Christmas Day Menu @ Watsons Bay Hotel, Watsons Bay

Happy New Year, dear readers! Sorry I haven't been blogging as of late - I've been busy, busy during this festive season! I hope you've managed to keep your resolutions now that we are just a tad under a week into 2014 :) I would like to start off the year with my biggest meal at the end of 2013 and probably most expensive at a whopping $250 per person so I would really like to thank my oldest friend M for bringing me as a guest. We were offered Moet champagne upon arrival so here's to us and over ten years of friendship!

Seeded bread with butter

Seafood platter

When our initial seafood platter arrived, I was already thinking about how the hell was I going to have enough stomach space for mains, dessert and post-dessert? Was it even going to be physically possible? Just look at all those prawns, oysters, mud crab and Moreton Bay bugs along with thousand island style dipping sauce. Fresh seafood always goes down well.

Whiskey a& honey glazed Kurabuta organic ham with cinnamon roasted peaches

And now the real meal starts. When I looked at the menu, I thought to myself: "how good could ham possibly be?" But damn this was good ham. Especially paired with those peaches. I've always had pork and apple together but peaches were completely out of the equation until now. It actually worked together!

L to R: BBQ split Yamba prawns with garlic, chilli & lemon / Roasted whole snapper with heirloom cherry tomatoes, olives & basil

The snapper was also a sight to behold. Steamed whole with olives on top, the juices of the olives flowed into the knife scores along the fish and really was beautiful. Whilst I am normally not a fan of olives, I found the flavour cooked into the fish wasn't quite as strong and it was actually very enjoyable to eat. There was some some acidic balance from our side of shaved fennel, radish and orange salad.

Slow cooked lamb shoulder with quinoa, pumpkin & pomegranates

However, this was the star of the mains. The whole lamb shoulder was cooked to tender perfection and the yogurt dressing with pomegranate pieces completed the dish. We had a side of maple roasted sweet potato and candied pecans. I kept coming back for the candied pecans - so sweetly addictive! And the sweet potatoes too because I'm a sucker for roasted sweet potatoes.

Mango and berries pavlova with mascarpone cream

And if all that food wasn't enough. There was still dessert. I love a good pavlova and I loved this tropical rendition with mango, passionfruit and mascarpone cream. I do wish the pavlova was less dry and more fluffy inside - though that didn't stop us from finishing it all!

Chef's selection of cheeses

I thought the pavlova was the final course but I completely forgot about crackers and cheese. Oh dear. Stomach space please grow so I can fit more food inside you. We tried a miniscule amount of the blue vein cheese before deciding that our tastebuds still haven't quite grown accustomed to the strong flavour and so we stuck with the brie and cheddar. Amazing cheeses! And to eat with the cheese, we had some sweet, juicy grapes.

We were much too full to even contemplate trying to squeeze in a coffee. It did smell amazing though! I don't think there were even any crevices left for the liquid to seep through within our stomachs. But I was already so pleased with my meal I couldn't even complain about not fitting in coffee!

I hope all of you had equally as large feasts on Christmas Day along with beautiful company just like who I had.

Watsons Bay Hotel
1 Military Rd
Sydney, NSW, 2030

Opening Hours
Monday – Saturday: 10:00am – 12:00am
Sunday: 10:00am – 10:00pm

Breakfast
Monday – Sunday: 7:00am – 10:00am

Lunch & Dinner
Monday – Friday: 11:30am – late
Saturday & Sunday: 11:00am – 4:00pm / 5:00pm – late

Crossroads Bar in Swissotel, Sydney CBD

Has anyone ever met a girl who doesn't like high tea? There's something that makes us feel that much more sophisticated, sipping on tea in dainty cups while eating bite-sized dessert morsels, sandwiches with the crusts cut off and scones! Oh how I adore scones with fresh cream and jam... Of course my friends and I could not let the opportunity to buy high tea coupons for 4 for only $79 at the Swissotel pass us by!

The Swissotel does high tea on level 8 at the Crossroads Bar. We were about to be seated by the window overlooking Sydney, but we loved the look of the squishy couches and luckily enough for us, the waiter happily obliged us of our wishes and we sunk into the cushiony seats with sighs of happiness.

The tea and coffee was at a separate table and is self serve. There was a decent range of teas but I can't say I'm the biggest fan of bagged teas. I normally love loose leaf green tea, and while this Lipton one smelled absolutely FANTASTIC (had such a beautiful floral scent), it tasted extremely bitter... I'll stick to the champagne!

Service was extremely efficent and our stands came out super fast!

I always start with scones as they are best when warm! These scones were studded with plump little raisins and so good slathered with a tonne of whipped cream and jam :D

The tuna sandwich had a good amount of creamy tuna inside and rocket. The bread had pepitas (pumpkin seeds) scattered on top which provided a lovely crunch! I was a huge fan of the wrap which encased a soft eggplant which melted on the tongue, sundried tomatoes which made the wrap oh so flavoursome, rocket and cream cheese. The egg sandwich was pretty decent but I loved the smoked salmon, cream cheese and rocket mini-bagel! I like the texture of bagels - they are much like a denser bread.

Onto the dessert tier! The chocolate cake had layers of dense brownie-like cake and a velvety chocolate mousse. Very rich indeed. It was interesting that they've included jelly, green jelly as a matter of fact. I was amused at the novelty of scooping the jelly out with the little spoon. I very much enjoyed the profiterole which had a good amount of smooth custard inside but the waffle with whipped cream and fresh strawberry was a favourite! There was a light layer of sugar that was slightly melted so that it stuck to the waffle but maintained its crunch. I topped the waffle with the remaining jam left over from my scone to make it extra sweet! I do have too much of a sweet tooth...

Overall, I really enjoyed my high tea experience at Swissotel and a shoutout to my wonderful girlfriends who made it all the more lovely! Two of them had never had high tea before - I was glad that they loved it as much as I did :D

Crossroads Bar, Swissotel
Level 8, 68 Market St
Sydney NSW 2000

Opening Hours

Coffee and light breakfast:
Daily: 8:00 - 11:00 am

All-day dining:
Monday - Friday: 11:00 – 1:00pm
Saturday - Sunday: 11:00 – midnight

Express Lunch:
Monday - Sunday: 12:00 - 2:00pm

Tiered High Tea:
Monday - Friday: 2:00 – 4:00pm

Buffet High Tea:
Saturday - Sunday: 2:00 – 4:00pm