High tea at Whitby's

It's a shiny new year. To celebrate the start of 2016, we used a voucher from the Wellington Wondrous Advent Calendar for high tea and bubbles at Whitby's Restaurant in the James Cook Hotel. It's been years since I last had high tea at Whitby's so this voucher was well timed for a return visit. Check out the sample menu.

Three tiers with a total of twelve different items made for a substantial lunch time feast. We were served coffee and a glass of bubbles then started on the bottom tier. There were three types of delicate club sandwiches: smoked salmon, lemon and ginger roasted chicken, and cucumber and egg. Two other savoury items rounded off the bottom tier: mushroom and spinach vol au vents, and lamb and mint croquettes.

We then decided to jump to the top tier, as the items on it seemed more like what you'd find in the middle of other high teas. Cinnamon scones with jam and cream, chocolate dipped strawberries, and Shrewsbury-style biscuits with strawberry jam in the middle. Yum! But we were already starting to feel full ... so the middle (final) tier was mostly packed up into takeaway boxes and consumed later. I enjoyed the chai crème brulee and chocolate dipped profiteroles. The green tea cheesecake and bubblegum cupcakes became a sweet encore once I got home.

High tea at Whitby's

High tea at Whitby's is a great way to relax and indulge on what turned out to be a very rainy afternoon. Wondrous Advent Calendar vouchers can be redeemed until the end of January (book ahead) but high tea is available all year round.