Spring Time means High Tea at Shangri-La Hotel Sydney

Minutes away from The Rocks and feeling slightly hungry but dinner was hours away I decided to pay a visit to Shangri-La Hotel Sydney.  It wasn’t long ago I visited this hotel as my dear friend Kevin who works at Shangri-La had recognised my face from Anna Polyviou’s First Degustation and The Asian Dessert Degustation featuring Bernard Yu and Yen Yee of Melbourne’s LuxBite.

We had a bit of a laugh as he jokingly said I should be Shangri-La’s ambassador since he sees me every few weeks and with his own eyes he witnessed my obsession towards sweets. Kevin briefly mentioned before at Anna Polyviou’s First Degustation, high tea is also prepared by Anna and her amazing team and so I decided to give it a try.

High tea at Shangri-La takes place at the Lobby Lounge from 1pm -5pm right next to concierge. The lounge area is the perfect place for relaxation with oversized comfy chairs and the atmosphere is just right to unwind- a peaceful environment.

A pleasant surprise to see a bowl of fresh flowers. The flowers bloomed throughout the entire time.

We decided to go for the Traditional High Tea ($42) per person and if you prefer a glass of Chandon NV Brut  add an additional ($8). Kevin offered us a selection of Dilmah teas which include Black Tea, Green Tea, Oolong Tea and Infusions. We ended up sipping Pure Peppermint Leaves and Original Earl Gray – a classic choice to choose whilst having scones. Each teapot contained its own individual scent. The peppermint leaves truly spread its fragrance across the lobby.

Just look at the three tiers of deliciousness that soon arrived at our table. The presentation is exquisite!

Normally your suppose to have savoury first before having the sweets but I couldn’t help myself thus guilt trip here I come! I started off with Passionfruit Posset with seasonal tropical fruit compote-garnished with mango pearls. An incredibly refreshing fruity dish! Served in a petite cup with an adorable silver spoon. For a moment my mind wandered off to a tropical island as I was popping the mango pearls.

The Lemon Meringue Tartlets contained piped meringue that looked like fluffy white clouds. The lemon curd was splendid with a bit of zest to it and the meringue mingled so well with the curd.

The Rose and Raspberry Buttercream Macarons was possibly the most eye catching sweet. The rose petal looked gorgeous on the macarons however a tad difficult to munch on as the shells were too delicate to even hold.

As for the Chocolate Ganache– an extremely rich mini cake served in dark chocolate brownie with piped Maltesers shaped chocolate crème and dark chocolate ganache topped with a sharp thin rectangle slice of dark chocolate with gold foil on the corner was divine. The entire cake is covered with sugar and fat. Diabetes here I come!

It was enjoyable to peel off the top layer of the cake and discover what was underneath. I was paralyzed for a few seconds as the top piece of chocolate soon melted onto my tongue.

Ok! It was time for us to enjoy the savory part of high tea. They had a selection of finger sandwiches which included Salmon and Cheese Sushi Roll Sandwich, tasty Chicken and Celery Mayo, Tomato and Cheese and for a while I bizarrely thought the fourth sandwich was cookies and cream. Let me just say I don’t know what the fourth one was, but I do remember the filling contained freshly cut slices of cucumber.

It is vital to have scones when it comes to a traditional high tea. The scones tier comprised of Plain Buttermilk Scones and Fruit Scones, YUM! Served with jars of Housemade Strawberry Jam and Clotted Cream. Interestingly I was completely addicted to the housemade clotted cream.

Not really a fan of strawberry jam? Just ask the energetic waitress for complimentary tiny jams made from Austria. Pretty cool to try jams made from Austria.

This is what a plain scone looks like from a side view…Mmmm!

O-M-G…fruit scone smothered in clotted cream!

Besides tea Shangri-La also offers other beverages like Hot Chocolate ($7)– Very rich and creamy hot chocolate with a lot of cloudy froth. Not sure if it is called chocolate art but the chocolate powder was shaped into an S…can you guess what S stands for? Haha

This is what was left as we decided to save stomach space for dinner. Luckily, they do doggy bags! I’m not a fan of wasting any food. The experience would have been even better if high tea was provided ten levels up so we could witness Sydney’s magnificent views.

Be sure to give high tea a try at Shangri-La Hotel Sydney otherwise you’re going to be missing out on high tea goodness.