Glass Brasserie: Breakfast to see you through a day

Porridge as breakfast just doesn't do it for me, especially in the colder mornings. Those pre-flavoured sachets are tasty but the sugar content and other stuff in them doesn't seem appropriate for that time of the day. And plain oats are just plain.

I'd much rather have breakfast at Hilton Sydney's Glass Brasserie everyday but failing that, even once in a while is pretty special. Looking out onto the Queen Victoria Building facade one Saturday morning, I felt a little like a tourist in my own city, which I keep meaning to try one day.

Fresh juice mixes at Glass Brasserie, Hilton Sydney, George Street, Sydney

Glass Brasserie offers a la carte or buffet breakfast options daily. It's been a very long time since I was faced with a breakfast buffet and Glass strives to impress.

Start with a specialty 'Juice Master' cocktail - booze-free, of course, at this time of the day (although bubbles for breakfast are an option!).

Cappuccino

A lazy weekend breakfast is hardly complete without a cruisy coffee, rather than one gulped in front of a computer, with the espresso coffees made to order and specialty teas available.

Steamers feature more hot options, including Asian breakfasts

While there's cereal and museli and all, I'm all about the savoury breakfasts and there sure are some interesting choices at Glass to cater to the international hotel guests. Anyone for congee, fried rice or steamed dumplings for breakfast?

Cold cut meats and cheese buffet options

Or, would you rather cold cut meats and cheese in proper European style? I definitely would have gone back for this if I had time or stomach space, as the last time I had salami for breakfast was years ago in Munich.

Hot breakfast buffet options

The 'standard' breakfast options looked pretty enticing too: plenty of roasted bacon, mini sausages, eggs, hash browns and mushrooms, looking fresh and appetising - which is not always the case with breakfast buffets.

Selections from the breakfast buffet

We somehow managed a buffet selection without bacon or sausages; instead drawn to the vivid orange smoked salmon at the buffet, and also featured in the signature a la carte breakfast dish.

The smoked salmon shared the massive plate with a generous helping of creamy scrambled free range eggs, crunchy potato hash browns, sauteed mushrooms with spinach leaves and a bit of cheese.

In-house cold smoked salmon

Claiming to be Sydney's best smoked salmon, I don't think they're off the mark at all. Made in-house the Tasmanian farmed salmon is cured in salt and sugar for 24 hours and then rinsed, marinated in vegetable oil before being cold smoked.

The smoked salmon has an actual texture and flavour beyond mush and salty smoke, which is what some of the commercial packet stuff can taste like.

This glorious smoked salmon comes from Hilton Sydney's new-ish executive chef Carl Middleton (ex Lilianfels in Katoomba) and his own killer recipe with a new smoker installed at Glass.

Yoghurt pot with bircher museli

For a healthier turn, cute little yoghurt pots with what I think was bircher museli and nuts do the trick.

Buffet fresh fruit selection

As does the fresh fruit selection from the buffet, where cubes of melon and pineapple, but especially the passionfruit, add a sweet and light touch to the morning.

Chinese style congee with toppings

Curiosity got the better of me and I just had to sample the congee and steamed dumplings - possibly a bit of a controversial addition to the buffet line-up given Chinatown is mere minutes away.

The plain congee was that variety which is made with just rice and water, so my failure to add soy sauce as a condiment - in addition to the fresh and fried shallots - was a major error. In any case, this type of congee is meant to be plain and cleansing. For the dumplings, go to Chinatown.

Breakfast omelette from the a la carte breakfast menu

If there's not enough enticement in the buffet or for those just too lazy to get their own, Glass offers an a la carte menu, priced separately to the buffet, where the likes of omelettes are cooked to order with a choice of fillings.

This fluffy, folded-over and perfectly golden specimen enveloped diced ham, mushroom and cheese in a still-wet and stringy-with-cheese classic combination.

Signature dish of beach wood house smoked salmon with English potato scones, pan roasted
asparagus, free range scrambled eggs and baby watercress  from the a la carte
breakfast menu

And starring the aforementioned 'Sydney's best' smoked salmon, Glass' signature breakfast dish is a fresh, pretty construction.

This brightly coloured dish is quite a substantial breakfast of scrambled eggs, roasted asparagus and hidden beneath it all, an English potato scone that was more like a buttery, pan-fried hash brown than the afternoon tea style scones I know.

Chocolate croissant and guava danish

To finish on a sweet note, I returned to the buffet - although breads and pastries are located in a different area, closer to the entrance. The stunning mini guava danish was irresistable and had to be on my plate, along with a flakey, buttery mini chocolate croissant.

We took leave of our gorgeous QVB vantage point completely and utterly sated and ready to take on the day. Indeed, this epic breakfast at Glass saw me through the entire day with lunch admittedly skipped.

Food, booze and shoes dined at Glass Brasserie courtesy of Hilton Sydney.