My friends and I enjoy a wonderful high tea at Louis in Barton. As one of my favourite restaurants (see previous dinner post here), I can’t help but go in with high expectations.
Our server asks which type of high tea we’re after – traditional, with sparkling, or the upgraded free-flowing sparkling option. We all opt for the traditional high tea with unlimited TWG tea and coffee at $80 per person. The list of 7 TWG teas isn’t extensive but the traditional favourites are all there. Two of us choose the French Earl Grey and our server suggests we share one pot to save room on the table. When the teapots come out, I now understand why. The teapots are massive and probably meant to share between 2-3 people. Another friend enjoys the Love Me tea, a lovely floral green tea which I got to sample. If tea/coffee/sparkling isn’t your thing, there are also three cocktails to choose from.
We find service is attentive. Although I’d requested dietary requirements beforehand, staff double checked dietaries once we are all seated. We have one vegetarian and one pescatarian in our group of four.
It doesn’t take long for the high tea stands to arrive at the table. Two of us without any dietary requirements share one stand, while the other two share a stand and separate plates.
The savoury list includes three types of finger sandwiches – smoked salmon with lemon and fill crème fraiche (delicious and generous slices of salmon), cucumber with mint and chives, and smoked wagyu silverside with blue cheese aioli and onion jam (this is delicious and such a unique flavour both savoury and sweet). I love the cold prawn mini brioche roll – the creamy mayo is zesty and there are good chunks of prawn in it. I could easily have asked for a second serve.
The scone menu states both strawberry and plain scones, but we only receive plain scones with cream and house made jam. Nothing wrong with the scones but they are a little harder on the outside than my preference.
For the sweets, there’s a selection of four treats. Vodka cheesecake with blood orange curd and frangipane tart – surprisingly this is one of my favourites. Dark chocolate tart with caramel and whipped hazelnut praline ganache – another favourite and I love the hazelnut flavours. Raspberry profiterole with vanilla diplomate – nothing wrong with this but kind of plain compared to the other three. Finally a lemon and passionfruit meringue tart – I’m not a citrus tart kind of person but there isn’t anything wrong with this.
My only really minor complaint would be the really large teapots. I think they need to investigate getting smaller ones to free up table space! It is a little dark inside but it does make the atmosphere nice and cosy.
Here’s a reel of my experience:
High tea at Louis is available Saturday’s only – bookings essential.
Louis
18 National Circuit, Barton, Canberra
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