The Tea Room-High Tea

I haven't been here since 4.5 years ago, so it was nice to be back again to celebrate a friend's birthday. The Tea Room was my first authentic high tea experience, and one of the best I've been to. This visit was just as lovely.

decor goals

Afternoon high tea set-$45pp

Vanilla tea

I fell in love with chai tea here all those years ago, since their chai was one of the best. I was actually a bit sick that day, but still wanted something strong and flavourful since my senses were a bit down, so opted for this black tea. I was expecting more spice and vanilla in it, but this tea was a bit subtle. Only pouring the second cup (and before refilling the tea pot), the flavours where there. Otherwise, the flavours really disappeared towards the end when I refilled it over 3 times (some good tea leaves are still able to retain their flavours even if you rebrew it a few times).

scones (plain or with raisans) with scone or jam

It's a bit different when dinig with large groups, since they put 3 sets onto one stand, and combine all the tea milks for half the table (which gets a bit inconvenient). You have jam to share between four, and have to pass the scones around. 

savouries

Last time I remembered have this spinach and cheese pastry, and another buttery pastry. This time it seems healthier and there's more of a fusion of Eastern flavours. We had Peking Duck, which didn't really havy crsipy skin, but there was a decent portion of duck (one of my fav proteins), leek and spinach quiche and a tomatoey biscuit (I was too excited with the food I didn't really here the explanations of what each thing was exactly). I think I prefer 3 small savouries rather than 2 big filling ones.

finger sandwiches: curry chicken, egg mayo, tomato and cheese, cucumber and cream cheese (for those who are allergic to egg), mixture of white/wholemeal/multigrain bread.

The main change is that they offer complimentary sandwiches after you finished the ones you have initially! How exciting, but as I'm getting older, unfortunately I can't eat as much..but did have more than the standard 3 sandwiches....I quite like the curry chicken, not too spicy/ Also the cream cheese w/ cucumber was super refreshing and surprisingly light. The egg was good as well, but you do feel quite full after it. The cheese one had a bit too thick layer of cheese in comparison to the tomato. last experience had 2 flavours of sandwiches, but they were bigger portions. I also like smaller but more variety.

dessert tier

strawberry and passionfruit cheesecake

Most of use liked this dessert the most. Strawberry jelly layer with a good balance of slightly acidic passionfruit. The cheesecake itself wasn't too dense. The fruit tart was average, custard not too sweet and pastry shell relatively thin. My fresh raspberry was sweet whilst my friend had a sour one, so can't really predict it, but that's what fresh fruit is like.

blueberry and pistachio macaroon

I was most disappointed when they didn't have macarons but macaroons (I think they only have macarons on weekends or just some days). Macarons are pretty much my favourite dessert item, but I guess it's good to try something different. Macaroon is a coconut based dessert, and this was quite light without it being too crumbly or sweet.

chocolate gateau

Saved this at the end, and pretty much we were all in a food coma. I can eat a lot, but even for me, I was struggling to finish this dessert. it's quite rich and a bit on the sweet side, not enough bitterness from the dark choc. The bottom layer of hazelnut was quite hard to cut into. Managed to finish it in the end since I hate wasting food. Last time there were 6 desserts rather than 4. I guess they didn't have a cheesecake last time. (Not going to link my previous post 4.5 years ago because the photos and blogging style, well, quite different back in those high school days...)

Service was good, although at times it was hard to get their attention since we were in the corner. They did frequently top up our tea pots/water (previous experience here we had to ask them rather than they checking our tea pots and coming around).

It's a classic high tea place to go to, with a bit of history and lovely decor. Won't be disappointed if you haven't been high tea before and don't know where to go (:

Passiontree Velvet-Mother's Day High Tea

It's been a while since I've been to high tea, and when I heard there was a new place near me, I thought why not do something special and different for Mother's Day this year?

Passiontree Velvet is  at Macquarie Centre, located in the Fresh Food Market side (near Coles). 

colourful displays filled with macarons, tarts, eclairs and cake!

chocolate

Tt's actually my first time having high tea inside a shopping centre. It's a different feeling compared to the "traditional" high tea places like the QVB Tea Room, or inside hotels with a view. There aren't massive rushes of people walking around here so it is a nice place to relax and have a cup of tea, but you do have the occasional curious browser looking at your high tea stand. There is also natural lighting coming in as well.

some of the menu

Harney and Sons Tea: Paris (front) and Yellow and Blue (behind)

I had the Paris tea which is a black tea with vanilla and some fruit flavours. It was quite a generous serving of tea leaves and the tea smelt really nice, but couldn't really taste the sweetness in it. It's similar to the Earl Grey Harney and Sons tea that I tried before. The Yellow and Blue herbal tea is mainly a chamomile tea, but there is also some lavender fragrance which makes it really nice. The staff are super friendly and happy to refill your tea. Some places only refill your tea once since they don't want you to think their tea is bland after the second refill...

Mother's Day Duchess Full High Tea for 2-$90

The Duchess Full High Tea consists of come cakes, scones, finger sandwiches and a drink which is normally around $35pp. The Mother's Day high tea included some macarons as well as 2 gifts for Mum to take home, so it was definitely value for money, since one macaron is $3 (tbh, the macarons was the turning point for me to decide to book a high tea here rather than having a Mother's Day brunch somewhere else). I love high tea since you can try a selection of everything without having to purchase the bigger sizes and end up eating too much sugar. Even though I prefer things not too sweet, I secretly have a sweet tooth.

I realised the stand is slightly different, since the metal goes around the plates rather than through it. The plates aren't fancy Royal Albert China, but sometimes simple white and wooden boards for tea pots also work. Starting from the bottom tier...

Finger Sandwiches: ham, egg, tuna and cucumber, and smoked salmon biscuit in the middle

I like how they used white, wholemeal and multigrain bread. Normally it's white and wholemeal. There are also a lot more variety in sandwiches here, to probably compensate for the lack of pastries compared to a high tea place which makes their own savouries inside their kitchen there. Sandwiches are easier to serve in a shopping centre. It's also pretty cool how it's a three tiered sandwich, but since it's small, it's not messy and easy to pick up and eat.

Sweets!

The macarons which were gifted as part of the high tea are blueberry, vanilla, lemon and jasmine flavoured.

The Rocks Eclair: chocolate ganache, pistachio sponge, caramelised pistachio and choc cookie chunk

that dark choc ganache...

I actually emailed them beforehand and asked if eclairs will be featured on the high tea, and they said it wasn't, so I was prepared to purchase a separate eclair on top of the high tea...So I was presently excited when I saw an eclair when they brought the high tea out! (I think they replaced it with another mousse cake) The choux pastry was light, and the chocolate was dark enough so not that sweet. Couldn't really taste the pistachio in the sponge, but I loved how it gave it some colour, and the addition of the cookie crunch gave it some texture some all that ganache

lemon meringue tart

I also love my meringues, but this one is more dense and not as airy compared to other meringues which I prefer. It's not too sweet while the lemon filling inside was more on the sweet side still had some acidity. 

salted caramel tart

Both my mum and I was wondering where did the salt go? There was a good amount of cocoa, but the salt was very subtle...maybe it was because of all those sweet things which masked the saltiness....

berry white chocolate mousse

Loved the white chocolate in this since it wasn't overpowering in the sweetness/creaminess from your typical white chocolate. A few years ago when my mum watched an episode of Masterchef and learnt what white choc is actually, she used to love white choc then didn't after...so luckily the white choc wasn't too sweet.'t berry compote gave it some acidity, and loved the berry sponge at the bottom. Oh, and of course, loved the addition of a mini macaron.

Scones were a tad on the small side, and a tiny bit crumbly (hopefully it was just this batch). At least they weren't rock hard like the scones at the high tea at Westfield Chatswood which weren't fresh (according to my mum). These were soft and warm to serve. The whipped cream is more on the dense/creamy side, the jam wasn't too artificially flavoured luckily (I actually don't really like jam apart from one French supermarket jam).

Really enjoyed the high tea despite being in the middle of a supermarket. All the staff were really friendly and helpful, and definitely got value for money. Hopefully be back to try their coffee and other cakes :)

Their colour obviously isn't as nice as the Tiffany Blue (patent) colour, it's a slightly darker shade, but still love the coloured boxes. Some take home goodies:

20 assorted chocolates ($40), and a Harley and Son's Handbag Tea (normally $7). We were super full, and decided to take home the macarons for dessert.

The vanilla macaron had more of a cream filling, the blueberry had a little compote in it, jasmine one could be more stronger in flavour, and the lemon was actually quite sour rather than the 'artificial' lemon flavour. Chocolates generally have a very smooth texture.

Happy Mother's Day! Thanks for everything that you do for me <3 

The Gardener's Lodge Cafe

bought a deal from Group On since i wanted to try some "Aboriginal Flavours". it said it was high tea, but even reading the description i knew it wouldn't be like normal high tea.

this is the most disappointing group on deal that i've bought, so i'm not going to go into detail on the food. going to stay away from "booking" deals, and stick with the good old $10 and less no need to book deals with super good and nice food.

mocha.

normal cafes can do cafe art with mocha, but this was just lazily sprinkled with chocolate powder. it was alright, but parts of the coffee had come dark choc bits, not sure if that was on purpose.

next came the pancakes which i didn't take a pic with my phone. sooo small, about the diameter of the coffee. the berries were quite different but nice, and the macadamia honey wasn't too sweet.

"high tea"

this wasn't what the deal actually included, but i think the chefs thought we used a deal from another company. we were supposed to choose our own cakes, but we just got tea cakes, which i dout they made themselves/ also we weren't supposed to have those lamb skewers. they were a bit tough and chewy ): the salad had way too much vinegar dressing, the cheese tarts' pastry was a bit crumbly, the salmon wrap was ok.

the best thing was the chai tea. it was filled with heaps of spices. don't know what brand it was. this tea w/ milk wasn't just sugar and cinnamon, it was fully spiced up (: however the teapot was small and you could only get less than 2 cups of tea out of it. would have asked for a refill, but i bet that guy would've said no after i "argued" with him that we got the wrong deal, and he gave us three extra wraps.

first dry chem lab today. i love standing next to smart people, haha.

buffet/macarons/high tea...

did you know centrepoint had $1 froyo today? as if i would trek out to the city just for 1 dollar moochi. even if it was free, i think i would pass.

also kids eat free at the centrepoint tower buffet. i haven't been up there since they made the whole 360 degrees rotating restaurant and the sky walk thing. it's soooo expensive! mon-thurs lunch (cheapest) is $55, and fri/sat/sun dinner is $85+. and you only have 1.5 hours to stuff yourself. that's not enough time to enjoy the view, take photos and eat your money's worth. i was looking at the photos on their website, and i'm like hey, why does this seem familiar? THEN I REALISED. when i went to thailand, i went up to their tallest tower and enjoyed the view, and then also went to their sky buffet, and i'm pretty sure it lasted more than 1.5 hours and was cheaper. so i've experienced eating buffet high up in the sky before, just without the whole rotating thing, but you could walk around the whole restaurant back in thailand, so didn't even realise, but another things crossed off my bucket list (:

on monday when i went city, i saw laduree macarons are now $3.30! ridiculous! just over a week ago, they were $3.20. then i realised, STUPID NEW FINANCIAL YEAR. should've bought one the week before when it was 10c cheaper, and it's not like they've gone bigger this finanicial year. if you look closely at their macarons, quite a few (well more than expected) aren't perfectly made....their boxes have increased price from 40c to a few dollars. like their wedding box gifts (who is stupid enough to spend ridiculous amounts of money of macarons individually packed to give to their guests!? might as well give people a few more drinks or a few more dishes). last financial year they were $10 for a square box with 2 macarons. this financial year they're $12, mind you, the box/contents didn't get any bigger or fancier.

i still reckon it's a waste of money for people to have high tea at westfield, level 4. it's a shopping centre, so why would you waste money (it's actually quite expensive there) having high tea at a shopping centre. there was a time where i wanted to go high tea at t2, then i thought, that's a waste of money, since i bet they don't even make half their stuff themselves, and you're supposed to go there for tea, not food, and it's expensive considering their quality. 

my cousin said high tea at sheraton is better than qvb. they have a high tea buffet, but at $50pp, i'm not sure if i can afford it at this stage haha...usually the set menu at a high tea place and the tea is enough to make you really full, so high tea buffet...you probably won't eat anything before/after...

i would upload pics, but now i ceebs....high tea at qvb was worth it, since their tea is really good, crockery was traditional, and the building has some history to it. googling high tea places in syd, their one is considered one of the "cheaper" options. in hk, i had high tea at the 43rd level. the view was amazing. so were the bathrooms-i could wash my hands all day/night (there was hand cream as well). while you washed your hands, you could look over the harbour, and to your right was the mountains/ green stuff and an eagle flying at your eye level, yeah the view was superb. this other place i went to had a history to it, something about someone first settling/some first building (yeah, wasn't paying attention to what my uncle said), but there was also live music which you don't often find nowadays. i remember that place was the place were you had to line up at 12pm, for high tea at 3pm. yeah, i waited in line. only guests of the hotel could book a place. the line kept going until 5 ish, so if you went to the line late, you got a seat late, then you only had 1/2 to eat, and high tea is not something you should rush. you should sit there and take up the seat for as long as you can (unlike buffets)

yep, all of this is making me hungry. still can't open my mouth widely without some pain...