I always thought the Victoria room would have outstanding High-Tea mainly because the way the venue is perceived as. Either that or i’ve been watching too much of Ladette to Lady LOL.

Unfortunately it’s elegance didn’t live up to the standard I was hoping for. I’m not sure if i was being bias because i’ve experienced High-Tea’s at Sheraton on the Park and Intercontinental.

AMBIANCE
Very crowded and considering we went on a pretty hot day the place was not air-conditioned! I didn’t think the queen sat in a room boiling like a slowly cooked pig in the Bombay heat breaking out in the most unpleasant sweat LOL.

We were seated in booths which was way too squashy that you could literally play ‘footsies’ under the table LOL. However the restaurant was decorated with beautiful old vintage style furniture which gave the feel of dining in a dark antique store.

What amazed me was the lack of crockery quality.. especially the tea-pots! Considering it’s a tea joint, you’d expect the crockery to be more presentable rather than the plain white plates and the tinny metal pots which tend to leak everywhere. I always had the image food would be served on vintage floral plates, gold plated tea-cups and cute tea pots (especially considering their image is the presence of Royal British Family). – A girl can only dream.. =P

SERVICE
To our bad luck we had a group of six placed in front of us which made us extremely hard to flag a waiter. Overall service was decent and polite. Nothing bad here =)

FOOD
Standard high-tea especially for the price you pay. I can definitely see the comparison amongst hotel high-tea’s ($60-$80 per head) where as this cost about $35per person. Overall nothing fancy or flashy.

Tea’s: Once again the tea-pots sucked! Mine leaked all over the darn place. However we ordered the following and shared our selections amongst each other:

• Prince of Wales - A blend of China black tea, a light tea with a superb and delicate aroma, making this a great blend for afternoon tea.
• Darjeeling -  The rarest and most prestigious of black teas. We serve one of the best 2nd flush Darjeeling teas from the Springside Estate’. A very smooth liquor with a masked muscatel flavour.
• Earl Grey Premium – Classically scented with natural bergamot oil which gives a refreshing, lightly citrus flavour.
• English Breakfast Supreme – A traditional blend of the finest Assam & Ceylon teas producing a fully aromatic blend with lots of golden tips. A strong tea perfect with breakfast.

Sandwiches – Chicken & Wild Herbs. Cucumber, Crème Fraiche & Dill. Smoked Salmon, Rocket, Lemon, Capers. Watercress, Celery, Walnuts & Goats Curd

Sandwiches were soft and fluffy as they should be. My favourite is the Chicken and wild herbs ^_^

Assorted Sweets

Mini Lemon Tart
It’s a shame these were microscopically small as it was one of my faves

Dark Chocolate Cup with Chocolate Mousse, Cream & fresh Raspberries
You can’t go wrong with chocolate especially when dark chocolate, cream and berries are involved

Passionfruit Yo-Yo
I didn’t think these were called passionfruit yo-yo’s as I didn’t taste any passionfruit in them. The lemon tart seemed to be passionfruit.. strange.. Anyways these were a mouth full of fireworks. I wish they weren’t the size of a 10cent coin and instead as  jumbo as a vanilla kisses can get.

Vanilla Bean Cupcake topped with Pink Icing & Confetti
Eating this tiny cupcake was enough to give someone diabetes! Talk about sweet icing! Unfortunately i’m not a fan of cupcake icing but a fan of butter-cream icing instead. (after eating tiny this cupcake i felt sick as it was enough to put me over the edge)

Date & Plain Scones served with Organic Strawberry Conserve & Chantilly Cream
Scones were nice and the cream was weird as it reminded me of “canned whipped spray cream” melting and sliding off a warm scone. I think thickened King Island cream would made taken it to a higher level.

The Victoria Room
Level 1, 235 Victoria St
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9357 4488
Fax: (02) 9357 4188