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.

Glebe Markets

Glebe Markets

Corner Derby Place & Glebe Point Rd, Glebe NSW 2037

Badde Manors

1/37 Glebe Point Road, Glebe NSW 2037

I love going to Glebe markets, & ever since Lis & Leona introduced me to this place, i've been going back whenever i get the chance to :)

This markets has a very unique feel to it. From the people, to the stalls, & the food. I fell i love with the vegetarian gozleme as soon as i bit into it.

There is a stall that sells Gozleme, which is savoury traditional handrolled turkish pastry.

Fresh pastry is rolled out, filled & sealed then fried on a hot plate/bbq.

At $6 for vego (spinach & cheese), & i think $7 for meat version (spinach, cheese &beef), you get one serving plus a wedge of lemon. & i ALWAYS ask for an extra piece of lemon, i like to drench mine in lemon hehe..

I havent tasted gozleme this nice anywhere else! I usually eat it at Fairfield markets near my place, but its NO where near as good.

The pastry is thin & crispy, there is not too much filling - just enough. One bad thing though is - one is never enough for me! I find myself going back for seconds (sharing the second one with Richard hehe).

& then we go over to Badde Manors (our fav joint to eat at in Glebe) & we have a pot of their special in house Chai Tea ! LOVE LOVE this chai, we're always coming back here for dinner/lunch/breakkie, the place is vegetarian as well (bonus for me!)

They've recently spruced up their menu's as well :)

Their chai has flesh pieces of ginger, actual tea, and all the spices you'll find in a chai (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, cardomom, star anise & peppercorn). What i love about it besides the full flavours, is that its not too watery like some places serve it.

The cafe isn't huge, but there's a front room, and a back room. We always get a seat in the back room as its more quiet & cosey, and the walls are filled with flyers & posters of all assortments. Places for rent, music gigs, instrument tutorial flyers, i'd love to live in Glebe :)

I also like to browse the few bookstores they have in the area. It's not a very long street, & there are other cafe's around, but i always come back to this one.

The Loft

3 Lime Street

King Street Wharf

Sydney 2000

The lovely Lisa from SpiceyIcecream organised a little high tea gathering at the Loft, with Steph of Raspberri Cupcakes, Karen of Citrus&Candy, Lilli of PikeletandPie, & Jennifer of Jenius. Also found out that Lisa had designed these menu's :)

We all chose the 'High Tea with a Twist', which was basically their set menu for high tea, tea/coffee, plus a tea pot of cocktail (one pot between two people) which costs $45 p/p.

There were only two girls manning the place, with a big baby shower going on inside. & we were told that it might take a bit longer for us to get everything because of the other big group, but she promised we'd get our cocktails made before anything else.

We all loved the super cute teapots that came out, filled with the different cocktails that we had ordered.

It was hilarious when Karen started to pour out the cocktails, we all took our camera's out in unison to start snapping away. We had a few glances our way from other people probably thinking "what the hell? she's only pouring tea.."

And as each one of us took our turn pouring, the snapping continued until all of our glasses were filled.

Each teapot had enough for about 2 glasses, so we all shared the following:

Sencha Quince Fizz 

Lillet shaken with a hint of vanilla, fresh passion fruit pulp, pink grapefruit & chilled T2's "Sencha Quince" tea.

Turkish Delight 

Plymouth Gin & a touch of Tuaca shaken with home-made rhubard puree, pear cheek, fresh lemon & chilled T2 "french early grey" tea.

Strawberry Pash 

Zubrowka Bison-grass vodka, creme de fraise shaken with home-made apple puree, strawberries, basil & sweet T2's "Citrus punch".

I wasn't exactly hungry when the food came out (silly me for eating oportos only 2 hrs earlier??!!! i had done a 2 hr work out at the gym & was STARVING..)

I adore the stands, cups, teapots & stuff at high tea, when i have my own home i will FOR SURE stock these things, as i'd LOVE to host mini parties & things :)

The sandwiches were neatly cut (& crustless) with a special row of 'vegetarian' ones for me. I Love crustless sandwiches, they are cute & petite, & super neat :)

The scones were okay, not the best i've had, served with jam & cream. I really liked the idea of placing a truffle in a spoon as a serving, it just makes it more of a 'petite' dining type of thing.

Deserts looked impressive, & it was so funny when Steph tried to take photo's of her lemon meringue tarts (and thought they looked too similar to boobs lols)

The sandwiches i had were tomato, cucumber & cheese, & creamy mushroom. While the meat eaters had  fillings of smoked salmon & dill, mushroom & chicken, cheese & cucumber, & for me - creamy mushroom. Also got a piece of veggie frittata, which very much lacked in taste, i didn't like this much, but finished it anyway (waste not want not!)

The tart (which i'm not sure what it was..) was citrus-ey with i think some kind of nuts sprinkled on top. It was tiny, and quite moist aswell and full of flavour when i bit into it. I think these would be the smallest tarts i've ever had.

With the lemon meringue pie, i tried to take off the crunchy top layer but the whole thing just crumbled infront of me boooo (i guess i was trying to imitate the layer of marshmallow that you can pick off as a whole piece when you're roasting them over a fire!)

The brownie - i was scared it would be a bit dry (as like the few other brownies i have tried before) and i was right, it was slightly dry & i didn't try to finish my piece.

I left the truffle. I think i don't like truffles because i remember getting into a coughing fit once a while ago when i ate one & choked on all the cocoa powder that went down my throat as i took a breathe before chewing it. But, the girls guaranteed it was really nice, so i tried it, & the same thing happened i really hate the feeling of sucking in powder! I think i'm just not meant to like truffles.

Our tea came out in clear pots & clear tea cups (very very simple, i love it) & we all got one pot to ourselves. I chose the Gorgeous Geisha, smooth sweet & so delicious. Green tea with the lush flavour of strawberries & cream.

I really adored the fact that we were sitting outside (with luscious natural light coming in) & the air was fresh, but one thing that scared us all a bit - was the boat horn that randomly went off half way through our time there hehe.

The thing that makes this High Tea stand out from the rest, i'd say is the tea pot cocktails! The food wasn't as great at the Victoria Room, but i do love all the descriptions that they have for their cocktails & tea's.

The Tea Room

The Tea Room
Level 3, North End, QVB, 455 George Street, Sydney
Tel 02 9283 7279
Fax 02 9283 7276
qvbinfo@thetearoom.com.au

We headed out to the QVB because I felt a little left out that Miss Betty was going to high tea with all her girl friends. It's located on it's own little area within the QVB on the Northern end of Level 3. We rocked up in our slightly casual wear, although I was wearing shorts and were greeted by some very well dressed people.


They took us to a table on the far end of the room with a little window beside our table. There wasn't much of a view outside, but we could see the street through a slightly dirty window. The menu had a fairly large selections of Tea. I decided to have the Dragonwell tea while Betty decided to have the English Breakfast Tea.


So, we ordered the afternoon tea and had a little chat while we were waiting. The sugar cubes were so cute. I ate a few while we were waiting. I'd reckon the raw sugar has a natural sugar cane flavour without that excess sweetness you'd get with the white sugar cubes.


After a little while, our food and tea came out on the most adorable plates decorated with a floral pattern and edged with gold. Betty had ordered the gluten free afternoon tea whereas I ordered the standard one. They were almost identical apart from the type of bread used on the sandwich plate.

Each afternoon tea set was arranged on a three tiered "cage" with sandwiches on the top, sweets in the middle and pastries on the bottom. We started the meal with the sandwiches and weren't disappointed.


We hadn't had white bread for what seems to be an eternity. So when we ate it, it was like opening your eyes after a long long sleep. One was an egg and mayonnaise sandwich, that one was pretty normal tasting since there really can't be anything special about eggs and mayonnaise. The other sandwich on the other hand was an awesome combination of cream, smoked salmon, chives and some other unnamed ingredients. The bread melted in my mouth and the flavours, oh the flavours danced on my tongue like a stripper on a pole.



The gluten free bread however was still ok even though it was gluten free. The bread was crumbly but not too dry compared to most gluten free products i've eaten. The fillings were pretty much the same as the white bread so I won't go into detail. When we finished our sandwiches, there was this little egg pastry on the side of the dish so we broke that in half and shared it. It was fan-fucking-tastic. The pastry was light and fluffy and when mixed with the egg mixture it tasted so so creamy and bad all at the same time.


Next up we tackled the sweets, there was some sort of meringue, a little cake with almond flakes and more meringue on top, a chocolate brownie, some kind of sweet almond cracker with a strawberry and balsamic vinegar.The meringues were quite nice they weren't as sweet as I expected them to be but sweet enough to satisfy me, although i'm not much of a sweet tooth. The brownies were so rich with a really sweet icing on top, it wasn't dry at all, it was nice and moist as I'd expected. The almond cracker on the other hand was a bit of a strange one. It was a mix of sweet, sour and savoury. The almonds were crunchy with the balsamic vinegar soaked through the cracker although it was still slightly crunchy. It was quite a nice mix of flavours and the strawberry was a nice touch.



The second plate had two of the same (meringues and brownies) and two different sweet pastries. There was a passionfruit drizzled melting moment. It was THE BEST melting moment I've had in my entire life. Have you ever had a melting moment that didn't melt? Well this was completely opposite. It melted in my mouth with the passionfruit pulp / syrup mixing in with the sugary, buttery and creamy biscuit. It was so good I didn't share any with Betty :)



Onto the best part of the food! The pastries were on the bottom, there were spinach and cheese pastries and some savoury cupcakes with cream on top. I jizzed in my pants (hehe saturday night live!!) when i ate the cheese and spinach pastries. They were so savoury with the right balance of cheese and spinach without being overly salty. I could live off these things, fight a war eating them alone ha ha! The savoury cupcakes paled in comparison. The cream on top added the extra flavour they lacked though.




Lastly we had the bottom plate which had Scones and another cheese and spinach pastry. This pastry was flat and had extra pastry almost looking like a little roll. It was nowhere near as good as the other two pastries we had on the other plate although still quite nice. The scones were to die for. They were definately the best scones i've had since year two in primary school, but then again my perception of food back when I was a hungry little garbage disposal unit might somehow bias my opinion hehe. We had cream and strawberry jam with the scones. They were nice and warm with a slightly moist centre.




I'd definately come back here again! If i had an income of 100k per year after tax i'd come here every afternoon!