It's me, Eloise.

Off With Their Heads! 

"Yes, that's it!" said the Hatter with a sigh, "it's always tea time". 
Dress: Ksubi
Shoes: Windsor Smith
Clutch: Peter Alexander
Sunglasses: Sportsgirl
Ribbon: Hand Made

I am not usually a huge Ksubi fan. I love their stuff but it isn't generally my look, however, lately I have purchased several pieces. I loved quite a few pieces in their 'Bad Sports' collection and of what I have seen of their new collection I am loving it! 

After putting my name on two Ksubi lists three months ago for their 'boyfriend jeans' they finally arrived on Thursday. Hallelujah! However, they only stock one in each size so I had to be quick and snap up the ever so popular 24!! That is another story though. The point was of course they had to come in when I was attempting to save my money and then I splurged on more Ksubi on the weekend. The deals were so great I couldn't resist! I am officially now banned from shopping (we'll see how long I last). 

I live close to the 'Birkenhead Point Outlet Shopping Centre' and I am there at least a few times a week (mainly for food). I hardly ever go upstairs to the fashion area but as I was walking past the Ksubi outlet on Saturday I innocently walked in! 

The first drop of their new collection hit stores on Thursday and therefore lots of their 'Bad Sports' collection was shipped straight to their Birkenhead store. So much of their new season line was more than half price. I had seen it in stores for full price only days before! Winning! I purchased a lovely white denim dress and a simple denim skirt for extremely good prices. I tried on more than half a dozen pieces and could have purchased them all. Unfortunately, it is official. I cannot buy anymore clothes! Hey, at least I look good right!?

I have made it very clear that my favourite Sunday activity is going to High Tea. This weekend I went to afternoon tea at 'The Westin' in Martin Place. I had to get in quickly before the 'Crave Sydney International Food Festival' deal ended. The deal was either the 'Westin Heritage Afternoon Tea' or the 'Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea' with unlimited tea and coffee and a glass of sparkling wine for $45. Good deal! Generally it is more expensive and does not come with sparkling wine. I also think that it was great that it included any type of coffee you liked. They usually just offer tea and coffee is extra (not that I needed coffee with all of the rich food). 

"The Westin' itself is extremely pretty. I have never been inside before and was quite amazed. It is located in what was the old Sydney General Post Office building in Martin Place. The huge lobby is located in the old courtyard and is surrounded by beautiful sandstone walls. The fit out is quite modern with an atrium enclosing the old sandstone walls which in the afternoon was lovely as it allowed the sun to shine through. There is a gorgeous old staircase which leads up to the hotel rooms. You are also able to see the old GPO clock tower in Martin Place through the glass. 

Afternoon Tea is served daily from 12pm - 6pm in 'The Lobby Bar, Lounge and Room'. The dining room spans two areas of the foyer and is decked out with big, modern, plush, black armchairs and quite low modern tables.

'Heritage Afternoon Tea' and 'Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea' $45 each

Both options for afternoon tea offer modern twists on the classic high tea. KJ and CC both chose the Westin specialty 'The Heritage High Tea' and I chose the limited edition Alice in Wonderland 'Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea'. 

They offer a selection of 'Jing' teas. CC chose Earl Grey while KJ and I had English Breakfast. During the afternoon we received many replenishments of tea which came in lovely modern clear glass cups, saucers and teapots. The sparkling wine was deliciously sweet and a great accompaniment to the food. 

The 'Westin Heritage Afternoon Tea' was delivered on a two tiered chrome and ceramic rectangular cake stand. 

The bottom layer consisted of savoury items. The first of which was a 'smoked salmon triple stack sandwich on flavoured bread with caper berries'. It was like a finger sandwich with salmon in-between three layers of bread. The next delicacy was a 'crispy green salad and ocean prawn boat with crostini and lime'. This was a standout. Two ocean prawns sat on top of a bed of lettuce and cherry tomatoes with a lovely crisp crostini on the side. The lime dressing was tangy and complemented the prawns well. The 'slow cooked chicken and pickled bell peppers on a spinach toast roll' was exquisite! It only consisted of one finger of bread twirled around the chicken filling. The last sandwich was a simple sliced 'double smoked ham, cheese and cucumber' sandwich however it came wrapped in a finger of tomato bread and was presented in such a quirky way. It was defiantly not your average ham, cheese and tomato sandwich! 

The 'Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea' came on a round chrome and ceramic two tiered cake stand. As I do not like beef roulade, when I made the booking I asked for it to be substituted with something else. This was no problem at all. They did not even have to be reminded on the day. The two small roulades which I did not have were called the 'Tweedledee and Tweedledum' and consisted of 'roasted beef and fresh asparagus on mini laugen'. My salad boat was aptly named the 'Caterpillar' and consisted of cherry bocconcini and tomato on a fresh green salad bed'. Once again this was extremely refreshing and I thoroughly enjoyed it! My last savoury item was known as the 'Alice In Wonderland'. It was made up of 'Alaskan crabmeat salad on double bread wrapped in cucumber'. I received two of these instead of one and thank goodness because it certainly was the stand out for me! A finger of white bread and a slice of cucumber wrapped around a delicious and generous filling of Alaskan crab and mayonnaise. There isn't a better word to describe it other than delicious! 

After we had finished our savoury items our steaming scones were delivered. It was so lovely that our scones came out hot rather than sitting on the cake stand while we ate our first layer. We received two bite size scones accompanied with 'home made strawberry jam, raspberry chocolate jam and clotted cream'. Always good to see clotted cream instead of whipped cream. Both jams were very nice, very sweet! We could have done with a larger serving of strawberry jam, it wasn't quite enough for the three of us! 

The sweet layer is always the most exciting! The 'Heritage Afternoon Tea' was made up of three mini desserts. The first was a 'crunchy profiterole with dark Belgium-chocolate cream filling' and a lovely mini chocolate wafer through the middle. As it was only mini the filling was not too rich and there wasn't an overwhelming amount of thick pastry. The 'glazed caramel mousse with fresh berries and raspberry gel' was scrumptious. A nice, generous dollop of rich caramel mousse which was cut by the fresh berries. The last dessert, which was my favourite (I did steal half on KJ's) was a classic 'vanilla creme brûlée with a sweet nutty biscotti'. Unfortunately, the toffee on the top did not crack but the inside was smooth, rich and delicious! 

The 'Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea' sweets were a real treat! They looked so good you did not want to eat them! 'The Queen of Hearts' consisted of layers of raspberry buttercream and chocolate ganache in between layers of sponge cake with a raspberry jelly on top. It was cut into a heart shape and was extremely cute. 'The Mad Hatter's hat' was a rich dark chocolate mud cake incased in chocolate then covered in green icing complete with the '10/6' sign. The mud cake was deliciously rich but the icing was a bit hard and turned my teeth green! The winner of the three desserts was definitely 'The White Rabbit's Pocket Watch'. The edible watch face on the front of the purple macaroon with a blueberry cream filling was copied from the clock in Martin Place (cute). The outside was crispy and the filling was gooey and oozy and mouth watering. It definitely tasted like a blueberry! 

Overall, KJ and I consider ourselves almost High Tea connoisseurs and as far as we are concerned this is up there with the best. It was a lovely modern twist on the classic afternoon tea. The addition of the salad boat and the sandwiches which consisted of more filling than bread were extremely refreshing as you weren't overwhelmed by the amount of bread and pastry! It was great to see the scones come out steaming and there were just the right amount of sweets without it being overpowering. None of us left feeling like we had eaten too much. It was great! Definitely the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon! 

Afternoon Tea at The Westin Sydney
1 Martin Place
Sydney NSW 2000

Overall: 9/10
Ambiance: 8.5/10
Drink: 8.5/10
Food: 9/10