Cafe Mix all-you-can-eat buffet at the Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney

Buffets are all about quantity, and for me, that's always a dangerous thing.

First there is the quantity of choice. And then there is the quantity you greedily pile onto your plate.

And the plate after that. And the plate after that.

I have no willpower.


Cafe Mix

Buffets and I are a dangerous combination, but when work offers you a Christmas lunch at Cafe Mix at the Shangri-La, who am I to deny this festive generosity?


Salad bar

There's plenty on offer here: a seafood bar (the oysters and prawns are quite tasty but the crabs are the usual watery defrosted kind), all kinds of salad (baby radishes and peeled baby carrots, a DIY Caesar, poached salmon with beans, and a refreshing fetta, olive and watermelon salad), and all kinds of antipasto assortments.


Plate #1: seafood and salad

Four work-stations also feature chefs (yes, live and cooking) fussing over pots, pans and dishes to bring you Italian (we saw freshly cooked hand-made pasta being prepared with mushrooms), Malaysian/Chinese (caramel belly pork with eggs, fried noodles, siu mai, pork dumplings and pork mince with beans), Japanese (sushi) and Indian (curries, pappadums and rice).


Sushi bar


Temaki handroll sushi


Plate #2: sushi and siu mai

The steamed dumplings have been sauna'd into sogginess and the sushi rice is similarly wet and stodgy, but there's greater joy in the hot foods ahead.


Plate #3: curries, Malaysian and a few more oysters

The curries pack a pleasing punch, rich in spices and flavours, and the caramel pork is sweet and tender.

The chefs are bemused by my camera action throughout my investigations, and throw mock modelling poses due to lack of lens attention. If only they knew...


Dessert buffet

The highlight of the buffet though, is always the dessert table, and the array of offerings here would make any diabetic automatically reach for their insulin.


Chocolate profiterole tower


Chocolate cake


Raspberry and chocolate macarons


Parfait glasses with creme anglaise and fruit


Hazelnut, strawberry, vanilla and chocolate gelato


Diminishing profiteroles


Cardamom custard pot


Lemon tarts

There's enough here to satisfy the most ravenous sweet tooth, although we find some of the prettier desserts in shot glasses are disappointingly bland. Lack of descriptions make the guesswork a little tougher although the giant compartmentalised box of raspberry and chocolate macarons is almost enough to make me weep (they're delicious too).

We're perplexed too that no bowls are provided for the gelato--our scoops sitting awkwardly on our little dessert plates--and I'm disappointed their famous chocolate fountain is out of action today too.

This doesn't stop us all waddling out after eating half our body weight in one sitting. Willpower is useless in the face of so much choice, even if my belt says I really shouldn't have eaten that last profiterole.




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Cafe Mix at the Shangri-La
Level 1, 176 Cumberland Street
The Rocks, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9250 6000

Open 6am til late

Lunch Buffet
Monday to Friday $48 (Jan07 special $38)
Saturday and Sunday $58

Dinner Buffet
Monday to Thursday $58
Friday and Saturday $85
Sunday $68
*Prices correct at Jan 2007. Please call Cafe Mix direct to confirm.

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