High Tea at The Hotel Windsor!

There's nothing better than a buffet. Buffets are quite honestly one of my absolute favourite things in the world. And if you do not agree...

Well, your loss, not mine! More food for my tum =D

But seriously, I love a good buffet, although I am often victim to the saying "bit off more than I can chew".
For God knows what reason I have this ill-conceived notion that if I don't get as much food as I can on my very first plate and eat as fast as possible, all the food will just vanish by the time I go back.
Don't ask me why.
I've just always been that way. Even despite the many tummy aches and headaches that have accompanied my way of thinking, I have yet to learn my lesson. As soon as my eyes hit a buffet table, all reason goes out the window and I stuff myself like I'm preparing for hibernation.
But if I'm going to be honest, I suppose I do that just about every time my eyes meet food.
I like to think of it as a talent! Which I'm sure will prove useful at a later stage in my life... I'm sure.

Anyway! There is reason to this madness! I recently (and by recently I mean about two and a half months ago) went down to Melbourne and stuffed myself at every restaurant I stepped foot in. One particularly memorable meal would have been the High Tea at The Hotel Windsor.


It was absolutely amazing! Provided was a smörgåsbord of amazing looking cakes, desserts and other pastries, they also present each table with a three tier tower of finger sandwiches, savoury pastries and scones.
All guests are given unlimited tea which is constantly refilled by the waiters and also a complimentary glass of moscato upon arrival! (And I do so love moscato, I basically downed the whole thing as soon as I got it, not the best idea!)

These Crème brûlée were so amazing, very tiny but SO yummy, maybe just a tad too much sugar. I had many of these, I just love cracking the top of Crème brûlée. Admittedly these ones were a little harder to crack than your average one due to the fact the dish was so shallow so the ratio of hard caramel to custard was a little off. Still absolutely delightful and VERY popular!

The fondue was, of course, another favourite of many. The chocolate was absolutely delicious and the strawberries very sweet! I didn't try any of the marshmallows with the fondue myself as I'm not too big a fan of marshmallows unless they've been toasted over a fire! [Crazy I know!]

This is just one side of the huge table of cakes and other sweet things, I apologise for the lack of close-ups and the lighting of the photos!

The cakes were very unique especially the pyramid shaped one. As I recall, it had three of layers of different types of gelatine. It was interesting, can't say it was one of my favourites though!

Another one of the pretty cakes being served, the other side of the table (the one I didn't get a chance to capture) had a large range of chocolate cakes, this being one of them! They were so lovely but largely decadent so I couldn't have much of it unfortunately.

This three tiered display was so pretty but alas I'm not a huge fan of panna cotta (bottom tier) or crème caramel (second tier) but the chocolate brownie-like cake on the top was so yummy, rich, but so so good!

This was another one of my favourites. All the little cakes on this plate were very delicious and surprisingly decadent. My favourite was of course the strawberry tart (I love anything strawberry!) I had many of those. The pastry wasn't too thick and didn't crumble everywhere and the custard was so yummy with the fresh strawberries!Alas, no more photos, at least no more decent ones! But I assure you even the hotel itself was so lavish looking, with a vintage class feel to it. The lobby was decorated with pretty tulips and had a pianist playing on a grand piano.Definitely a lovely experience.

If I am to be frank, it was an expensive High Tea experience at $79 per person on a weekend.
But you do get access to an indulgent dessert buffet. It's worth experiencing at least once but perhaps not all that often!



Afternoon Tea @ The Windsor Hotel
111 Spring Street
Melbourne
VIC, 3000

Cafe Societea!

Admittedly it HAS been a long time since I was quite so impressed by the service provided by a restaurant/cafe, especially one which does cost umpteen dollars to buy.

Cafe Societea was definitely well worth the drive and the money, oh and definitely worth leaving the house in the cold and rain to dine.

The sign for Cafe Societea, deceptively simple! The place was very uniquely decorated and felt very casual yet elegant, the setting of a Cafe was in the hall way of a small arcade. There was plenty of sunlight and beautiful flowers and plantation plus the touch of glam from the many Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe artworks that filled he walls.

I didn't take TOO many photos as the place was not huge in size and I didn't want snap any shots of customers or waitresses. Although the establishment does not usually allow for photography the owner was gracious enough to let me continue to take some photos.

The menu was unique, with the names of items being uniquely named after famous figures like Brad Pitt, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, etc.

I chose to have the Mona Lisa Fritata whilst my partner had the Botticelli Pasta Bolognaise. Both were absolutely lovely, not huge portions but very satisfying and at a very reasonable price. The coffees they made were also fantastic. I chose to have a Chai latte which was made perfectly, the right temperature, milk was frothed well, very smooth, a fantastic accompaniment to a simple meal.

For dessert we decided to get  the french toast which was adorned with freshly cut strawberries and bananas and had just the right amount of cream. It was refreshing to have a french toast not drowned in syrup and the cream and fruit definitely cut the sweetness down. It was a great ending to a great meal.

OH, but that's not all!
When my partner first called the establishment to book for high tea (which is what Cafe Societea is known for) they were completely booked out. As a consolation, when we were nearing the end of our meal the owner came out with these lovely trifles made of ice cream, mousse and lemon custard, topped with cream and a strawberry. What amazing customer service.

The staff were so friendly and always making sure that were satisfied and didn't need anything. The owner was kind enough to tell us that if we were to making bookings in the future she would try her best to squeeze us in when we like.
Such an amazing lady! Never saw her without a smile, how I love great service like that, makes you happy for the rest of the day!

Hopefully some time soon we will have high tea there, myself and my partner definitely plan to make a date of it some day! For now, I managed to steal a photo of the staff preparing high tea platters for some of the other customers there today.

Looks fantastic right? Each person gets a whole stack to themselves! And this picture was taken when the stacks hadn't been fully filled yet.
Definitely worth the money! And I'm very pleased to see some fruit on the platters, it's so rare that high tea establishments provide much fruit for customers, which is very much needed with all those rich cakes!

All in all, it was great experience and we look forward to trying it out again!


Cafe Societea
12 Barker Street
Griffith, Canberra
ACT 2603