I think that all you can eat buffets are pretty awesome. You can choose from a large variety of foods and in all honesty my favourite part is probably trying to eat more food than my parents can. Gotta love a challenge hahaha! In my first time actually heading to Kogarah, we were here for The Grange Buffet at St George Leagues Club. My sister had originally purchased a number of vouchers from Scoopon for the $17 all you can eat buffet and we spent the next few days feeling really nervous about it because many of the reviews we found for the place had called it something along the lines of "the worst buffet in Sydney".
Thinking back to many of the places we have bought vouchers for, reviews have also been along those same lines yet I haven't had a completely terrible experience with one yet. So fingers crossed we ventured upstairs into this buffet.
The decorative baskets on the wall as well as the giant fish painting definitely added lots of feel to the place. And I noted that there was a good variety of food available. Although true to the reviews, it's very frustrating because the way the stations are set up only allows people to help themselves to the buffet from one side of the table. Which means there's actually quite some lining up with the occasional people pushing in.
We arrived here quite late which meant we had missed out on the popular seafood options we saw on people's plates on the way in such as crab and oysters, but the other options were continuously well stocked. I decided to take a little walk around with my camera to snap some pictures before I started my own eating. This is also the first time I've ever heard anyone be extremely rude to me about me taking photos. Some lady turned to her friend and loudly whispered "Ugh look at that Asian taking pictures of the food. What is with Asian people and taking photos of their food. Asian people are the worst". She said this as she helped herself to some Asian food at the bain marie. But seriously? There are still people like this? It was a really upsetting experience.
But anyway back to the food.
Asian Dishes
Quite a general selection of dishes but great place to start. When they say Asian dishes they always mean Chinese cuisine. I loved the seafood and vegetables which actually all tasted very fresh. Also enjoyed the prawn omelette! Noodles and fried rice were a little bland but I really commend them both for not being too oily. Least favourite was probably the fried chicken pieces in the honey chicken because it was so dry and full of batter.
Western Dishes
As you can see here it's both meaty and seafood heated options. The meat options were okay, to be honest they weren't too memorable. But the seafood was great! I loved the creamy lemon pepper fish because you could exactly taste all those flavours + the perfect harmony they created. And the fish was nice and firm. Also the cheesy potato scallops were yummy. They go out really quickly at this station but the refill time is also quite fast. They did need a sprinkle of both salt and pepper though!
Plated Seafood Special Variety
Aka SUSHI STATION. There's only three options of inari sushi, salmon nigiri, and maki sushi. The maki sushi had the addition of the yellow korean pickled radish in it which kind of made it look like a kimbap. Even though I was kind of skeptical the sushi was quite good and didn't taste bad. There are condiments of soy sauce and wasabi available.
Carvery
For most of the time there was a server behind the station carving out roasted meats for the hungry people waiting. I didn't think much of the beef but I really enjoyed the pork! I didn't get any crackling though. There's also different sauces which of course mushroom sauce being my first choice. And roast baby potatoes and pumpkin. All solid!
Seafood & Salad
As mentioned before we missed out on the crabs and oysters we saw on the way in so be sure to visit early! Nonetheless there was still fresh prawns and mussels available which I enjoyed with the thousand island sauce on the side. Also some salad options next to the seafood which was pretty good. I tried the garden salad, caesar salad and potato salad. All nice except the caesar was lacking in cheese and croutons!
Deep Fried Dishes
No matter how many other options there are in the buffet, I love having some hot chips as well! I didn't try much else here but my mom said the small samosas and crab claws were pretty decent. And my sister said the calamari and nuggets weren't that great.
More sauces, salt and pepper, bread and butter on the side.
Peking Duck Pancakes
In sort of a random corner, there was a server freshly rolling some of these pancakes. You're only meant to take one per person but by the end these get less popular and you can take as much as you like. It was really good and the duck skin was very tasty and juicy.
There were also 2 types of soups next to this which I forgot to photograph. I tried the hot & sour soup and it was really really sour and not spicy at all. Although a generous amount of egg ribbons, tofu and mushroom in each ladle!
Desserts
Sooo many delicious looking little desserts. Sadly by the time I finally made my way to eating dessert there was less selections available and no more pavlova left. Our favourite thing here was the cheesecake which was sweet, tangy and dense, as well as the green tea cake which was so fragrant. The mouse and panna cotta was only average and the tarts tasted like shells with panna cotta in them and a fruit topping haha. The creme brûlée was the best though. Overall not bad!
Fruit and Jelly
My sister and I absolutely love buffet jelly! We eat plates at a time. What makes this place unique is they also have grape flavoured jelly which we have never seen before and it's the best. The rest of the fruits are all very fresh and sweet.
Warm Desserts
The sago pudding had cinnamon in it which was very different but nice to me. The rice pudding tasted a bit burnt. Apple crumble was on the dry side and Bread & butter pudding was bland. I liked the caramel samosas though!
Soft Service Machine
I actually thought this would be like fast food soft serve which I am NOT a fan of but upon trying it it actually tastes soooo good. Like real bucket ice cream. There is chocolate, strawberry and caramel syrup available on the side. When leaving this place I couldn't help grabbing a cone and topping it with caramel sauce, a piece of cheesecake and some crumble. Masterchef is I :')
There was also a chocolate fountain on the side which you can sort of see in the background of the soft serve photo above. But because I am not a big lover of chocolate I didn't try it out.
I haven't mentioned what service was nice yet and although it's not like you interact with them often, they seemed very fast and efficient in their duties which is pretty much what you want when you're at a buffet waiting for the dishes you are eyeing to be restocked.
In the end, we all walked out of this place entirely satisfied! Either the dishes are hit or misses on certain days or the Grange has just really upped its game, we found the food to be of good quality and tastes. Definitely not comparable to the bad feedback its previously received on this day for us.
Let me know if you've been here too and how your experience was. I'd love to hear all about it!
Thank you for reading :) xx
TL;DR:
Price: Cheap on a voucher, normal prices are average buffet prices
Quality: Good
Service: Fast and efficient
Ambience:
The Grange Buffet
St George Leagues Club
124 Princes Highway,
Beverly Park NSW 2217
Open Wednesday to Sunday
5:30PM - 9PM
