Harvest Buffet, The Star Sydney

Harvest Buffet offers a glorious spread from seafood, cold meats and salad to
hearty roast beef, osso bucco and delectable desserts.

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“Make sure you check out the fried chicken!” Rachael at Access PR tells me.

Now who doesn’t like fried chicken, especially when it is going to be as much as you can handle.

“I better get on the cross trainer before this meal” I say to Mysaucepan.

“I think you better get on that machine before AND after this meal” she replies.

So with a kind invitation from Access PR, we find ourselves here at Harvest Buffet located in The Star to check out its lunch time spread on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Harvest Buffet, The Star

We make our way up the stairs from the main entrance lobby just past 1 pm and the queue is slowly dissipating.

Once inside, the huge dining area is like a mini city – packed to the brim with diners. There are the hip and young, the not so young as well as loads of families with children tucking into what appears to be a scrumptious spread of anything and everything.

Restaurant manager Michael Polski introduces us to the different food stations that offer pizza, salad, seafood as well as noodles, roasts, soups, bread, chocolate, cakes and fresh fruits.

“Where do we start Michael?” I ask a little bemused.

“Start wherever it takes your fancy! That’s the beauty of a buffet” he tells us.

As usual, Mysaucepan starts her lunch with a cocktail that never fails to bring a smile to her face.

A 2015 Mount Difficulty pinot gris from the cool climate region of Central Otago in New Zealand is floral with hints of pear on the nose. It is clean and dry on the palate with a citrusy lemon finish.

There are bountiful baskets of cooked prawns and vongole clams at the seafood counter and is by far one of the busiest.

Aussies just can’t get enough of our prawns, whether it is during Christmas or at any other time of the year, especially at a buffet like this one!

The salad bar offers a variety of leafy greens, cold meats, cheese and dressings for you to concoct your own.

With a few cos lettuce leaves, crispy bacon, boiled egg, parmesan and a good drizzle of mayo, I have my very own Caesar for starters.

These vannamei prawns are firm to the bite and excellent with a dash of wasabi and soy sauce. They match beautifully with the zesty hints in the pinot gris.

The huge deep fried chicken wings are golden brown and the batter that coats each wing is crisp and so enticing.

Even Mysaucepan, who never fails to roll her eyes whenever I tell her that I have a KFC craving, is relenting to this piece of deep fried wonder.

This is one bloody awesome chicken wing, full of earth-shattering crunch on the outside with tender and juicy meat when torn apart.

Corned beef is one of my favourites in a sandwich but for today, a couple of corned silverside slices with a sprinkle of black pepper is delightful on its own.

I pass on this Singapore style fried noodles to try and save valuable space.

Same goes with this laksa for it looks rather meek without a fiery red chilli hue on the surface.

My usual strategy at a buffet is to eat more of just a few of my favourites.

It is almost impossible even just to try a little bit of everything because there is such a wide variety. Thankfully I don’t have a sweet tooth and I usually don’t save much space for dessert either.

Now how would anyone be able to resist crispy crackers with Chinese style roast pork? Perhaps halal eaters I suppose.

The pizza bar is also popular and each pizza is disappearing as fast as the chefs can dish them out from the oven.

I opt for a slice of margherita over mushroom pizza and it was not a bad choice either.

I give this tandoori chicken a miss as the last few remnant pieces look rather dry.

Grilled salmon fillets are served with a lemon myrtle spatzle.

Slow roasted grain-fed Australian beef is cooked to a beautiful medium rare and I might have just found my favourite to OD on.

This beef is tender and succulent and I love the old-world style mushroom gravy.

The Chinese roast pork is tender though the crackling can be a lot more crispy.

A slice of margherita pizza is simple yet tasty with just passata and bocconcini

I have never been a fan of osso bucco mainly I see it as a piece of steak in spag bol sauce and I prefer to eat each on its own, separately.

This osso bucco is meltingly tender and the gravy has attitude good enough to mop up with a few florets of roasted cauliflower.

For those with a sweet tooth, I can imagine the dessert bar to be like paradise.

Chef de Cuisine Dean Kutton explains the menu changes each week to cater for its regular customers.

Harvest Buffet offers a glorious spread from seafood, cold meats and salad to hearty roast beef, osso bucco and a delectable desserts.

The menu identifies at least three of the great cuisines of the world – Italian, Chinese and Indian. Perhaps the other great cuisine missing is French but then again, would the French not think it sacrilege if its food was served in the manner of a buffet?

So dear readers, do you enjoy buffets and if so, do you have a favourite one in Sydney?

Harvest Buffet
Level 1, Astral Residences
The Star, 80 Pyrmont street
Pyrmont, New South Wales

https://www.star.com.au

Tel: 1800 700 700

Opening hours:

Breakfast Monday – Friday 7am – 10am, Saturday & Sunday 7am – 10.30am

Lunch Daily 11.30am – 3.30pm

Dinner Sunday to Thursday 5pm – 9.30pm, Friday & Saturday 5pm – 10pm

 

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