High Tea at Siggi's (The Stamford Plaza)

Siggi's Restaurant
http://www.siggis.com.au/



It seems like a long, long time ago when I made a booking for my family to dine at Siggi's. When we went in, we were ushered to a table - this table was the lone table in a large, homely room decked out with oil paintings and fresh flowers. It was like eating in the dining room of someone's mansion and felt VERY exclusive. The food was also amazing and I was left with an excellent overall impression of Siggi's.



Recently, I stumbled across an article describing the high tea offered at Siggi's Restaurant. It so happens that I've been mentally cataloging any Brisbane restaurant that offers high tea, with the intention of trying THEM ALL by the end of the year. When I found that Siggi's had a high tea sitting every Saturday (3-5pm), I jumped right on it and made a booking.



I found 3pm to be a slightly awkward time... didn't know whether to eat a proper lunch and afterwards, I had no appetite for dinner. In any case, we arrived at the Stamford Plaza and had a quick perv at the cars at the front entrance. I'm not a 'car girl' by any means but even I thought the line-up was impressive.


We went up the escalator to Siggi's, which is on the second floor. The decor is very old-world luxe - lots of red, flowers, wine bottles and paintings. The staff looked very classy but were super friendly and not the least bit intimidating.

Glass of champagne each

First, we were shown to a parlor area where there were quilted sofas and low coffee tables. Here, we were poured a glass of champagne each and allowed to chat. It was a nice environment to chill in and the bubbly got the conversation flowing.

Strawberry tasting platter

After a moment, we were given a strawberry tasting platter each. This contained fresh strawberries, cream, strawberry mousse and pistachio praline. Nice, delicate and very tasty. When we finished, we were directed into the dining area.


This part of the restaurant was also opulent and charming. There's something about fresh flowers that really lift mood.


Our table was laden with accompaniments for our high tea including cakes of butter, clotted cream and 2 types of jam.


We chose a pot of tea (I wanted Stockholm Blend but they didn't have that so we both got jasmine) and this came in a high white teapot. The tea was fresh and very fragrant.


Our high tea stand came not long after. The three levels comprised of scones, sweets and savories. Everything looked delicious - the desserts in particular were so cute and intricate.

Savory stand - finger sandwiches (ham and mustard, chicken and mayo, egg and chives), goats cheese souffle and spanner crab crepe

I started with the savory stand. The sandwiches were fresh and very tasty. Charlie put butter on his (maybe for the sole reason that there was butter THERE so 'why not') but the sandwiches are already quite generously buttered. The fillings were all great. We also had a little crab omelet and cheese souffle each and I thought they were just adorable and also very yummy.

Scone tier - buttermilk scones and apple and date scones

The scone stand was next and possibly because I'm just CRAZY about scones, this was actually my favorite tier. The scones themselves were small and pre-cut so they were easy to load up with cream and jam. The thing that really brought the scones up for me was the clotted cream - it was thick, slightly sticky and 100% delicious. Just like how bread and butter is simple but understated in the level of satisfaction it brings, the same can be said for plain scones with thick cream. At least, that's my opinion.

Sweet treats - chocolate mousse cups, opera cake with gold leaf, mini profiteroles, lemon curd tart and Lindt chocolate rocky road

I was really looking forward to the dessert tier. The lemon meringue pies were so tiny and cute. There were 3 flavors of Persian fairy floss and they were lots of fun to munch at. The tiny profiteroles were nice but I didn't like the dark chocolate topping. We loved the mini opera cake with gold leaf but were paranoid about getting gold stuck on our teeth.

Once again, I had a fantastic time at high tea. I think that it really needs to be your 'thing' for you to be able to appreciate it. Small food, pretty dining areas and lots of chatting = my thing. It was my mum's thing too, judging by how she enjoyed High Societea. It was NOT really Charlie's 'thing'. He liked the food but afterwards, declared he had a huge craving for chili. His theory was that all the food at high tea is relatively 'mild' and it made him want strong flavors in big servings.

Boys...