Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Swissotel - High Tea

68 Market Street
Sydney NSW 2000
ph: 02 9238 7082
booking essential.


Richard & I wanted to take our buddies Tash & Danny to a high tea, as they had never experienced it before. After lots of googling, checking out other food blogs, i decided on Swissotel because

a) buffet style high tea, made sure the boys were satisfied
b) $35 per person, was a total bargain!
c) because i hadn't been here before, so a good blog-op :)

I had booked a table for four, 2 weeks in advance. The seating was between 2pm & 4pm, we got there on time to make sure all the food was there hehe.

The High Tea room is at The Cross Roads Bar on Level 8. We were shown to our comfy lounge style seats, me & Richard went to get our food first while Danny & Tash minded our things.

Everything was placed on a couple tables, all up taking about 4mtrs long and about 1.5mtrs wide. I was amazed at how much food (& mostly sweet things) there were. Now i'm not sure what most of these are... but i'll just guess them all.

Carrot Cake


These were quite moist, with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting on top (not enough me thinks hehe) & topped with a super cute sugar candy carrot. Tash actually kept all of ours, wrapped them up in tissue & put them in her bag, i wonder what she ended up doing with them..

Caramel Chocolate tarts


These were devilishly sweet, i didn't finish it! Had too many other things to try hehe..

Custard Tart w/ Fruits


These tarts were cute, but i found the actual tart could have been made nicer, as it was slightly soggy. But everything was mass produced, so skimping on design quality. I took a few photo's but only this one came out showing almost perfect tarts. Some of them had broken bits come off the side.

Apple Strudel


I didnt particularly like the pastry, i found it a bit dry, but i finished off the insides. The apple filling was chunky & yummy & not too sweet.

Vanilla Slice, Chocolate Pear Tarts


I only had about half each of these as well, too many sweet things.. the vanilla. & the chocolate tart, was way too decadent. I liked the tart base though, it was quit crumbly.

Cheese cake fruit tart


Creme Brulee


This i managed to finish, as it wasn't overly sweet, and the cups were just so cute. Actually, i thinik i had two of them hehe..

Chocolate & Cream cakes


These were one of my favourites, the cake was moist with the layers of cream, and the chocolate ganache icing (i think it was) was superb.

Berry cheesecake


More cheesecake.. the colours were vibrant, but i didnt try any. Well, i ate all the topping :)

Lemon Meringue Tart


The meringue tops werent fantastic, but the lemon syrup jam was quite lemony, so lemon i cringed as soon as i tasted it!


I'm not sure what these were.. it looks like more cheesecake, strawberry style.

Coffee cakes


Coffee cakes are my fav, so i happily finished these off. They had a thick coffee icing, garnished with a yummy hazelnut.

Sandwiches



The sandwiches weren't overly nice, i would of liked them more if the bread was more soft! I only tried the egg salad, and the cheese & tomato, but they also had chicken & lettuce, ham cheese & tomato, & nothing with smoked salmon?? Usually these have salmon ones with cream cheese or something.

Scones with jam & cream


The scones were a let down.. so still, NOTHING compares to the scones at The Tea room High Tea in QVB. They were dry & hard, they had the crumble factor, because they were dry only..

Chocolate & Vanilla Mousse


Profiteroles


Vegetarian Quiche


These were the only savoury pastries i could eat, i think i had about four haha.. they went pretty quickly as well. The 2nd time i got up they were gone, so at about 3pm they brought more out.

Mini Meat Pies



Richard had these, he likes to eat the tops off before digging into the filling.. it looks like they could've put more filling in, they look only half filled!

There was decent lighting in the lobby, so i was quite happy, as i was using my new Macro lens!


Our seats were really comfy as well. Our dirty plates were constantly taken away from us which i think was very very good service.


We didnt realise there was a chocolate fountain until we finished all the food.. Danny & Tash managed one stick each of assorted fruits, mashmallow & raisin & pistacio bread.

Richard and i however, were overly full so left it at that. Actually i think i made a stick with marshmallows, but we didn't finish it..




At $35 per head, this place is real good for value. However, only if you are a sweets addict! I personally would've preferred more savoury things to eat, but there was just wayyyy to much sweets.

I'd like to explore more High Tea places.. so next on my list.. possibly either Sir Stamford @ Circular Quay, or Sheraton on the Park.

3 comments:

mishmashmosh said...

Hi! I've always wanted to go to the Swissotel for high tea, but I never knew what it was like. All these pictures are beautiful! Your blog looks so yummy! xD

chocolatesuze said...

ooh that triangle cake looks so pretty! i love how swissotel is a buffet cos i never seem satisfied with the amount of food that other high tea places put on their tiers

A cupcake or two said...

The swissotel is great. My brother had his wedding reception there and the dessert was to die for. Your photos are great. Everything looks so darn good.