High Tea at Bacchus South Bank, Brisbane

Are you looking for an exceptional high tea experience for a special occasion? Bacchus South Bank delivers a truly quality experience, amplifying the best of what high tea is known for.

With plush furnishings, attentive service, endless bubbles, quality tea and, of course, incredible food, Bacchus South Bank, located at the Rydges Hotel, revels in creating a traditional high tea that’s anything but boring.

A hotel high tea is not always known for being a worthy spend of time and money. For some, it feels like you’re sitting in any other hotel dining area, that just happens to serve tea and scones. The crockery is the same that served the buffet breakfast that morning, and the food may well have been served then too!

Others try to lure you in with gimmicky foods or bottomless drinks, without a thought for what makes high tea so special in the first place. They seem to go out of their way to avoid a ‘traditional’ high tea experience, in a bid to attract attention through difference.

While creativity has its place, it can be disappointing when all you really want is delightful sweets and savouries, beautiful crockery, quality tea and, of course, scones.

Which is why I was so incredibly pleased with our experience at Bacchus South Bank.Walking into the restaurant, you know this isn’t just another hotel steakhouse or buffet dining area. With plush dark green seats sitting amongst high-backed leather chairs, beautiful lush décor and a gorgeous tea set, it’s clear Bacchus is delivering an elegant experience.

From the start, the staff are very attentive, and it’s not long before our table is adorned with two towers of delicate sweets and tasty savouries. One of our towers catered for the dietary needs of our party, and included an array of gluten-free and pescatarian treats.

The other featured the standard high tea menu, and neither disappointed. Unlike other high tea venues, as much care and thought was put into the special dietaries as the standard menu.

Starting with our savouries, our favourites included the crab remoulade slider served with yuzu mayo on a brioche mini bun, and the classic smoked chicken sandwich, adorned with celery and mustard.

Then it was on to the sweets, which included a perfect vanilla macaron, a delicate coconut financier with white chocolate and yuzu gel, and the surprise winner, a framboise pistachio namelaka with raspberry confit. The gluten-free sweets included a mini lemon merengue pie and orange and almond sponge with whipped cream and raspberry.

But we all know the real test of a high tea is the scones, and this is where Bacchus really delivered. Even the gluten-free variety was perfect. Crunchy on the outside, fluffy inside, with raspberry jam and cream, it was exactly why we celebrate high tea. The standard menu comes with two scones – a traditional scone and a chocolate version. Both were exceptional, although we found ourselves wanting more of the traditional scones!

Our sweets and savouries were washed down with a selection of Harney & Sons fine teas (the hot cinnamon tea was a favourite), and barista-made coffee.

High Tea at Bacchus South Bank Menu:

Gluten-free and vegetarian options available.

Sweets:

• Framboise pistachio – raspberry confit, pistachio namelaka
• Orange choco – orange compote, chocolate texture
• Macron – assorted flavours
• Coco delight – coconut financier, yuzu gel
• Scones – original and black cocoa, served with jam and cream

Savoury:

• Curry egg sandwich – curry mayo and mango chutney
• Salami tart – squid ink salami, fig jam, buffalo curd
• Crab remoulade slider – blue swimmer crab, yuzu mayo, brioche
• Potato veggie ball with cajun seasoning

 

High Tea Brisbane – find more experiences
in our High Tea Venue Directory