At High Tea

Today I did another first: I went with some of the family for High Tea at Zealong Tea Estate, which is located not very far out of Hamilton. It was a fun family outing.

It's actually the first time I've been to high tea in New Zealand, though the place we had my 60th birthday party, which was was a relatively short drive from our last house, did high tea and Nigel and I wanted to take his mum there for that, but we never really had the chance. Lesson learned: Never put off what you can do today, and all that.

The food was really nice. Even though I seldom choose to drink tea, the one I had was also nice. The photo up top is of the three-tier serving thing in front of me (each of us participating got one), and I’ll talk about what was on each tier under the photo of each one, starting with the bottom tier:

At left, in focus, is a finger sandwich with venison pastrami, caramelised onions, pickles, and mustard. In the background on the right is a pumpkin flan, blue cheese mousse, and walnuts. In the back, mostly obscured, is a black truffle croque-monsieur with smoked chicken and Emmental.

The middle tier, at left: A silverbeet and buffalo ricotta Mediterranean tourte. At right is a crayfish and prawns roll with celery, wasabi, and avocado, which I gave away because I’ve had issues eating prawns in the past, and I haven’t had crayfish in years and decided it was best not to take a risk on it. In the background is a Ora King smoked salmon and herbs waffle with mustard cream.

The sweets were on the top tier. The pink thing standing up is a Lady Gatsby tea macaron (Lady Gatsby is one of their tea varieties). At left is a pistachio and lemon tartelette, and in the background is a chocolate croustillant (which several people thought was too sweet, but I liked it).

There was noting I didn’t like, though I of course liked some things more than others. I really wanted to try the crayfish and prawns roll, since I actually like everything in it, but I didn’t want to risk an allergic reaction, even though I think it was unlikely. I suppose the best part is my curiosity is satisfied: I’ve known about their high tea for years, and now I’ve finally had it (I’ve eaten in the restaurant before, but that was a meal, not high tea (and it was also really nice).

I was thinking this morning that high tea is kind of like an English tapas—small plates. Though served in a tiered thing. The one time I made tapas for the family back in 2013 I discovered how much work it is, and doubt making high tea like we had today would be any easier. So, I have huge respect for the chefs.

That’s one more new experience checked off the list. I’ve been pretty slack about going after adventures in Hamilton, but, then, there have been a LOT extenuating circumstances over the past four years since I moved here. As I always say, though, “what I can, when I can,” and that applies to adventures, too: One day, one adventure, one high tea at a time. Of course.