Recently, I was lucky enough to enjoy two different high tea experiences in Sydney within the space of only 4 days. Here are my thoughts.

Harbour Kitchen and Bar – Park Hyatt, Sydney Harbour

Locations for afternoon tea don’t get much better than this – especially when you are showing off your home city to international visitors as I was last week. The Harbour Kitchen and Bar has a lovely light dining room facing the Sydney Opera House – simply stunning. The company was just divine – a collection of 6 gorgeous ladies who lunch – varying in ages, countries of origin and taste in tea.

High Tea at this venue stuck close to the usual theme (savouries, scones and cakes), though with some interesting additions – such as mint macaroons (which were incredible!).Special mention must also go to the inclusion of gold leaf on not one, but two of the petit fours…. nice touch!

I really liked this experience – but the criticisms I have are common to a lot of hotels who do high tea each afternoon, and that is that they appear a little out of their comfort zone. In the case of Harbour Kitchen and Bar, this meant small, uninspiring scones with whipped (not clotted) cream, and a lacklustre (and not particularly generous) serving of savouries. With others around us having late lunches or work Christmas parties, the restaurant did not offer a proper tea house environment – but this is all made up for by that view!

A final word to those wanting to experience high tea at a five star hotel – a telling sign as to whether your hotel is serious about the ritual of high tea can be found in how the sugar is presented. And it was on this point that the Hyatt, like other hotels, fell down. It is Miss Tea’s very strong belief that sugar sachets are for cafes… not for tea houses!

The Tea Room QVB
I visit the Tea Room at the QVB many times each year. In my opinion it usually offers the most wonderful way to experience high tea – and is a must for those who are skeptical about the sheer pleasure of this type of meal.

My trip last week was with a high tea virgin (can you believe it?) and as always, the beautiful space of The Tea Rooms impressed immediately. The Tea Rooms has the advantage of specialising in offering a high quality experience – everything down to the crockery and heavy silver tea pots tells you that these people are serious about what they are doing.

The Tea Room is extremely generous with its servings – sandwiches are light, fluffy and beautifully filled, and the scones here are so large and glorious that they make the Hyatt’s look like sad doughy-marbles. I have read in various reviews that the Tea Rooms offer unlimited sandwiches with their afternoon tea, though this has only been offered to me once in my many visits.

The visit last week was good, as expected, though I must say that the service was a surprising weak point. We had a lot of trouble getting the attention of waiters to refresh our pots (a must if you’re going to make it all the way through the sweets). I’m hoping this is just a momentary lapse and not a sign that the franchise is beginning to spread themselves a little too thinly.

My only question with The Tea Room, is why they don’t make their tea pots bigger? They offer individuals a pot of about 2 cups … I don’t know about your tea-philes but I can down 2 cups in moments (especially when used to refresh the palate between sweets). My campaign for bigger pots starts now!

Off you go Tea-lovers. Grab a friend, pop on a frock and head out for afternoon tea where you live…. and then tell me about it!

Tea Smith’s Tea-Infused Mince Tarts

Makes around 24 (depending on the size you go for)

1 quantity of rich shortcrust pastry (I use Stephanie Alexander’s recipe from ‘The Cooks Companion’). I highly recommend making your own pastry – it’s quite easy if you have a mix master or a food processor and greatly increases the feeling of triumph you get when making something from scratch.

For the mince:
85g raisins
50g currants
55g sultanas
45g chopped mixed peel
40g chopped almonds
grated zest of half an orange, plus the juice
grated zest of half a lemon, plus the juice
Splash of brandy (to your taste)
Pinch of mixed spice
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg (freshly ground)
1 granny smith apple grated
55g dark brown sugar
40g powdered suet
1 medium sized pot of freshly brewed leaf tea (something fragrant like an Earl Grey is best – avoid smoky or herbal blends).

Place all the dried and fresh fruit as well as the spices in a bowl with the juice and brandy. Pause here to boil the kettle and make your pot of tea. Pour one cup of tea for yourself, then allow the pot to strengthen further. After 10 minutes, pour the remaining tea from the pot onto the fruit and rest for several hours (or overnight if you wish). Take some time our to enjoy your cuppa and read a good book before launching into the next part of the recipe.

After the fruit mix has had enough time to soak, drain off some of the excess liquid so the mix is moist, but not overly wet. Add the suet and the brown sugar and mix well.

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees.

Roll out your pastry and cut out circles using a glass or a tart cutter. Place circles into tart cases or a lined muffin tin. You have two options for the lids – you can either make lids that cover the tarts completely (make sure you wet the edges with water to get the top and the base to stick together, and pierce a few holes in the top), or you can cut out star shapes and use these on top (see pic below).

Bake for between 20-25 minutes, checking regularly. Tarts are ready when golden brown.

Enjoy with a cup of your favourite and Merry Christmas to all!

The plan so far is to use this as a place to write reviews of high tea encountered in and around Sydney (and beyond, when Miss Smith can afford it), and to share with you my love of tea, baking and other related activities (which I take to include reading, wearing nice frocks and engaging in good conversation).

Let’s see where this loose-leaf adventure takes us!