While in Perth, my mother thought it would be nice to treat my oldest daughter to a High Teat at a revolving restaurant high up in the CBD. My daughter loves the fanciness of restaurants... and what could be fancier than a high tea?

... yep, it is at the top of that building there! High up on the 33rd floor. Of course, there are larger and taller buildings around, but this is one of the larger ones that is near the foreshore with the outlook over the river!

The Space

On the weekend, it was a little bit trickier to find the entrance to the building as it was all shut. However, it was pretty well labelled... just that no one was reading the signs!

... but the entrance lobby already smacks a bit of fanciness!

So, this is one of the sights that makes the whole thing worthwhile and just a little bit pricier! You can see clear out over Perth on the land and river side as the entire restaurant platform slowly rotates around... it takes an hour or two for it to fully go around (I wasn't keeping track...), and the rotation is slow but noticeable... a touch disconcerting to begin with, but you do get used to it quite quickly!

... and looking out over the river side.

Now, the interior is quite nicely done... and apparently the female toilets were quite impressive as well! With a little lounge area and all of that... sadly, the men's room was pretty dingy.

Ooooh, lots of fancy crockery! I was actually a bit worried that the kids might accidentally crack them...

The Menu

So, there is only the smallest of variations in the High Tea menu. You have the standard version with unlimited coffee and tea... or the kids version. Or you can upgrade to various levels of champagne and wines... from a single flute, to endless ones!

... a nice selection of teas, but in the end... I did notice that they weren't really decent quality ones, but in fact they were just the ones that you could just buy at the supermarket! Pity, for this price, they could have had specialty teas.

The Food

This was the kiddie version of the High Tea (this was for two kids)... it was pretty much the same as the adult's version with slightly less dessert (one option less), and slightly less of the savoury stuff as well.

The scones were the highlight... and the panna cotta was decent, but a little bit strange with the cream part being more jelly-like than normal... and the macaroon, which we expected to be a hit... were a bit of a disappointment, as the filling was the weird cream cheese sort of thing. Bleah!

Moving on to the adult version... again, the scones were a hit, but on the bottom savoury plate, there were beef puffs that were really awesome (except they didn't make it into the photo...). On the dessert front, the red chocolate topped custards were a big hit with everyone!

... and to round it out, a little treat for the special occasion... a birthday for the oldest, and an anniversary for me and my wife! Very tasty... but my wife found the fruit jelly too sweet.

The Experience

If you want fancy, there isn't anything fancier than a high tea on a revolving restaurant... and you can tell that it is a really special thing by all the people that are coming in... all dressed up, and lots of special occasions.

The wait staff were incredibly attentive and the food was mostly good... even if there were some interesting versions of known delicacies. They should have stuck with the regular versions... and the tea wasn't amazing either.

... but you do these things for the special experience... but it would have been great if the food and drink were as highly matched as the service.