Saturday, 23 January 2010

High Tea at The Loft (and a Giveaway!)


This afternoon I had the pleasure of experiencing my first high tea! A while back I asked Sharon (of Wee Love Baking) would she be keen to go for high tea somewhere and she suggested we try out The Loft at the King Street Wharf.

It had a great ambience and it was great to enjoy something slightly old-world in a modern day setting. Rather than having the usual sort of high tea, Sharon and I opted for the high tea with a twist. For $45 this included a tea infused cocktail, savouries and sweets, as well as our choice of tea or coffee.

After some much needed cold water, we started with our cocktails. As it was such a hot day today, we couldn't wait to get our hands on them! I chose the Strawberry Pash - Vodka and creme de fraise shaken with homemade apple puree, basil, strawberries and T2's "Mardi Gras". Sharon had the Sencha Quince Fizz - Lilet shaken with a hint of vanilla, fresh passionfruit pulp, pink grapefruit and T2's "Sencha Quince" tea. Both were tasty and refreshing, and we loved the unusual flavour combinations.

 Strawberry Pash & Sencha Quince Fizz

We were seated quite close to the bar, so we had a great view of all of the beautiful cocktails being created.



This bevy of beautiful beverages was prepared for a group of ladies at The Loft for a hen's afternoon tea...

Turkish Delight - Plymouth gin and a touch of Tuaca shaken with homemade rubharb puree, pear cheek, fresh lemon and chilled T2 "Turkish Apple" tea
Soon after our high tea stand arrived - 3 plates of  yummy goodies! It included sandwiches (vego ones for me - hurrah!), mini leek and guyrere quiches, scones, brownies, mini pavlovas and lemon meringue tarts.



Before moving onto our sweets we order our teas - 'Strawberries and Cream' for Sharon and 'Blue Mountain' for me.


While neither of us are big pavlova fans we thoroughly enjoyed the mini pav - it was not too sweet and was just delicious. The brownie was fudgy and chocolatey dotted with lovely walnuts.

 The lemon meringue was gorgeous.. what more can I say?!

And of course the scones... the litmus test of a good afternoon tea. These were freshly baked and still warm inside (joy!).

So, overall? Great food and drinks, good service and a wonderful ambience.. The Loft was a great place to catch up with a friend and I thoroughly enjoyed my first high tea -can't wait to do it again soon!

The Loft
3 Lime St
King St Wharf, Sydney
ph (02) 9299 4770
http://www.theloftsydney.com/

To celebrate my first high tea, I am giving away two of these adorable necklaces with tiny teacup and teaspoon pendants.
To enter all you have to do is leave a comment and tell me about your best high tea experience in 50 words or less. The competition is open to Australian residents only (sorry!) and closes on January 31st - good luck!

Ladybird x

Congratulations to Lorraine and Kristy - you are the two lucky giveaway winners!

11 comments:

  1. I have plans to go to the loft for high tea. Its such a great way of catching up with friends. The lemon meringue looks delish. As for my best high tea experience it would have to be the Observatory Hotel in Sydney. It was really nice food and great company

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  2. I don't often enter competitions but I do love teacups! My best High tea experience was at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai recently. It was expensive but it consisted of so many courses of dainty morsels and the most beautiful view plus impeccable service. I couldn't ask for more! :)

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  3. My best high tea experience was at home! As high school students, my friends and I opted to have our own DIY high tea where we each brang a plate of food to share.
    We finished the day proud of our DIY efforts and extremely full.

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  4. Looks like it was great fun! I love love LOVE the chandeliers above the bar.. how awesome!

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  5. That giveaways is so darn cute! My best high tea experience was just recently with my Mum and sisters - we invited a few friends to the house and we had our own little sandwiches, flavoured teas, and cocktails! It was fab!

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  6. It looks like you had a lovely high tea. Those sandwiches look great, and the tiny pavlovas are so cute.
    My favourite high tea was my own that I hosted for my birthday last year. Most of the things were vegan and I spent about two days cooking, baking and preparing for it, but i was all worth it :) If your interested to have a look, i did a post on it here...
    http://rosesrred85.blogspot.com/2009/05/high-tea-for-my-24th-birthday.html#comments
    That little necklace is too cute! so tiny!

    Rose

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  7. Victoria Rooms, Darlinghust - Kings Crossy area... felt like I should have been wearing a corset and carrying a lace embroidered hanky!

    Yum yum,
    Anne :-)

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  8. My best high tea experience is...yet to come! I live in regional country Queensland and thus don't often experience any "high" *cough* posh nosh *cough*. So I do-it-myself! Cut my sangas posh. Bake some sweet treaties and drink from my loveheart shaped teacup and saucer overlooking my semi tropical butterfly garden from my deck.

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  9. Do you know Vegans don't eat any animal products? Like dairy and egg... Or are you making your own rules now...?

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  10. Hi "Anonymous". Yes, I do know that vegans don't eat any animal products. However, I am not a vegan. I am a vegetarian.

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