For a friend’s hens afternoon, high tea had been organised at the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra. The high tea is served buffet style where you get to help yourself to the scrumptious looking delicacies and go back for seconds//thirds and more. Prices are $58 per person and includes a glass of sparkling wine. High tea is held in the tea lounge – a plush sitting area with comfortable cushioned arm chairs and lounges.
After standing for several minutes by the tea lounge counter waiting to be greeted, we still couldn’t get anyone’s attention even though it wasn’t busy with only a few people sitting down and plenty of staff walking back and forth. One of my friends eventually walked up to a waitress to enquire about our table. A table for seven had been reserved near the windows and doors looking out onto a garden where we spotted a wedding taking place. Linen napkins were placed on our laps after we were seated.
While most were enjoying a glass of sparkling wine being poured by one of the waitresses, I substituted my sparkling for orange juice instead. Unlimited tea and coffee is provided through out the sitting. I was disappointed that high tea didn’t have an actual tea menu. When I asked what kind of tea they served, I was told that they have several teas and if there was anything in particular I wanted. I was in the mood for T2’s Gorgeous Geisha, but our waitress looked at me blankly when I mentioned this. There doesn’t seem to be any nice loose leaf teas served here, just your plain Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Peppermint etc. Pots of tea were ordered and it was a good idea to share the pots with others rather than have a pot per person to save some room on the already cluttered table.
Now onto the food. First the savoury side of the buffet – cucumber finger sandwiches, mini brioche with smoked salmon, avocado and wasabi mayonnaise, chicken caesar wrap, spoons of marinated pumpkin with persian fetta, and coconut crab salad were a few of the options.
There were also hot foods such as mini pies, sausage rolls, quiches and scrolls. There were three types of scones available – buttermilk, fruit and capsicum. Double cream and two kinds of jam are placed to the side of the scones.
Then the sweets side – so many cakes and slices! There were chocolate eclairs, a choco-loco slice, raspberry slice, lime ecstasy slice, lemon tarts with raspberry macarons on top and vanilla creme brulee served in small ceramic cups. The warm dessert item was bread and butter pudding served conveniently right near the double cream.
There were various whole cakes that I just didn’t want to cut into for ruining the look of the cake.
The healthy option was the berry honey yoghurt granola, but really you’re not there to be healthy. Behind the granola, there are large jars filled with marshmallows, shortbread, macarons and lollies.
Plate 1 – I decided to try all the cold items first. I quite liked the cucumber sandwich using very fresh soft bread. The brioche was too dry for me so I ended up just picking out the smoked salmon (and thought I was being clever to eliminate unnecessary carbs to fit more in), the chicken in the chicken caesar wrap was so moist, soft and tasty. The pumpkin and fetta was exactly that. The crab salad tasted very crabby and it was good to know that there was no scrimping on the crab. This was my favourite and I had seconds of this.
Plate 2 – Apart from the second crab salad, it was time for the warm items. I was very curious to see what a capsicum scone would taste like with jam and cream. There were dried bits of capsicum in the scone but other than that, I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between this and a plain buttermilk scone. I like to think it was healthier with a bit of a veggie intake. The pumpkin scroll was a winner – nice flakey pastry and delicious pumpkin evenly portioned. I would have gone for seconds (others did) but I was gearing up for dessert. The sausage roll was okay but could have been warmer.
Plate 3 – on the very top of the buffet is a large glass jar filled with heart shaped macarons. I got one of each colour (vanilla and strawberry). These were okay but not as nice as Dream Cuisine’s macarons. The choco-loco slice had very thick chocolate mousse on top, only a thin layer of sponge and then a gelatinous vanilla layer in the middle. Similarly, the raspberry slice was very gelatinous and chewy rather than a soft melt-in-your-mouth slice so I didn’t finish this. My favourite was the lemon tart with a macaron on top. I don’t usually like citrusy desserts but this was a small portion with luscious lemon curd and it tasted like it should. I’m regretting not going for the other cakes and the eclair! Too full.
A waitress came around announcing that the high buffet would soon be closing and took final coffee/tea orders before the sitting period ended. I finished off with a mocha and was surprised at how much I liked it. Look at how chocolatey it is at the bottom!
I love high tea buffets. It’s like being a grown-up kid in a candy store. The $58 price tag at the Hyatt, although a little pricey, gives you a glass of sparkling wine, unlimited tea/coffee, and unlimited food. The food itself was average. I didn’t think there was anything spectacular about it. But I did have favourites such as the coconut crab salad, pumpkin scroll and my mocha. Service is patchy – it took a long time to be acknowledged when we arrived and we couldn’t get anyone’s attention when we wanted refills of tea/coffee/water.
High tea is offered on Fridays (2.30pm-5pm) and both Saturdays and Sundays with two sittings a day (11am-1.30pm, or 2.30pm-5pm). Bookings essential. I’m glad we were booked into the earlier sitting, it means there are more hours in the day to digest all that food!
Foodgasm 5.5/10
Value for money 8/10
Service 5/10
FPJ score 18.5/30
Other high tea spots that I recommend are Cafe Societea in Griffith, Ricardo’s in Jamison and Adore Tea in Gold Creek (plenty of gorgeous tea matched with the food).
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