As a self-confessed sweet tooth I am always on the lookout for a new High Tea experience so you can understand how excited I was to be invited along recently as a guest to experience not only one, but two very different high tea experiences. Seriously, who doesn’t love the opportunity to dress up and indulge in beautiful looking food?
Our first High Tea experience was spent on the beautiful rooftop Burbury Terrace located on top of the luxury Burbury Hotel to celebrate the launch of their new High Tea menu. Like the 4.5 star Burbury Hotel located below, the atmosphere of the Terrace High Tea was luxurious and elegant.
The High Tea experience is presented in the traditional and sophisticated format of a three-tiered platter of sweets and savouries. However, what really set the Burbury High Tea apart was the spectacular sweeping view out over the city of Canberra that created a perfect backdrop to our experience.
Keeping with tradition we were offered a menu of different loose-leaf tea options from TWG Tea that come served in a tea pot to accompany the food. I chose the Silver Moon tea which was a blend of green teas with vanilla and berry flavours and it went perfectly with High Tea. If you choose the champagne High Tea option for an extra $10 you can also enjoy a glass of Piper-Heidsieck champagne.
From what I understand it is High Tea etiquette to eat the savouries first and then move on to the sweets. However, when the beautiful three tiered platter was served to our table that top tier of decadent French cakes, tarts and macarons looked so delicious that I could not resist starting with the sweets!
The sweet options on the new menu include delicious little chocolate mousse cups, Caramel and chocolate tartes, passionfruit proffiteroles, Paris-Brest éclairs and strawberry macarons. It was very hard to pick a favourite but I could have eaten at least 10 more of those little passionfruit proffiteroles!
You can’t have a traditional High Tea without scones and the Burbury High Tea didn’t disappoint serving up two different types. Both the buttermilk and cranberry and orange scones were light and fluffy and very enjoyable particularly with the addition of the homemade jam and cream.
After all of the sweet treats and scones I only had just enough room to fit in the savouries. The smoked salmon, cucumber, wasabi and lime mayonnaise sandwiches were my favourite followed by the very buttery and delicious capsicum, baked ricotta and basil tarts.
The Burbury High Tea was everything you hope to experience at a traditional High Tea and definitely worth a visit! I dragged my partner along with me and he had a great time and enjoyed the food but he did complain that it was a little too feminine for him. The feminine elegance of the experience would make this a perfect afternoon outing with your girlfriends to celebrate a special occasion or to spoil your mother.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of the tale of two high teas!
What: Burbury Terrace High Tea
When: Every Saturday and Sunday 12-4:30pm
Where: Burbury Hotel, Barton
Cost: $50 for traditional or $60 for the champagne option
I was a guest of Burbury Terrace however all opinions expressed are my own.
