Eating Out: High Tea at the Windsor

111 Spring Street, Melbourne
P: 03 9633 6000


Afternoon Tea at The Windsor. Sounds posh, doesn't it? I tell you, it feels a bit posh too! This lovely old building has been around since 1883, and it's been well-kept. If you're wanting the afternoon tea be sure to book.


It's the little things that make me smile. The old silver settings, with the "W" engraved lightly in the plate. The nice table cloth. The details on the ceiling and architraves... Mel and I have been saying for months that we want to do this, and a couple of weeks ago Mel made the wise move of saying "right, that's it, we're doing it now!" and booked us in for today.


A glass of bubbles, cups of tea or coffee, and your very own cake stand of goodies is what you get. I won't reiterate the menu for you, exactly - you can look that up. But I will tell you a little about what we ate.

The sandwiches were an interesting mix. I've never had smoked salmon before (heck, until a couple of months ago I'd never had any type of salmon!) so I dived into those sandwich wedges curiously. Hm... not bad. The rare beef ones were bland, but nice, the ham and chutney ones took me back to my childhood, and the egg sandwiches were lovely.

The sweet cakes were, well, interesting. I'm quite done with chocolate now for a while, and the lemon meringue tart was let down only by the pastry (otherwise it was lovely, I could have happily scooped out the lemon and the meringue bits and had a bowlfull of just them).

The scones were a little bit of a disappointment - a bit dry, and not risen very much. Perhaps they didn't add enough "lifter" to the mix, perhaps they over-worked them... but the jam and double-cream was bliss!

I think I'd love to do this once in a while - perhaps once a year or so. It was a lovely afternoon, and watching the rain pouring down through the old windows was pleasant.

When Mel puts up her review I'll be sure to add the link!