GPrawn twisties. White chocolate scones. Flaming chocolate domes. Forget the cucumber sandwiches, high tea at the Hyatt Regency Sydney is not your average affair.

First off, this is not high tea, it’s Gin and Tea – a botanical-themed high tea that includes not one, but two gin cocktails, a generous tiered stand of savouries, bundles of scones, and an epic dessert table that will satisfy even the sweetest tooth.

Each Saturday at 2.30pm, the hotel lobby lounge bar is lined with big beautiful balloon glasses. The bartenders are busy mixing cocktails from a range of local and international gins. There’s Marrickville hero pour Poor Toms; which you can have paired with ribbons of cucumber and watermelon wedges, or try the strawberry gin with berries and dehydrated lime slices. Round two you get to choose between the Opihr Oriental Spiced Gin, served with garnishes of cloves and cardamon, or our personal favourite, Bloom London Dry Gin, almost too pretty to drink with a delicate rose petal and sprigs of mint. Almost too pretty. We raise our pinkies and sip as we work our way through the extensive food menu.

High tea can sometimes put the emphasis on sweets way too early, but at the Hyatt Regency Sydney, they’ve leaned in hard to a strong savoury start and we’re here for it. We nibble dainty burrata and cherry tomato bites, swirl our ‘prawn twisties’ in sweet chilli sauce and dig into smoked chicken and celeriac sliders. There’s mini pork buns (so cute!), chicken skewers and the most moreish spinach and feta pastries too. The hot and cold canapes go nicely with our gin cocktails, especially as we’re given plenty of time to enjoy both. There’s no rushing through this routine.

Once we’re ready, the savoury stand is whisked away and replaced with a parcel of scones. These hessian-wrapped scones are a sweet nod to the Australian botanical theme. They’re not beautiful, picture-perfect scones – dotted with white chocolate, or orange peel. They’re a bit knobbly but boy are they good. Especially paired with the warm bush honey-drizzled butter and jam served with them.

This is the point where it’s nice to take a breather – we call it the ‘tea transition’ time. Swapping over to The Rabbit Hole tea, served in gorgeous kitsch teapots, we sip herbal teas before hopping up to tackle the Botanical Dessert Table.

It turns out there’s a bit of a show happening over at the dessert table. Pastry chef Pashant Anand has clearly enjoyed playing with botanicals in a menu that’s balancing whimsy and flavour well. We watch our crème brûlée get crisped right then and there – tableside blow torch is quite the show. We pluck housemade macarons from glass jars, before going back more times than we care to admit to try yuzu chocolate tarts and moreish sweet milk bun ‘dumplings’ with sour cream custard. There’s liquid nitrogen mulled wine granitas topped with coriander-laced mascarpone that we feel are a perfect palate cleanser, so we can dive back in one more time to try green tea slice, Chocolate truffles, and mini saffron and pistachio cheesecakes.

The Hyatt Regency Sydney’s Gin High Tea seems to feast all our seasons – we’re wined, dined, and even walk out with a menu that’s made on ‘living paper’. We’ll plant it back home and be rewarded with oregano seeds.

Gin High Tea, Hyatt Regency Sydney
Every Saturday, 2:30pm
$75pp for adults, $35pp for children (6-17 years)
Book here: https://www.tablecheck.com/shops/hyattregency-sydney-lobbylounge/reserve

Lisa was the guest of Hyatt Regency Sydney