Finding Up & Go. The Victoria Tea Room Tea Salon, Westfield Sydney.


If only it were as easy as going down to the supermarket and picking up some Up & Go for more get up and go.  I’m having one of those days where I’m still struggling to find the energy to embrace a laid back Sunday at home.

Believe me, I’ve tried everything within reason today:

  • ice cold ginger ale on waking
  • sleeping in
  • vegemite on toast
  • yoga
  • a walk in the sun (while it was out)
  • deep breathing while on the walk (I ended up sounding like a rottweiler I used to meet frequently in Perth when I went running on the foreshore, I’m pretty sure he had obstructive sleep apnoea).
All to no avail.

In a last ditch effort, I went in search of a new bistro that’s opened in our area, Bistro Meme.

Drink coffee.  Do stupid things faster with more energy.  Word.

Where the answer to my problem was clearly spelled out at the front counter and delivered by a French accented barista.  I’ve got my Sunday brunch needs sorted.  The bistro serves crepes and croque sandwiches for breakfast daily as well as excellent coffee.  I will be back for a full breakfast soon.  In the meantime, my Bistro Meme coffee did it’s trick and while I’ve not been up to anything energetic today, at least I’ve now got the energy to write about yesterday.  Looking back, it’s no wonder I’m so tired today, I was out and about until after dinner.  That’s a pretty big Saturday in my book.

I started out pretty early by not putting off for another day something I’d already put off doing for around 6 months.  Installing the update of Office for Mac on my now ‘newish’ macbook.  It took me all of 2 minutes but gee I felt like I was making progress with my life afterwards.

One of the many wonders of pay television is the ability to channel surf your way into sporting events from around the world.  Even if you’re not an armchair athlete, the pomp and circumstance is infectious.  There’s something called the NFL Draft Pick going on in the United States right now. And it’s huge news.  I think it’s a live telecast of players being selected for various NFL teams.  But from the lavish media presentation, you’d think it was something to do with federal politics.  Which it is, to some people’s minds, because the voice over man takes great pains to emphasise that we’re watching something of world wide significance each time the telecast goes to an ad break.

The draft picking goes on for days and apparently anyone who calls themselves an American citizen has an opinion on the picks.  Besides the panel of announcers analysing each pick, there are NFL celebrity appearances for each announcement.  It’s all very slick and much thought and attention goes into what everyone wears as well.  There was a behind the scenes segment featuring one athlete deliberating over what he was going to wear for his big day. I think he settled on fire engine red trousers.

Jacket – Zara, tank – Big W, jeans – Next, belt – Hermes.

But I can’t be certain because  had to leave the house at that point for the first of my Saturday engagements.  High tea with my dear friend D at The Victoria Room Tea Salon on level 4 at Westfield Sydney.  When you’re onto a good thing with Zhanel (Chanel by way of Zara), stick to it, I say.

The Victoria Room Tea Salon is an intimate little space in the midst of the action on the Designer Floor at Westfield.  It’s the little sister of the famous Darlinghurst Tea Room.  Light refreshments are served all day with an additional High Tea and lunch menu available from 11.30 am until 4.30pm.  For reference, D had a classic high tea (no champagne) which cost $38 while I had a pot of tea ($4.50) and one of the top 10 scones ($6.95 per scone) as well as most of the cakes in D’s high tea (just joking).

The china is delightfully mismatched but pastel themed.  I had pot of lemongrass and ginger tea.

Our scones.  Left – date and orange, right – white chocolate and cranberry.

The scones were ridiculously good (and pricy).  They had a buttery dense crumb and were packed full of fruit.  They were served with strawberry jam, marmalade and cream.

Standard sandwich selection for one – a vegetarian choice is available as well.

The sandwiches were fresh and I liked the micro herbs scattered over them.  The smoked salmon was a stand out, according to D.

The final tier of the tea stand was a variety of bite sized cakes.

The tea salon gets very busy at lunch time on the weekend and as they don’t take bookings for small groups, you should probably try and get in around 11am to be assured of a table.  It really is a lovely corner of the world to relax in when the pressures of designer label shopping get too much.

Those glistening bottles of Moet will probably be too much to resist the next time I visit.  I think the Couture High Tea will be a must, don’t you think?

The Victoria Room Tea Salon on Urbanspoon


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