The First Antipodean Tea – Saturday 30th July 2016
The Lavender Bistro, Swan Valley, Perth, Australia AUD$34 for High Tea with Sparkling Rosé
The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed two things immediately about this blog. Firstly it is published a staggering 3 weeks after the event, where usually it is within days, and secondly that it was, in fact, consumed in Australia, which is the reason for the delay. Yes indeedy, I have been on my travels, taking the husband and children with me, and we have visited lovely friends in lovely Western Australia. So now I can accurately claim that my afternoon tea musings are an international, if not world-wide, phenomenon.
My dear and lovely friend A who is Australian and who I have known for years, having shared a flat together in London and many adventures that are now the subject of a restraining order all on their own, was really keen to take me on an exploration of the Australian version of the Afternoon Tea whilst I was visiting. Things are slightly different here. Dining is less formal in general, often accompanied by alcohol and the Tea here is called High Tea. I was keen to sample what was on offer and share it with A, especially as she promised that each one could be accompanied by bubbles of an alcoholic variety.
Our first adventured was in the Swan Valley wine producing area. A great place to start, and making the most of our escape from respective spouses and my children we took a short detour on the way to sample wine and chocolate. Excellent plan!
The Lavender Bistro is a busy, café style establishment with a small shop attached selling lavender themed goodies from the edible to lotions, potions and decorated gifts. We had a window table, that was lovely and bright but with a view of the car park. Good job we came for the food.
First to be served was a lovely glass of sparkling Rosé, which bubbled brightly and went down far too easily. It was swiftly followed by a cake stand filled with vegetarian treats which they had provided at short notice. The cake stand had a really pretty lavender motif on it and the plain white crockery was complimented by purple serviettes and a purple water bottle which nicely matched my phone case. How did they know?
We tackled the savouries first as they were fresh and warm and smelling too delicious to wait for. There was a crispy filo shell with a spicy red pepper filling, a warm pumpkin tart with deliciously thin and crumbly pastry and the most divine herb scone which was crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, with the right amount of herb flavour and definitely not claggy.
Next up was the sandwiches, curried egg mayo and tuna mayo with capers both bursting with flavour and tangy on the taste buds. Neither filling I had had before and both of which I will definitely be trying at home. Finally a colourful little brioche style bun with crunchy cucumber and cream cheese that tasted properly of cucumber. A good selection.
It was at this point I held forth about the Cake strategy to A. Whilst I told her I didn’t expect her to eat them in the same order she was educated in the Way of the Tea, learned how to approach the cake and to leave the scone until last and thus she became a new devotee. (No this is not another way of saying indoctrinated thank you.)
First up was a little chocolate bun with buttercream. We think it was also mixed with banana as it was not very chocolatey at all and had that strange elastic texture that you get from adding banana to cake. The buttercream was really sweet too. A charmingly presented piece of carrot cake was better and had juicy chunks of pineapple in it as well as walnuts, and the cream cheese frosting was nice. This was followed by a crisp pastry tart containing a soft vanilla custard which was lovely. The strawberry slices on top were not so lovely, very watery and no flavour to them unfortunately.
And so there was left two little lavender scones each. They were a bit chewy and rubbery and very over-poweringly lavender in flavour. The jam was nice, strawberry infused with lavender and the cream was Chantilly (I don’t think Australian tastes run to clotted cream so I am making allowances and definitely not making a fuss) but the overall scone impression was not favourable.
Our pots of tea were served at this point, mine a good English Breakfast and A had Lavender which smelled like toilet cleaner but tasted ok. The Lavender theme is strong throughout the tea, the cake stand is decorated prettily, the table had lavender flowers on it and details are picked out in a robust purple. You are in no doubt that this is a Lavender Bistro.
As July is definitely Australian Winter (laughs hysterically at the lack of cold…..) it starts getting dark early and so before we lost the light it was time to jump back into the car and head off to retrieve husbands and children who had been looking at animals all afternoon.
I think we had the better time.
Overall marks (out of 5 stars)
Service: *** Friendly but not over solicitous
Amount of Food: *** We ate it all and were full, but I managed dinner later
Quality of Food: **1/2 Savouries by far the best part
Value for money: Difficult to say as it is the equivalent of £20 and for the cost it does not compare particularly well in the UK. However, against other Teas in Western Australia I think it is very competitively priced.
Description: ‘love the herb scones’ ‘Nothing is too big’
The website is here http://www.lavenderbistro.com.au/
They are on Trip Advisor https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g2146238-d2007515-Reviews-Cape_Lavendar-West_Swan_Swan_Valley_Greater_Perth_Western_Australia.html they are also on Facebook and Twitter.
And my suggested track for today’s tea is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxkipcAcLXs to go with the Lavender theme!
helenwedgwood 