The Loft

The Loft has recently introduced High Tea, so we were off to test drive.

Food

We started off with some tea and coffees. Slokky was tired from an early start so chose to have Cappuccino, which was ok, but not spectacular. I chose the Sencha Quince green tea, a pleasant, subtle tea that was a good palate preparer for the food to come…eventually. The guys chose coffees while the girls tried out the teas.

After a long wait, our platters arrived. I’ll start at the bottom, which is the Savoury Items:

• Smoked Salmon with Salmon Roe Crepe - delicate with beautiful salmon but not much roe
• Chicken and Avocado Bagel
  - simple, the chicken was subtle, the bread soft
• Cucumber and Herb Creme Fraiche Sandwich - these were great. They had a delicate flavour and moist white bread
• Roast Marinated Vegetable Pissaldiere
  - my favourite of the lot. Sweet with vegetables with that bite-sized savoury taste
• Leek and Gruyere Tartlet - the cheese was sensational as always, and the pastry was nice and crisp

I went the traditional way and devoured the savouries before attacking the Sweets on the top two layers:

• Warm Chocolate Fondue with a selection of Fresh Fruit (marshmallows, dried apricot, strawberries, grapes, shortbread) – the chocolate wasn’t dark, but it was good quality, so the various items all tasted divine dipped in it, especially the strawberries. In the end though, I had indulged so much I was happy to eat the fruit without any extra chocolate additions.
• Mini Lemon Tartlet - totally more-ish. Very rich, with a fragrant lemon filling and above average pastry.
• Caramel Kisses – these chocolate and caramel tarts were a little too sweet and too rich as part of the ensemble. If I ate it in a separate setting it would better
• Scones with strawberry jam and cream - I saved these for last, which, in hindsight wasn’t such a good idea as they were no longer warm by the time I got to them. But the scone was light, not too fluffy, but the cream and jam was of good quality

By this time, we’d also ordered our cocktails. Because we ordered single serves, we didn’t get it served in the funky floral teapots, but we did get it in cocktail glasses, which was 2nd best. I had to have Slokky’s as well, so that’s how I tried the Dragon Well – Havana Anejo Blanca with Tuoca stirred into fresh apple and pink grapefruit juice and chilled peppermint tea. All laced with Monin Rose syrup - a bit too bitter and sour, even for my liking. The Oolong Song – Wybarowa Almond vodka with apricot brandy and Tuaca over freshly macerated apricots and lemons and chilled T2 “French Earl Grey” tea was more to my liking, sweet and sour, it really hit the spot.

Needless to say, I was absolutely stuffed, (and slightly tipsy!) by the time I finished, and I couldn’t even finish the food (but Slokky did!)

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

It felt very weird being at The Loft during the day, and I have to say, it is very different. Instead of dark and moody, you get bright and airy. Obviously the idea of High Tea hadn’t caught on there as there were only about 4 or 5 groups of people there.

What they did have though, surprisingly, was a piano player! He belted out some easy listening chilli out tunes, that was perfect for the setting. We felt like we had him to ourselves sometimes, but we had to shout to be heard above the music.

We lounged on the comfy leather couches and ottoman, but had a hard time getting all the cocktails, teas, plates and platters to all fit on the small circular tables that usually only hold some drinks.

Rating - 2.5

Service

The waiters were all pretty, young things, dressed in fashionable black, if that’s your thing. In terms of service? Well, they were organised. They found my booking and showed me to the reserved spot with no problems. They then gave us menu and said to call them over whenever we were ready. Well, calling them became a problem throughout the afternoon, as we had to actually get up a couple of times to get their attention.

When we did get their attention, they were very attentive and friendly, however, the food took a LONG time to arrive, which is probably good for a good chat, but this was supposed to be our lunch, and we were so hungry by the time our tiered platters were presented to us.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

High tea with the goodies and 1 tea or coffee costs $35, High tea with a twist, which we enjoyed, including a teapot cocktail, was $45.

This is on par with the posh Sydney High Tea establishment, and is ok value for a day out.

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 13

Info

King Street Wharf
3 Lime St
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9299 4770
Website