High Tea at The Audley Room, Royal National Park

Happy weekend, everyone! 

As we get closer to Christmas, people tend to settle into one of two moods - grumpy and panicky due to not having finished their shopping or hating the holidays, or satisfied and happy after having finished their shopping and looking forward to time off with friends and family.

Eitherway, high tea is an excellent way to life the mood. I should know, I've been to over 12 of them this year alone! Consider taking the edge off by visiting one with a great lookout point and yummy food!

I had a belated birthday celebration with my in-laws recently, who were lovely, and knowing my penchant for high tea, wanted to take me somewhere that I was new to. They decided on, and double checked with me, the Audley Tea Room at the Royal National Park.

Run by the same company that operates the Boronia Tea Room (see review here) and Level Fourteen at the American Club, I did have rather high expectations for their food. For tea, I chose the Chamomile and Lavender - with - you guessed it - a side of honey, which I had to remind the waitress of. 

 

I found the little salmon pastries the best of the lot, and while the sandwiches were tasty, there wasn't anything overly interesting. I also thought the frittatas were a little rubberym, unfortunately. The egg ribbon sandwiches, however, were reasonably creamy, and STUFFED with eggs - very nice.

The scones were next, all plain ones, without any fruit, and they were quite fluffy, if a little dry. The cream was very thick, just the way I like it!

They also had quite a good range of sweets, running from lemon meringue to macaroons, as well as some chocolatey tidbits. My favourite from that lot was the lemon meringue, which lingered on the tongue.

My take on things? The set up was in itself a little awkward. Located on the second level, where the set up wasn't specifically for high tea, I think it was trying to make it more of a thing than it was. While pleasant, it didn't come across as well as others within the same group, like Level Fourteen. The surroundings, however, couldn't have been more laid back and relaxed.

The food was good, but not amazing, and the scones could have been more interesting. The service was ok, but she did forget some things and didn't seem as organised as it could have been.

Overall, I would give this:

6.5/10