No 35
Level 35, 25 Collins St, Melbourne
(Ph) 9653 7744
P and I had been to Sofitel so many times the past few months! (See our visit to No 35 dinner and Sofi's Lounge high tea) Most Sofitel's around Australia do buffet lunch and dinner but Sofitel Melbourne only do a buffet brunch on Sundays. $85 for a brunch with live Jazz music - thought we should check it out too before my Accor discount card expires =)
The brunch runs from 12pm till 3pm, but when I tried to make a booking 12pm was booked out but 12.30pm was available. What difference does 30mins make? Not like anyone will leave 30mins after being seated - maybe it's so they can scatter the seating so people won't be waiting at the door?
We got a table by the window - the daytime view is very pretty too =)
There's a seafood + cold foods/appetizers table, a hot foods table, and a desserts table. And you can ask the chefs behind the kitchen counter for the roasts etc =) Oh and unlimited drinks - too bad neither of us really drink alcohol, we still got a champagne just to take advantage of it =P
They didn't have too much seafood to offer - some prawns, some oysters and varies smoked/cooked fish.
The waiters had to replenish the prawns and oysters very frequently and they would be cleared so quickly! The prawns were very fresh and big =)
The oysters were very small though =( Nothing too special with the cold appetizers - the marinated fish was quite flavoursome but the salmon pate was very weird and bland =/ P liked the proscuitto with rockmelon and wouldn't stop eating it! I told him he should leave more room for the rest of the buffet and the more expensive foods =P
The hot foods were very ordinary - they had an interesting pumpkin gnocchi with spinach and mushrooms which was quite tasty.
Next we tried the roasts which we ask the chef for behind the kitchen counter. Roast pork with apple sauce - a tad too dry but the crackling was good =)
Roast beef - perfectly roasted, would have been much more enjoyable if we weren't so full!
They also had a salmon parcel with hollandaise sauce - it's rice wrapped in salmon wrapped in seaweed wrapped in puff pastry =) Would have been tastier if the salmon wasn't overcooked and the pastry base undercooked =/
Finally we came to the dessert table! My favourite part of any meal =)
Some of their desserts are the same as high tea downstairs at Sofi's Lounge but they did have some differet ones too =)
Loved the lemon meringue tart! This was the only thing I went seconds for <3 The chocolate tart was a bit too rich but the poppyseed cake and the banana cake were quite moist.
Creme brulee, berry jelly (which P loved) and a tiramisu cup (apart from it having too much cream was delicious too!). Oh and the mango custard - very smooth and tangy.
Cheese plate and dried fruits - I'm actually a fan of blue cheese now =)
Bread and butter pudding - I don't normally like this very much but it was crunchy on top and not too gooey inside, would have been nicer if there was some icecream to go with it though!
Banana pancakes! Surprisingly was one of the highlights too - so crunchy on the outside but super moist and fluffy inside <3 We had it with the syrup and cream - they really should have offered some icecream too!
The "jazz music" was just 2 musicians with their guitar and violin walking around the restaurant sporadically playing music and singing - think I like the pianist at Sofi's Lounge better.
Food~
6/10 - nothing too special here, not sure if I would come back without the Accor discount though
Service~
4/5 - waiters are very friendly and cleared our plates very efficiently
Atmosphere~
3/5 - brunch here is a lot more loud and roudy compared to dinner but still a very nice environment =)
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