mixed seafood.

Selections of cold meats and terrines.

The hot food was slighly disappointing. It was made up of farfelle pasta with blue cheese sauce, grilled chicken thigh with red wine sauce, roast potatoes which were cold and dry, roast pork, char-grilled vegetables and others.

However, who can complain of a free meal? The salad offering and endless flow of fresh seafood was overwhelming... luckily I had come prepared with a larger-fit shirt which hid the extra bulge :-)

Thanks again Roland... and happy birthday Zen.

Baygarden Restaurant
Level 3, Novotel Brighton Beach
Cnr of The Grand Parade & Princess Street
Brighton Le Sands
Tel: 9556.5111

A traditional Japanese breakfast consists of rice or congee, fermented vegetables, miso soup and some western foods. I found that the buffet's here were much more efficient in that rather than piling up on one plate and returning multiple times, you are able to carry around a tray, and fit dishes of food, seperating the flavours and hot or cold items.

Buffet breakfast (miso soup, bacon, sausages and scrambled eggs and salads) at Tokyu Inn, Osaka

Buffet breakfast (freshly baked bread rolls, Japanese curry and takoyaki) at Tokyu Inn, Osaka

Universal Studios, Japan

Me with Dorothy and Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz

Mum with Charlie Brown

I'm in Sesame Street! (Outside the 4D cinema)

Sitting on a yellow cab...

The pink cafe at Universal Studios Japan

Pink churritos with ice-cream at the pink cafe - Universal Studios Japan

Osaka Takoyaki Museum

Takoyaki (octopus balls) in the making

Takoyaki

For more information, refer to Universal Studios Japan and Shin-Osaka Esaka Tokyu Inn