I've said it before and I will say it again: the Westin has the best afternoon tea in Sydney, hands down. I have been to my fair share of afternoon tea places (it is tradition for my mum and me that I take her to afternoon tea for mother's day), and I'm yet to find one that is better than the Heritage afternoon tea at the Westin. It is classic, it is simple, it is delicious. The Westin also offers a Alice in Wonderland-themed Mad Hatter's afternoon tea set which is quite fun, but it is more gimmick than tasty compared to the Heritage afternoon tea.
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| Heritage Afternoon Tea - photo credit: CC |
My lovely friend CC got an iphone x and boy oh boy, finally a phone camera that does the food justice (if not too much justice). One will notice that the Westin afternoon tea is a lot less busy than many other options out in the market: four savoury items, three sweet items, plus scones is all you get; but I have always believed in quality over quantity.
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| Smoked salmon triple stack |
The smoked salmon triple stack is the most intricate of the savoury items - the triple stack involves tomato, spinach and pumpkin bread. The smoked salmon is delightful in that it melts in your mouth and is not unpleasantly fishy at all.
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| Chicken and pickled bell peppers spinach toast roll |
The only thing better than sandwiches with crusts cut off is sandwiches that masquarade as sushi rolls. It is also sneakily more economical, I suspect - but let's park that issue. The flavour is well balanced, though the chicken is a little on the dry side.
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| Double smoked ham with cheese and cucumber tomato bread roll |
This is ham and cheese lunchables for grown-ups. There is something very familiar and fun about a simple, humble childhood favourite, amped up.
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| Green salad and ocean prawn boat with crostini |
The prawn is very good. Bouncy and firm-textured, properly de-veined (as all prawns should be, be because eating prawn waste is frankly utterly disturbing), it is delicious with just a simple drizzle of oil.
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| profiterole with dark chocolate cream filling |
Profiteroles are tricky - a good one is very satisfying, an average one is very meh. Fortunately, the profiterole at the Westin is good. The chocolate filling is creamy yet not overly sweet. I do think they could lose the white chocolate topping though. White chocolate slabs don't add anything in my view - and they always risk tasting artificial and strange.
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| Vanilla crème brulee with macadamia biscotti |
The biscotti has large chunks of macadamia in it, which is hugely satisfying. What is slightly disappointing, though, is that we are robbed of the best part of eating a creme brulee - the cracking of the hardened sugar top. The sugar is properly caramalised, but not hardened. The flavours, however, more than make up for the lack of spoon-tapping moment.
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| Glazed caramel mousse with raspberry gel |
The balance between the tart raspberry gel and the sweet, earthy caramel mousse is just right - first the sourness of the raspberry hits you, only to melt into the rich sweetness of the caramel.
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| Scones with homemade strawberry jam, raspberry jam and clotted cream |
The scones at the Westin are adorably small - almost like a brioche in shape; rather than the monster giant scones you get elsewhere. That is perfect because after the tiered portion of the afternoon tea we were all getting very full. The clotted cream is especially good. Many places simply "cheat" by serving scones with whipped cream; but at the Westin the cream is proper clotted cream, which almost has the texture of cream cheese.
The selection of tea is classic, but quite small.
Score: 4/5
Cost: $54 with tea / coffee; 64 with tea / coffee plus a cocktail; $74 with tea / coffee plus a glass of R de Ruinart Champagne
Address: 1 Martin Pl, Sydney
Website: http://www.westinsydney.com/
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