Siff Week #2

Picking up from the last post, I returned to Single Origin to sample the next in their Origin Breakfast series. This time we had coffee and food from Nicaragua. The coffee - again, prepared 3 ways by siphon, cold drip and espresso - was more aromatic and flavourful than last week's Yemenese blend, and the different preparations really brought out different flavours. In a word, yum.


Also yum - beans and tamale, the latter wrapped in a banana leaf, with a side of avocado salsa.


To finish we were served little glasses of rice pudding with blood orange and biscotti. This was delicious and gone all too soon - we eyed with envy a neighbouring table which seemed to have much larger servings than we did. Hmmm.


Then on the weekend things got ridiculous - I went to not one but TWO high teas, starting with the Marie Antoinette-themed tea at the Westin Hotel, Martin Place. The lobby cafe at the hotel is so lovely, all light and glass and sandstone, and it feels very much exactly the right place for something as finicky and pretty and indulgent as high tea.


The Marie Antoinette theme is mostly just a gimmick, but to get in the spirit of things the Westin adds a domino to every place setting, and there's a pretty carved fan for each table to play with as well. Though staff encourage you to take the masks home, the fans are (sadly) Westin property.


The savoury plate is included in the menu under the rather grandiose title There is nothing new except what has been forgotten. Okay. The plate included slow cooked roast beef with crème cheese stuffed baby belle peppers; avocado and shrimp tartar inside choux pastry; blt and deviled egg finger sandwiches; and kiwi and orange croissant with mascarpone. We agreed this plate was generally stronger than the sweets, though less delightful to the eye.


The sweets (titled, as you'd expect, Let them eat cake!) included lime curd meringue tart, topped with a portrait of the queen; chocolate cream with exotic fruit caramel and candied walnuts; macaroons with fresh blueberries; and beetroot and cherry cup cakes. The chocolate cream was by far my least favourite dish, and I couldn't taste the beetroot in the cupcakes (though others claimed they could), but the whole thing looked fantastic which almost made up for it. Yes, I'm easily won.


Here's a close-up of the queen. Not pictured, but included of course, were unlimited tea and coffee, and scones with jam and cream, all of which were of a very acceptably delicious standard.


The second high tea, at the Museum of Sydney Cafe, was a much less fanciful affair. Despite the muddles I had with the booking beforehand (our reservation was at various times taken, not taken, re-taken, on the wrong day, etc) once we arrived both the tea and coffee were served briskly, and the food almost at once.


Here's the scones with jam and cream, and two types of mini quiche - mushroom, and lorraine - topped with a pretty flower. (Not pictured are the finger sandwiches, filled with variously cucumber, salmon, chicken, and curried egg.)


Here's the sweets, which were quite nice if not outstanding - though as you can see there was rather a heavy hand with the icing sugar in the kitchen. Topped, again, by a pretty flower, if only you could make it out from underneath all that snow.


The tea arrived in plain white pots but was served in prettily mismatched cups and saucers, like so. The whole thing had a bit of a charmingly home-style feel, though for food alone I would have to rate the Westin higher.


So there's week 2! And now for more salad.