Sunday, March 11, 2012

Jazz High Tea at The Spiegeltent



Happy Sunday to everyone.  Hope you are having a great weekend.  It is a long weekend for Labour  Day in Melbourne, so from my end, it is an especially good  one.

Exactly one week ago, I attended Jazz High Tea at The Famous Spiegeltent.  The Spiegeltent is the curious looking structure at the top of this post.  Spiegeltents were created at the start of last century as travelling entertainment venues, and the name literally means "tent of mirrors".  Indeed, the inside of the tent, which is not quite in the round, features many mirrors held up by ornate posts.  Apparently, Marlene Dietrich once sang "Falling in Love Again" in a spiegeltent.

The Famous Spiegeltent travels around Australia, and arrives in Melbourne every March to host a whole array of different entertainment.  As well as the Jazz   High Tea in this post, I am later attending a concert by fellow Queenslander, Kate Miller-Heidke, later in the month in the Spiegeltent.  As a tip to the diversity of the entertainment in The Famous Spiegeltent, I earlier this week was mistakenly sent someone else's tickets to Dixie's Tupperware Party - which I was quite happy to return to sender.

Here is a peek inside the Spiegeltent:



The Jazz High Tea started with a glass of bubbly at the door:



followed, naturally, by High Tea:



The top tier featured a passionfruit cupcake, a raspberry cheesecake, a lemon curd tart and a chocolate crackle.  Next tier down was scones with jam and cream (of course).  And the bottom tier featured two each of salmon, vege mezze and ham sandwiches.  There are no surprises in telling you that my favourite tier was the top tier.  And my favourite of the favourite was the cheesecake, followed closely by the chocolate crackle.  It will comfort you to know that I was sharing this spread with a friend - I didn't eat it all myself.

The tea followed very lately only after we gave a waiter a tap on the shoulder - but it is of little consequence, as it was an anti-climax to the bubbly and food. 

We were entertained by The Syncopaters:

who kept us amused with jazz standards, heavily weighted with Louis Armstrong numbers.

It was a fun way to pass a couple of hours, and I enjoyed my first glimpse inside the Spiegeltent.

Have a good  one!

13 comments:

Hotly Spiced said...

How lucky to be having a long weekend! No such luck here in NSW. That high tea looks very good. xx

The Caked Crusader said...

What a fab looking venue - I love it!

Daisy@Nevertoosweet said...

Ohhh I love high teas :) I'm gonna miss all the places that have it here in HK when i come home! It looks like a great place to spend the afternoon!!! Do they offer the High Tea on a regular basis?

yummychunklet said...

Ooh, I like that the place serves cupcakes with their tea!

Cakelaw said...

Hi Daisy, they are having it regularly until April.

Daisy@Nevertoosweet said...

YAY!! Thanks I'm gonna have to go check it out myself ;)

Johanna GGG said...

Love the speigeltent - wish I could say I know it well but I have only been there for a glimpse - love the idea of high tea there and was amazed that they have chocolate crackles

Kathy said...

I love high tea...so civilized!! The venue looks like a wonderfully interesting place....I loved Marlene Dietrich! Sounds like fun!

Hazel - Chicken in a Cherry Sauce said...

Fabulous venue indeed! High tea has to be my favourite meal, if we can call it a meal? Love the sound of passionfruit cupcakes and chocolate crackle.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

This is the perfect venue for high tea and frivolities! We saw a show in the Spiegeltent and it was gorgeous :)

Jill said...

What a great way to spend a long weekend! The Tupperware party looks quite unique, but I think the tea was the way to go!

kyleen said...

Oh, those finger sandwiches are adorable!

Kayte said...

Such fun! You do the most interesting things each weekend! I love when you share all that and I get to learn about things like this. Thanks! I had to look up Chocolate Crackles as I wasn't sure what those were, but when I saw the photos, I knew right away and have made them many times for the guys. Fun to know they have a name like Chocolate Crackles! It all looks wonderful and such fun.