High Tea - The Hotel Windsor, Melbourne - A Review

Being a fan of high tea and looking for something different to celebrate my mum’s birthday I was able to combine both with a High Tea at Melbourne’s Windsor Hotel. As you would expect, after doing it for almost 130 years, the experience exceeded expectations and complemented with impeccable service. This was particularly pleasing as my mum had recently had ‘High Tea’ at another Melbourne 5 star hotel, beginning with ‘H’, and got nothing more than what you would get at a suburban cafe!!!! After being seated at our table by the maitre de we were introduced to our server and provided with a glass of complimentary champagne. As the picture shows the table setting and room was worthy of high tea harking back to its traditional beginnings at the hotel in 1883. The three tiered tray of foods was brought to our table and consisted of ribbon sandwiches, baked raisin and vanilla scones with double cream, Southern Highland strawberry and summer berry preserves and an assortment of handmade French pastries and cakes (see picture). I will not go into the details of each dish suffice to say that the quality, flavours and mix of food was perfectly matched to the teas and complemented the overall experience. Highlights were the vanilla scones, raspberry lamingtons and profiteroles rolls. The Windsor offers 15 different types of teas and I elected to have the Windsor special blend which was a truly beautiful tea. Others that sparked my interest were Masala Chai, Peaceful Lotus and Enchanted Heart consisting of heart-shaped white tea leaves. The hotel also provides vegetarian and gluten free options at no charge for those requiring special menus. I cannot recommend highly enough the Windsor for afternoon tea. Combining a landmark hotel and classic high tea fare it delivers on all counts and everyone should experience it. More information on the Windsor is available from www.thehotelwindsor.com.au