REVIEW: Customs House Gluten Free High Tea Brisbane
Well. Hold on to your hats and your sparkly handbags and 6 inch heels ladies, because this experience is something else. Lets just say fancy. It does have a fancy price tag to match, at $74 for their Champagne High Tea (soon to be their only option), but if you only get to do it once, it will be have been worth the skimping on lattes for rest of the week. I LOVED IT. They are aiming it at the 5 star end of the foodie scene, and they are hitting the brief.
So what makes it SO good?
Firstly, I didn’t think I would find a more iconic Brisbane setting than the Stamford Plaza’s river-side patio, but I would have to say that Customs House trumps it. Not only do you have a patio with full river views, but you have the Story Bridge front and centre and the historic backdrop of the Customs House building itself behind you. And the tendency of the Stamford to have their clear weather-proof blinds down most of the time to protect from the wind does take away from the elegance of the setting. In saying that, the Customs patio does not fare well in poor weather, and diners are then moved to their indoor space, which is currently not a particularly appealing room, although it is about to undergo an elegant facelift and will be a newer improved version come mid August I am told. The weather thankfully co-operated for my visit, and my friend and I enjoyed Brisbane winter time perfection with clear skies, not a breathe of wind and a balmy 23 degrees. The added warmth from the discreet roof top heaters added to the cosy feels.
Back to the high tea itself, what do you get?
Firstly you are welcomed with a glass of fresh really yum orange juice, and then the Louis Roeder champagne is delivered and you are instantly transported to that happy place of indulgence you were hoping for. Shortly after the high tea is brought out on a cute art deco 3 level stand absolutely brimming with gorgeously presented dessert petit fours, canapés utilizing premium product very creatively constructed, finger sandwiches and THE MOST AMAZING pretty as a picture gluten free raspberry scones & cream I have ever had. We were in heaven and instantly on our way to a glorious food coma. When smoked salmon & salmon pearls and Queensland sand crab are put into play you know you are set for a foodie indulgence. And there was a lot of food. So you do get value for your dosh.
How does the gluten free version compare to the non gluten-free version?
On presentation, it was definitely on point. We certainly did not feel as though less effort had gone into the pretty detail & culinary artistry of the gluten free offerings. The table in front had the normal version and it was clear there were some of the obvious substitutions (the sandwich bread of course and some of the cakes), but on the whole a pretty good match up. They also substituted a thin biscotti and mascarpone in the mini fruit cup with a disc of white/caramel chocolate, which was not a great trade off to be honest. The gluten free canapés again were a culinary extravagance, so yay. And as mentioned, we loved the scones. They were fluffy and topped with a to-die-for vanilla cream and fresh raspberries, and only the slightest hint of that bicarb bitter after taste so common with gluten free scones.
The ONLY real negative was the other sweet treats. Firstly, we did not have the macarons that came on the non gluten-free high tea. This is a sore point for me. Please do not take the macaron, a traditionally gluten free cake, the poster child cake for coeliacs everywhere that we are happy to see again and again (unlike orange-almond cake) and make it full of gluten!!…Do not make us miss out on something we don’t have to. Rant over. And secondly, the other sweet offerings were simply not great. The 2 mini cupcakes were really, really dry and the ‘cream’ topping was overly sugary, more like an icing (where is the butter frosting?!), and the only other 2 dessert petit fours were 2 versions of macaroons…sugary coconut biscuits that we can get off the supermarket shelf and are not very special. We didn’t really bother to eat these.
Overall though, we were so full from all of the other delights that the somewhat disappointing sweet petite fours did not take away from the experience. Hopefully they can tweak these items moving forward.
The usual sitting time for their high tea is 1.5-2 hours, but we were having such a fabulous time in the beautiful setting enjoying the mild as heck Brisbane winter weather that we just stayed…another pot of tea, an order of coffee (all complimentary)…and 2.5 hours later we reluctantly left to go back to our to-do list and busy lives that had been gloriously forgotten for that little moment in time while we chatted, and ate, and ate some more. Definitely an experience you want to try at least once.
Details:
Champagne High Tea
Cost: $74pp
When: Mon-Sun 10am-3.30pm
Parking: Emirates Secure Parking special weekend rate $14 all day (mid week very pricey). This one is just a 3 min walk from Customs House. Alternatively you can try Wilsons Eagle Street Pier Carpark (5 min walk).
You can find the full details for the Customs House High Teas here.
I have been hard at work visiting other high teas in Brisbane and will have my brand new reviews of these in my upcoming blog Best Gluten Free High Teas in Brisbane Part II
To READ MORE reviews of some other high teas in Brisbane though you can check out my original blog Best Gluten Free High Teas in Brisbane Part I
Or for some other REVIEWS on the BRISBANE FOOD SCENE head to Brisbane Gluten Free – Bucket List Foodie Experiences You Do Not Want To Miss!!
