'High Tea at The Victoria Room' Book Launch, Darlinghurst (30 Mar 2010)

Level 1, 235 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
http://www.thevictoriaroom.com

Sugar High Time

Thanks to Margarita from The Victoria Room for inviting me along to the launch of the new book 'High Tea at The Victoria Room' which is advertised as Australia's first high tea recipe book. After a bit of goggle research it seems it's just beat the release of the Women's Weekly 'High Tea' book which has a published date of 1 April 2010 at Random House, Angus & Robertson and Borders. Tonight's launch was held in the lovely Victoria Room which is fantastic for ambient decor photos and a nightmare for my compact camera food photos but I think you'll get an idea of what was served. For some reason I was really hoping they'd be some classic cucumber sandwiches but instead some tasty mini sandwiches of Chicken with wild herbs, and Smoked Salmon with crème fraiche, lemon, capers and rocket provided some satisfying morsels.

I loved the idea of serving the Cocktail Punch in tea cups — very cool. The Lavender Shortbread had sprinklings of lavender leaves which complemented the taste without being too overpowering. Having sweet and savoury items come out together sure made the stomach confused but through it all the Pork and apple rolls with spicy tomato chutney were my favourite. Tasty filling, flakey pastry and a spicy chutney that delivered just the right amount of kick. The tiny Vanilla bean cupcake (picture above) was also nice. I was looking forward to trying the Salmon cakes with crème fraiche and dill although tonight there seemed to be quite an overpowering taste of salt and pepper in the mix which made it difficult to appreciate the subtle taste of the salmon — I was tempted to double check the recipe for this one.

Other visits to The Victoria Room:

• 30 Mar 2010 - 'High Tea at The Victoria Room' book launch

• 11 Sept 2009 - Prawn & Chickpea Fritters, VR Sparkling

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Beautiful decor and setting to have a High Tea with the girls (or boys)

CONS: High Tea at the Victoria Room is apparently booked out 2 weeks in advance and attracts about 300 guests per day on the weekends so book ahead

MUST TRY: Pork and apple rolls with spicy tomato chutney

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Arrival cocktail punch in tea cups — very cute idea

Cupcake display

Drinks bar

Mini Sandwiches: Chicken with wild herbs, Smoked Salmon with crème fraiche, lemon, capers and rocket

Lavender Shortbread

Vanilla bean cupcake

Pork and apple rolls with spicy tomato chutney

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Salmon cakes with crème fraiche and dill

Speeches: Jill Jones-Evans (I think)

The book

The decor

The launch crowd

90% women or thereabouts


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