Reading: Epicurean at the Crown
The open of Crown Sydney at Barangaroo signalled a new finish for affluent Sydneysiders seeking to stay, play and indulge in a modern column which brings together an deluxe hotel, prestigious apartments and key signature restaurants.
At my level of income, a night ‘s stay at the Crown is out of the wonder but indulging at one of it ‘s highly anticipate restaurants ? My bank account is all right with that … ( I think ). *Edit : thank you to my friends who paid for the Epicurean as my birthday present, the price list is included at the end of this web log.
hedonic is the raw buffet restaurant boasting an open kitchen and offering a assortment of cuisines deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as bird’s-eye views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and surrounding waters. Is it worth the hype ? Let ‘s get into the well, the meh and the bad of this buffet restaurant.
The good
Seafood 
If you are a seafood lover then Epicurean will be love at first sight, the seafood selection is delightful and you can try anything from fresh oysters to swimmer crab, scallops, prawns, lobster tails … you name it and it ‘s available. The choice is extremely fresh and well presented with customers lining up to pile their plates with an array of seafood from oysters to scallop ceviche .
My recommendation is to get a plate of oysters and then go back for seconds and thirds – there are so many seafood options available therefore it ‘s impossible to try everything in one go. I highly recommend the fat, fresh and mouth-wateringly delectable oysters a well as the swimmer crab and lobster buttocks. But if you love prawns, why not go for an stallion plate ( or two ) of prawns – cipher is judging. however, please note that the seafood bar is filled with bare-assed seafood so if you want cook mussels or prawns – you will need to move onto the asian or italian part .
Let me share with you an example of one ( of many ) perfectly balanced seafood plates – featuring half a twelve oysters served with a wedge of gamboge, smoked salmon, scallop ceviche, kingfish and crab. It ‘s so easy to get lost in the exhilaration of oysters, lobster and crab that you overlook the early delectable options such as the flavorful cutlet ceviche or the perfective slices of salmon and kingfish precisely waiting to be consumed. The seafood stripe is decidedly a must-visit at Epicurean – I promise you will be spoilt for option !
Sashimi
I ‘m a huge sashimi lover and the japanese place offered the tastiest, freshest and thicc-est cuts of salmon, tuna and kingfish sashimi from all the buffets I ‘ve been to in my life. I ‘m not sure if the photograph does the sashimi any judge but the glitter and color in truth reflects the freshness, umami and premium quality of the sashimi excerpt on offer for guests.
The japanese station besides offers sushi and nigiri but everyone went back for seconds of the sashimi – there are sashimi chefs who are slicing pink-orange, tuna and kingfish around the clock to ensure that you are tasting the best and freshest cuts of fish. This was delightful, moreish and celestial – please do n’t skip the japanese place if you visit the epicurean !
Desserts 
The first thing I noticed as I entered the beautiful and roomy dining room of the Epicurean was the vibrant categorization of desserts to my right field – the dessert stand features a rainbow of delectable, delectable sweets from macarons to tarts, cakes, jellies and everything in between ( think cocoa fountain ) .
I ‘m not sure about you but I have a massive sweet tooth so it ‘s hard for me to go past any and all forms of desserts when visiting a snack bar. As we were visiting to celebrate my birthday, the epicurean staff besides arranged a birthday dessert phonograph record for me ( more on that late ).
From the desserts I tried – I truly enjoyed both the strawberry pistachio baton cake and the iniquity cocoa raspberry mud patty, however, these options may be a little heavy for those on a wax abdomen. If you are on the verge of unbuttoning your pants but do n’t want to miss out on the fresh side of life – I recommend trying the lighter desserts such as the sweet jellies or strawberry and marshmallows dipped in the chocolate fountain .
Thank you Epicurean for being so considerate and arranging a birthday dessert phonograph record for me – this featured three unlike types of chocolates/toffees, coffee and baileys choux pastry and a lemon/passionfruit tart. In future I will decidedly try all of the desserts beginning before I ‘m besides full with food – the handcraft and divers choice of sweets is changing and I ca n’t wait to see what decadent desserts are available on my adjacent visit !
The average
Charcuterie platter
The most soul-crushing moment I ‘ve experienced in the past year ( aside from determine of the Covid-19 pandemic ) is the discovery that I am lactose intolerant. This means a significant reduction in dairy, cheese, ice-cream and dessert inhalation and as a result, I have become well pickier when it comes to dairy products – including charcuterie boards because it has to be worth the lacteeze tablets.
The Epicurean offers a station with a choice of cheeses, cured meats, pate, jelly/jam and crackers so you can create your own charcuterie plate. My supporter and I shared this plate and to her recognition – she picked a fantastic align of cheeses ( including my fave – blue cheese ), cured meats, pate and crackers. But I could n’t help but think that all of this is readily available at Woolies or Coles and we could ‘ve created our own charcuterie board at base with not much difference in taste. It ‘s crafty to reservoir bounty ingredients in a buffet-style mise en scene – if you are cutting to give this a move, I ‘d decidedly recommend curating a home plate for the table as this is good, but not amazing.
Italian/meat stations 
The kernel and italian post is right next to the cheese/charcuterie choice and it is quite an impressive sight – waiters are ready to slice and serve all cuts of meat from gripe and pork ridicule to steak and there ‘s besides pizza, pasta and marinated seafood waiting to be consumed at the adjacent italian station.
My home plate is n’t piled at maximal capacity with food because I wanted to try a fiddling bite of everything. The given that the meat would be the highlight was cursorily shattered due to the dry, excessively chewy texture of the kernel – the gravy helped add some moisture and tangy season but it very could n’t save the texture of the kernel itself. I enjoyed the fudge mussels, beef stroganoff, ravioli and steamed fish but nothing stood out to my tastebuds.
The bad
Beef pho 
As a kid growing up in Bankstown, I had access to the best and most authentic pho restaurants in the area. I have tried everything from Pho An to Gia Hoi and Thang Long so my expectations for pho are possibly unrealistically high – epicure, deplorable but this is not it.
From a commercial perspective, I understand the freshness of having person cook your pho in front of you as this reflects the campaign to maintain crust ( cipher wants to have rice noodles that have been soaking in the broth for hours ) but where are my attic sprouts, coriander and sprigs of mint ?
Do n’t get me started on the beef, there is a rationality why I always ask for crude gripe in my pho so it can be cooked to a tender, melt-in-your-mouth consistency by the broth. Epicurean ‘s pre-cooked beef was thus street fighter to chew that I barely left it in the broth and stopped trying – the saving grace is the authenticity of the broth and smooth, slippery noodles but it ‘s not enough for me to want to get this again on my next visit.
Asian station
never has the saying “ do n’t judge a book by its overlay ” been more applicable than to this plate of disappointment from the asian place. true I was quite full by this stage and my stomach barely wanted me to stop eating but I ‘m curious as to how epicurean got this then dreadfully wrong.
The hargow and siu mai tasted like they have both been reheated from the freeze food packet – these decidedly did not taste hand-made and were kept lukewarm in the bamboo steamer, which enhanced the acrylic aftertaste of the black sums.
Moving onto the char siu and roasted pork – these tasted extremely coriaceous and dehydrated without any of that lush, juicy affection from the chinese BBQ meats you can buy at any good yue restaurant or BBQ meat storehouse. They were thus hard to chew and swallow I had to spit out the pieces of kernel – save your stomach space for the seafood, desserts and sashimi. The asian station had other stir-fries and options but I would n’t put it high on my list to try.
Overall rating – Epicurean buffet
Taste: 7/10 Aesthetics: 8/10 Value for money: 6.5/10
Price Guide 
Final thoughts…
In recent years, snack bar restaurants have become a bit of a reach or miss ( a lot like the lottery ) – normally, they are either estimable value for money with low-quality food or expensive but serve high-quality seafood with mediocre offerings at other stations. The Epicurean falls within the latter category – do n’t get me ill-timed, the highs of seafood ( specially oysters ), sashimi and dessert were fantastic ; I besides could n’t fault the service at all ; however, for the price image, I would alone return for a special affair as the other food options are average at best.
Let me know what you think if you visit the Epicurean buffet at the Crown, until following clock – felicitous eating to your heart ( and stomach ‘s ) content !
