Thursday, November 1, 2012

Demie's All-Day 20th Celebration: High Tea at ARIA, The Langham

So after brunch, we stopped by Iryan's place for a while since we had some time to chill before heading out for high tea. Up till when we walked through the doors, Demie had no clue where we were going for high tea.


When we walked along the river, and into the doors of The Langham, well she went a little berserk. Apparently she's always wanted to try out the high tea there. *pats self on the back for good judgement*


I've never been in a hotel in Melbourne. In fact, I haven't been in any hotel for a long time. The last time was probably for a buffet back in KL Hilton as far as I remember.


When you speak of The Langham, it's nearly synonymous with ARIA Bar. The only reason why I know of ARIA is because I watch a lot of MasterChef, and it's Matt Moran's restaurant.

ARIA Bar & Lounge
The Langham, 1 Southgate Avenue, Southbank
18 0064 1107
http://www.melbarestaurant.com.au/index.php/aria/

Aria Bar & Lounge on Urbanspoon


I've never had high tea before. All I expected was some tea in pretty tea pots, and those three-tier towers   that the food's served on.


I was pretty excited. There was a group of classy ladies and a baby next to us, and it automatically made me feel a little classier. It's a good thing we kinda dressed up for the occasion.


Cute. How do people stir without clanking the sides? They must've been expected to have really stable hands back then..

We ordered the Tiffin Chocolate Indulgence Afternoon Tea, $54/person.


So pretty! 

It doesn't look like much at all (there was one more plate of two items), but even though our brunch earlier was very light, this really filled us up. I was full up till dinner time!


Valrhona Grand Cru chocolate torte with edible gold leaf
Weiss Brazilian chocolate roulade with mango and blueberries
Callebaut strawberry chocolate crème brûlée tart 
Chocovic chocolate and Armagnac truffle

The chocolate torte was rich, but it was really good. You could tell it was high quality chocolate. We couldn't detect what was in the roulade, but it was soft and light. Demie thought the crème brûlée was too sweet, but I really liked it! The truffle was crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside.




Jamón Serrano with Manchego sandwich
Smoked Salmon and avocado sandwich
Cucumber and cress sandwich 
Chicken and chives sandwiches
Crayfish profiterole

I really liked the jamón sandwich: the block of cheese was a nice touch. You can never go wrong with a Smoked salmon and avocado sandwich. The cucumber & cress and chicken & chives sandwiches could've used a bit more filling to it- there was too much bread. The crayfish profiterole was something very different: I've never had a savoury profiterole before.



Puff pastry bouchee of mushroom with truffle oil
Leek and onion quiche


The puff pastry was really light, and of course, the truffle oil gave it a whole new depth of flavour. The quiche was tasty, but it was really dry.


Scones with fruit jam, butter and clotted cream

The best thing on the tray. Their scones were awesome! Soft, had just the right amount of raisins and icing sugar. The clotted cream went really well with it, and the fruit jam was REALLY good. Loved it.


I can't get over how pretty it was. I felt so girly, having high tea and all. It's too bad it was too hot for coffee, tea or hot chocolate (our drinks options that came with the high tea). 

The best part about it is that while it's pretty, the surroundings weren't OVERLY pretty so if guys were to go, they wouldn't feel overly awkward.


The baby girl at the next table was so, so cute. Apparently she likes getting her photo taken, and I have plenty of her photos. I think her name is Addison. So, so, so so so sososososososo cute. And I don't even like kids!!!


So that about sums up our first experience having high-tea at the Langham. It was a girl afternoon, really, having dainty little food to pick at, gossiping, etc like what girls do (i think).

Food: 8
Coffee: N/A
Ambience: 8
Value: 6 (considering other high-tea prices I've seen so far)
Staff: 7.5



Do you guys like the new blog header? Sieu Minn didn't like the macarons, so I decided to get my visualized header from a few weeks ago photographed and put up ASAP. ;)

read the next post for Demie's bday dinner!
may.

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