Sir Stamford Circular Quay

Sir Stamford Circular Quay

Hotels, conventionally known for as a place which provides accommodation for tourists/travelers, lovers getaway, hot affairs one-night rendezvous and so on.
In recent times, hotels, especially 5-star properties are now also famous for their dining (food).

Take Radisson Plaza Hotel for example, the 5-star hotel which house the famous restaurant, Bilson's. Without fail, Bilson's make the Good Food Guide Australia's top 10 every year. Why? What makes Bilson's better than any other restaurant? Is it because of its famous chef (Tony Bilson)?

Here are a few other examples to joggle your mind; The Observatory Hotel's Galileo French Restaurant, Hilton's Glass Brasserie (fanous head chef Luke Mangan), Shangri La's Altitude, so on and so on.

So the question remains - WHAT MAKE THEM SO SPECIAL? HOW ARE THEIR PRICES JUSTIFIABLE? I've personally been to all of the above and one thing I am certain, I've tasted better modern Australian than Bilson's, I've had better French than Galileo, Glass is overrated and Altitude you're only paying for the view!

Which brings me to my point - the only reason these restaurants are "ranked" is due to their established household name made famous by their celebrity chef! Don't be fool by the name - you have to judge the food for what it's worth!

Sir Stamford Circular Quay:

A 5-star boutique hotel in the heart of Circular Quay, next to Intercontinental and down the road from Four Seasons, Park Hyatt, Sofitel Wentworth, Radisson Plaza and Shangri La - major competition right there! Without any biases, I will say that the only reason this hotel remains standing today amongst its more modern competitors is the fact that they maintain their "signature" Victorian Classic look (okay, so the only real main competition is the Observatory who's also going for the same vintage look).

Thus Sir Stamford is ranked highly for the best venue to have High tea due to it's romantic Victorian setting, it'll make you feel like rewinding 30 odd years back to the days where English women wore pretty dresses and hats on Sundays sipping tea and eating strawberry scones ;)

Anyway so I finally had the chance to dine here on Saturday night and ordered only an entree, a main and a dessert for myself (had to refrain from ordering the usual multiple entrees and mains). Please refer to pictures below for specific review of each dish.

All in all, a place highly recommended for staying; eating; high tea-ing :)

x- C



Dozen Pacific Oysters - half with roe and caviar

rating: 8/10 = fresh succulent juicy oysters, nothing beats yummy fresh juicy oysters!



Fish of the day (Barramundi) brushed with lemon butter served with golden kipfler potatoes with tomatoes and olives

rating: 6/10 = beautiful fish melts in your mouth, the only reason for the low rating is because I'm naturally not a fish person so consider this score good!



Souffle of the day - Passion fruit souffle with raspberry ice cream and pineapple

rating: 7/10 - this was delish! 2nd best souffle after Pier!!! YUMMMMMM hot from the oven, this masterpiece will melt on your tongue and have a party in your mouth!!!