High tea at Observatory Hotel

In celebration of my 21st birthday, my friends planned out a lavish day for me. We were supposed to meet for lunch at Assiette but an urgent matter forced me to miss this long awaited visit. Instead, I met them at Circular Quay, very excited about this special event. No rain could have ruined it for me because it was the best birthday bash ever.

The first stop was high tea at Observatory Hotel. The hotel itself exudes a chic, Frenchy air with its gold decor and thick pillars. We had the Champagne Afternoon Tea and chose the Rose. It was sweet and refreshing but I had to refrain from gulping too much of it just in case I turn into a tomato again. Too late - one sip was enough..

Despite the gloomy weather, we were all happy and content. I was especially overjoyed as I had received a Tiffany & Co. ring from my gals. An extra bling to an already fancy day! Many photos were shot and smiles were shone all around when the arrival of the platters silenced us.

Ta da! I hadn't had lunch yet so the burst of colour and variety of yummies were making my stomach autodigest itself. First layer - buttermilk and fruit scones with jam and cream. Second layer - cheesecake, tiramisu, fruit tart, creme brulee, chocolate mousse and cupcake. Bottom layer - assorted sandwiches and quiche.

I went for the sandwiches first because they looked so fresh and soft. My favourite was the egg salad sandwich. Its tangy mustard hit and soft egg filling stimulated my salivary glands even more. The other sandwiches were nice as well and I ended up finishing everyone else's shares.

Now for the sweets.. I've been craving scones for months and these scones were so good! They weren't big but they were still the perfect size considering we had so much to go through. I liked the buttermilk scones better than the fruit ones because I personally think sweets should be sweet and only sweet. The scones were dense on the inside, crunchy on the outside. I slabbed heaps of jam and cream on before blanking out on yet another food euphoria. I ended up finishing my friends' shares for these as well.

The rest were ordinary, nothing special, except the creme brulee. Every one of us ate this with 'This is soooo good' in between each bite. The top layer wasn't as crispy as I would have liked but it was the vanilla cream that was the heart of this dessert. Each bite was addictive, quickly leading to the next. I was almost sad when I finished eating this, scraping off the sides with my spoon as if hoping more would magically appear.

I also got a special birthday platter with assorted sweets! From the left: fruit jelly, dehydrated mango, almond nougat, mango, rose marshmallow. The marshmallow was so soft I was scared of squishing it with my fingers even if I was holding it as lightly as I could. The nougat was really nutty and chocolaty. The other sweets weren't that great..

Each person also had their individual teas which you order from quite an extensive list. I had the Chai Tea which was brewed in milk. The Chai Teas I'm used to are the sweets drinks from cafes but this one had no added sugar or sweeteners. It actually tasted better without it and I was able to enjoy the full chai flavour.The tea was refilled very often, even after we had finished our high tea. We moved to the bar area and with more tea and cookies, we evaded the rain for a bit longer before heading out to the next course of the day.