High tea at Gunner's Barracks was a highly anticipated affair as the venue is renowned for its food, view and location. The last DDT was originally intended for Gunner's if it wasn't booked out, and just a week prior to this DDT the booking was filled up until early April, showing their popularity. There is a minimal spend of $35 per person, and for large group bookings (of more than 10) there is a 10% surcharge. We thought, well, we don't get pampered and treated like ladies (or gentlemen) of court all that often so once in a while doesn't hurt!!
12 servings of high tea arrived on three-tiered trays on the classic Royal Doulton china. It was exciting seeing the delicate parcels arrive at our tables. Not much time was wasted on photos as we had the same order - and there are only so many shots one can take of the identical trays and plates.
There was one serving of each cake/pastry/sandwich/scone per person - Raspberry gateau (very moist), opera espresso cake (layers of chocolate ganache and coffee soaked sponge), melting moment (that you couldn't pick up without it almost crumbling to pieces, and melted the moment it reached your lips - top choice for the day), fruit tartlet (with vanilla bean creme patissier) and citrus almond cake (reminds me a bit of the orange almond cake at Napoli in Bocca, but lighter), raspberry jam and fresh cream for our scones (which was said to be a little on the doughy side and needed a touch more salt, according to the scone experts... one of whom had 3 scones despite the said imperfections). The savoury items were tomato salsa tartlets (refreshing), spinach and cheese puff (not great) and sandwiches (egg or chicken - ok to fill stomach).
Overall there was a consensus of disappointment. The food was good but nothing out of the ordinary. Service at the start was attentive but as our high tea arrived the waiters appeared to be too busy to notice our raised hands (to order more coffee/tea/food), and once the order was made it took quite some time to arrive. They were charging us for the view and the service, but this didn't exactly ring true to the divine dessert theme, and this was no comparison to the delightful and delectable Bather's experience last time.
Verdict was we wouldn't recommend high tea as a dessert experience. As a relaxing afternoon where you sit for hours talking and taking in the view (if sitting outside on the deck) it's great, but we shall seek other worthy DDT destinations for future tours. CS.
KT: Oh, also for groups the tea selection that is meant to be part of the minimum spend becomes limited. They did accommodate for the odd Russian tea or Chai. Anyway, lesson learned :P
