Some people may call me a pessimist, but I prefer to see myself as a realist. I find it very hard to take what other’s may call a ‘really good deal’ at face value and I’m always looking for the catch. As the saying goes, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”. So when all these deal, coupon, group-buying websites burst on to the scene a few months back, I was very hesitant to jump on board.
But sometimes my stomach can overrule my head. Which was the case when I saw a Scoopon deal for High Tea for two people at Museum of Sydney Cafe for $58. I read the fine print over and over to make sure I wasn’t just paying for some scones and whipped cream, then I signed up.
Ever since my husband found out my sister organised high tea for me, her, our mum, my mother in-law to be and my brother’s girlfriend for part of my Hen’s day, he’s always wanted to attend high tea – you see, we’re kindred spirits in that we both share a love of cakes. And to attend a meal where you’re presented with a selection of sweet treat equals heaven for the both of us 😀
MoS Cafe
The day we went was a glorious autumn’s day, I could’ve even thought it was summer. The Scoopon was only valid for Sundays, which was fine for us as I hoped it would mean avoiding a bunch of Hens out on their Hen’s day. Once seated we were offered sparkling Voss sparkling mineral water. I’m usually not a fan of sparkling mineral water, but as we couldn’t get the attention of the waitress and I was quite thirsty after a walk from the car park station in the unusually warm weather, I downed half a glass before I realised it was sparkling and that I didn’t mind it at all.
Champers
The Scoopon also included a glass of Moët champagne on arrival, but I was a little disappointed that the waitress brought out glasses of champagne to the table and did not pour the glasses of champagne from the bottle. In my books, I think that could leave room for a little cheating on the cafe’s part – how does the patron know they’re getting Moët? It didn’t bother me too much as I’m not really a fan of Moët and I wasn’t drinking either that day.
Sandwiches
Another point of contention, our tower of food was served to us before we were asked whether or not we wanted tea. So we started anyway with the ribbon sandwiches. The bread was so pillowy soft especially the brown breads. Our selection was one poached chicken, house made aioli and parsley ribbon sandwich, one smoked salmon, capers and cream cheese and two cucumber ribbon sandwiches. Between the two of us. It was at this point during the high tea, when I was mentally planning a solution to the usual moaning from my husband, complaining that we’ve gone out to eat somewhere and he hadn’t had enough to eat.
We halved the chicken and salmon sandwiches so we both could get a taste of each. Both the chicken and salmon sandwiches were very tasty especially the chicken sandwich with the aioli. The cucumber sandwich was quite bland, I’m not sure what was in with the cucumber, apparently it was aioli, but didn’t really add any flavour to the sandwich.
Quiches and Scones
Second level on our tower featured two varieties of quiches – mushroom and Lorraine and two types of scones – date (well a tiny piece of date on top of a plain scone) and plain. Don’t ask me what was in the little ramekin next to the whipped cream, because I don’t know what it was. I think it was a type of fruit chutney, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it as to exactly what it was. It tasted nice, but I was expecting strawberry jam to go with the scones and cream. This dish was a little Meh. A bit of sustenance, but nothing to write home about. The scones were ok, but after having Devonshire tea at Betty’s in York, UK, nothing beats clotted cream with scones. The quiches were a tad undercooked – the pastry on the bottoms of the shells could’ve done with an extra 2 minutes or so in the oven.
Sweets
The top and favourite plate. Sweets. Featuring cannoli filled with sweetened ricotta, strawberries dipped in ganache, chocolate cups filled with creme patissiere and mini cheesecakes. I loved the little filled chocolate cups. The strawberries were ok, but I prefer strawberries dipped in tempered chocolate so that you really have to bite to get into the strawberry then you have the shards of hard chocolate in your mouth with the soft juicy strawberry. The cannoli were just the right size to go on a plate with sweets. They were lovely, but my standards are pretty high for cannoli after visiting La Casa. I’m not really a cheesecake fan, but these little mini ones were just the right size for me. But the cannoli were definitely the highlight of the sweets plate for me.
Overall, for the price we paid for high tea for two, I can’t really complain too much. We were fed and sated and luckily for me, Hubby didn’t complain that he was still hungry!
Oh, and if you’re wondering as to the title of this blog post, who the third person at the high tea was…. our first little Bump! At the time of the high tea I was 10 weeks pregnant, now currently 25 weeks and yes, it’s taken me this long to blog about this day. The biggest symptom I’ve had so far is tiredness – I’ve never felt so tired in all my life which has meant that any spare time I’ve had is either sleeping or just lying on the couch totally exhausted. And that’s had the follow on effect of hardly any cooking, definitely no baking or blogging.
But I’m glad to say, finally at 25 weeks, I feel like I’m getting back into my groove even to the point of meal planning for the week and some impromtu baking. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a few more posts out before I’m back to feeling exhausted again 🙂
The World According to Toni 