Ladies, dust off your frock finery, dig your pearls out of the jewellery box and find yourselves some white lace gloves. A wave of finely cut and de-crusted cucumber sandwiches is headed for Sydney this October.
High Tea, that refined relic of bygone times, is being revived in style for the
Crave Sydney International Food Festival.
Tea Time Treats
Perhaps you should watch some movies like
Portrait of a Lady or
The Age of Innocence to get you in the mood. And of course you'll need to practice pursing your lips to get your tea sipping just right, and crooking your little finger so you look the part while holding your fine china teacup.
But seriously it isn't all about etiquette and cucumber sandwiches. There are lashings of flavour and atmosphere at these high tea events. Right throughout October seventeen different venues across Sydney including cafes, restaurants, traditional tea rooms and even a boat will be offering sweet and savoury treats, accompanied by tea, coffee and a glass of something bubbly from Brown Brothers. And while it may seem coarse to be discussing vulgar money in an article about such a refined subject, I'm happy to report that the cost for all this culinary elegance is only $45.
Your choices include:
High Tea at Sea, where the magnificent Sydney Harbour will be the backdrop for your dining experience. Aboard Captain Cook Cruises' MV Sydney 2000 you can sample finger sandwiches, caramelised onion, beetroot and goat cheese baby tartlets, and glazed mango and coconut custard tartlets. This one is available Wednesdays and Saturdays in October.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month so how about a very picturesque and pink
High Tea at the Bathers' Pavilion Cafe at Balmoral? During weekdays from October 4 your sweet tooth can be indulged with buttermilk scones and macarons with raspberry and yoghurt ganache.
At Surry Hills' Sparkle Cupcakery you can enjoy high tea with a difference at
Sparkle T Party. Every day they will serve up sandwich snippets, mini-cones, toffee apples and of course, cupcakes.
The Victoria Room's Vintage High Tea will satisfy your yearning for the chic soirées of days-gone-by. This Darlinghurst establishment's menu includes old-time favourites like hummingbird cake, lavender shortbread and rose jelly. After tea you can shop for high end vintage fashion from a special Coco's Repose pop-up shop. This one's only on Sunday 9, 16 and 23 October.
Or you can visit one of my favourite Sydney buildings for
High Tea at the Art Gallery of NSW daily through October. Enjoy smoked salmon parfait, scones with rhubarb jam and lime curd tartlets, overlooking the Royal Botanic Gardens. Henry James would have loved it.
For booking details or for information about the other high tea venues visit the
Crave Sydney website.
