High Tea at 95 Mary Street, Toowoomba QLD

A charming country take on the traditional high tea, with plenty of local flavour and a warm Toowoomba welcome.

Toowoomba is preparing to bloom, with the famed Carnival of Flowers returning each spring to transform the Garden City into a riot of colour. It’s arguably the prettiest time of year, when local parks burst into bloom, street parades wind through the city and private gardens open their gates to visitors.

Just one street from Queens Park, the heart of the festival, you’ll find a sweet neighbourhood café offering a warm country welcome and homemade treats year-round.

High Tea at 95 Mary Street

Low-set and charming, 95 Mary Street is fronted by a row of colourful flowers and outdoor seating dressed with French bistro chairs. Inside, whitewashed interiors are layered with artwork and antiques, creating a relaxed Parisian vintage feel. We’re seated beside the picture window, with views across to the pretty country cottages that line Mary Street.

The local favourite is owned by Cameron Ferguson, who leads a passionate team of hospitality professionals.

High Tea at 95 Mary Street takes a distinctly country approach, foregoing the traditional scone in favour of a more contemporary afternoon tea journey.

It begins with a selection of fresh finger sandwiches, including egg and chicken. There’s something wonderfully nostalgic about a freshly made sandwich at afternoon tea, and these are made with quality local ingredients, including The Good Dozen pasture-raised free-range eggs and Angliss Meats chicken.

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95 Mary Street

Next comes the three-tier high tea stand, beginning with a selection of savoury canapés. A flavourful house-made bruschetta sits alongside crunchy fried chicken with aioli and a pork and fennel sausage roll served with relish. The house-made sausage roll is a standout, with a deliciously flaky pastry and generous filling. The savoury tier does lean towards the brown and golden tones of the fried chicken and sausage roll, so a more colourful canapé could add some visual contrast to the presentation.

There’s also a lovely local connection among the sweet treats. Lamingtons are strongly associated with Toowoomba and it’s fitting that a modern take on the Australian classic features on the high tea stand. While there is some conjecture around the origins of the humble lamington, one account suggests it was first served in Toowoomba when Lord Lamington took his entourage to Harlaxton House to escape the steamy heat of Brisbane.

Finger Sandwiches

95 Mary Street

Here, the traditional cake gets a contemporary treatment with a gluten-free berry lamington, joined by a caramel fudge brownie and lemon and passionfruit slice. The sweet treats are made locally, with fresh fruit and berries adding colour and freshness to the stand.

To drink, the café offers specialty brews from Botero Coffee, Jilly’s Tea, slow-pressed juices, iced tea, iced drinks, shakes and bottled beverages, as well as house-made lemon lime bitters. We both chose the lemongrass and ginger tea, which proved a light accompaniment to the rich selection of sweets and savouries.

95 Mary Street

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Sweet

For a venue so committed to its vintage aesthetic, vintage tea sets rather than plain white crockery would be a lovely finishing touch, further enhancing the nostalgic country charm.

Our visit coincided with the beginning of spring and 95 Mary Street Café feels perfectly positioned to benefit from the influx of visitors that comes with Toowoomba’s most famous season. With Queens Park just around the corner, it makes an appealing stop before or after exploring the gardens, particularly during the Carnival of Flowers.

The café attracts a mix of affluent locals and visitors on weekends and the generous high tea is well suited to a leisurely afternoon catch-up. There’s no need to worry if you can’t finish everything, either as the friendly team will happily pack the remaining treats into a takeaway box.

A charming country take on the traditional high tea, with plenty of local flavour and a warm Toowoomba welcome.