High Tea @ Esplanade Hotel Fremantle 18.04.10

Welcome reader! You are reading the first review from Miss Ling-Ling's Official Tea Party.
Well, when I woke up on this fine Sunday I had a really good feeling about having High Tea at The Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle. High expectations were placed upon the restaurant claiming to have "Fremantle’s finest High Tea".


So when we arrive with a party of eight we can already see a room full of people enjoying this very popular old tradition in the spacious and welcoming atmosphere of the Atrium Garden restaurant. The china is standard hotel issue but there is no tablecloth. Doesn't scream of classiness, but I'll let it slide (this time).

We sit down and are promptly served by a lovely waitress and order our tea from their extensive tea menu (all teas are included in the cost, as is percolated coffee - espresso coffee and other beverages are extra). We are waiting on one more person and a waiter brings out the beautifully presented tiers of food.

Starting from the bottom, three different types of ribbon sandwiches: Cucumber, egg and sprout, ham and cheese. Now, I haven't been to very many high teas in my time but where I thought a smoked salmon and cucumber combination was appropriate, I certainly don't remember ever encountering a ham and cheese sanga. Yes, it was quite tacky. Oh and the bread was a little dry; not to the point where I'd call it stale but you could tell it was made a fair while in advance. And if you look closely at the photo, there is a bit of a crust-cutting fail. Come on people, we didn't pay you for below par cutting skills.

Moving up to the second tier to the selection of scones - I really did appreciate the choice of plain or raisin scones. Though the these were a bit dense and dry as well, it seemed to team up well with the strawberry jam and fresh cream and gave it a bit of texture.

The desserts on the top tier looked delightful with a selection of shortbread biscuits, lemon meringue tarts, mini custard pots and fruit tarts that we couldn't wait to get into but for tiers shared between two the quantities weren't balanced. The highlight here was probably the lemon meringue tarts which had a very nice equal portions of fluffiness and tangy lemon even if the base was not as crunchy as I would've liked. The custard pots certainly looked appetising and even resembled creme brulee but in my opinion the consistency was just a little bit tough for custard. In any case, some enjoyed them, some didn't. It's a shame they didn't serve any cake, which I have a distinct feeling would've gone down a little better.

If you ever decide to have high tea here, I recommend you try the Mango Tea. The aromas were simply divine! And oh so smooth...

And now for the scores:

Food: 4 - Could have been fresher
Service: 4 - Excellent waitstaff though sometimes hard to get their attention
Ambiance: 6 - Very welcoming vibrant open area
Value: 4 - For $28pp we left feeling full and didn't finish everything
Overall Score: 4.5

I guess what I'm saying is the standard was average but being around such wonderful company did make this experience a lot better. We may never come back... As I understand it at the time I am typing this up, their claim to be Fremantle's finest High Tea is technically correct as they are the only High Tea service in Fremantle..

Thank you to everyone who came and everyone who reads this :D
x. Miss Ling-Ling