High Tea at Mary Eats Cake Melbourne

As Marie Antoinette once declared: “Let them eat cake”. It’s this proclamation – appropriately painted along one wall of Mary Eats Cake’s Brunswick tea rooms – that epitomises the high tea experience this exceptional venue has to offer.

Nestled within the bustling bridal district along Sydney Road, the venue screams industrial-glam, with exposed brick, concrete floors, decorative ceilings and a magnificent oversized crystal chandelier orbited by rose gold.

Tables are set with mismatched fine bone china, including the likes of Royal Albert and Crown Trent.

There’s also a signature Mary Eats Cake gold cake stand waiting to be filled, linen tablecloths, crystal coupe champagne glasses and a pot of English Breakfast tea brewing on our table when we arrive.

Champagne

High Tea at Mary Eats Cake

Customers at Mary Eats Cake

Customers at Mary Eats Cake

Savoury selection

A glass jar of brown sugar with a silver spoon and dishes of raspberry jam and cream provide the final dash of fancy.

The vibe is very chatty and relaxed – think weekend brunch – and there’s more men and children in attendance than you’d see at other high tea venues.

For those inclined, Mary Eats Cake also has a second location in Montrose, a cottage that boasts both a main tea house and a number of private spaces that are available for birthdays, baby showers, engagements, bridal showers and other occasions.

Owned and run by Le Cordon Bleu pastry chef Jessica Hillbrick, Mary Eats Cake is unique in that it exclusively serves high tea.

Vintage tea ware

Summer strawberry choux with vanilla cream, fresh strawberries, gold feuilletine crumb topped with baby basil

Sweet selection

Tea

Today we are experiencing The Fancy Package, which includes all the elements of The Mary Package (traditional high tea menu, bottomless scones, unlimited teas) and ups the ante with a shared cheese and fruit board and unlimited sparkling wine, wine, beer, soft drink and coffee.

There’s four different teas on offer throughout the seating – English Breakfast, Lemon Myrtle and Ginger, Mary’s Berry Tea and Coconut Mint – and for those inclined, a cocktail menu featuring all your favourites.

Starting with the savouries on the bottom tier, we are mesmerised by the Middle Eastern flavours in both the sweet potato quiche and Moroccan chicken sandwich, the latter of which is sprinkled with dukkah.

Scones with jam and cream

Scones

The savoury cheesecake is both fascinating and delicious. Presented like a regular miniature cheesecake and dotted with colourful spots of avocado and red cabbage, it deceptively looks like a dessert placed on the wrong tier. However, one bite is all it takes to appreciate the pea, spinach and lemon flavours coming through.

Moving up to the top tier of desserts (our preference is to always finish a high tea with scones, but to each their own!) and the stand-out here is the ricotta cannoli with blood orange – divine.

Meanwhile, the classic flavour combination of dark chocolate and coffee ensures that the opera cake is also a crowd pleaser.

Fruit & cheese board

Making our way back to Mary’s Fluffy Scones, and I’m pleased to say they live up to their name.

In all, the items on the high tea menu were so generously portioned that the cheese and fruit platter felt a little unnecessary for our party of two – however, it may be a good inclusion for larger parties.

Mary Eats Cake provides just the right mix of fun, fancy and deliciousness (and at a good price no less) to make it a high tea you can go to again and again.

Mary Eats Cake The Fancy High Tea menu

Savoury:

• Moroccan chicken sandwich with roasted capsicum spread
• Pulled pork slider with ranch apple slaw
• Sweet potato quiche with goats cheese and onion relish
• Savoury cheesecake with pea and spinach puree

Sweet:

• Decadent opera cake with jaconde sponge, coffee liqueur syrup and chocolate ganache with coffee buttercream
• Whipped ricotta filled cannoli with blood orange
• Summer strawberry choux with vanilla cream, fresh strawberries, gold feuilletine crumb topped with baby basil

Unlimited Sparkling (or non alcoholic sparkling), Wine, Soft drink, Juice & coffee *cocktails/mocktails not included but can be purchased during your session, last drinks are called half an hour before the end of your session time.

Fresh scones with jam and cream (bottomless)

Unlimited speciality teas

Fruit & cheese boards

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