Forgotten Fruits high tea at Southpaw Bar, Fitzroy

You've all read (hopefully) about my pastry making (and winning at life!) adventures last week, but did you know that, only the week before, the lovely Sarah M and I had a different kind of encounter with baked goods? Ha, bet you didn't, cuz lazy me forgots to blogs abouts its.

Oh yes. Sarah M and I did have a different kind of encounter with a variety of baked goods on Friday 11 March - the eating kind.

We had tix to the Forgotten Fruits High Tea at a bar/eating place called Southpaw on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy, as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. The description on the MFWF website said:

"A Fitzroy take on the classic High Tea. Our chefs have sourced the forgotten fruits of bygone years, virtually unknown in this day and age, from independent growers in Daylesford. Experience traditional techniques with delicacies such as rosehip jelly, medlar marmalade, shadberry chutney and more, washed down with a pot of tea or a Pimms cocktail – Tally-ho."

How to say "Om nom nom" in the language of bygone years?

It was a lovely warm afternoon (I was in shorts!) and the perfect weather for taking tea. Or a big jug of cold, cold Pimms. We turned up at the respectable tea-taking/Pimms-chugging hour of 4pm, and were shown to our table, tastefully set in decor from bygone years.

P.S. These photos were shamelessly stolen from the lovely Miss M's Facebook album, hence their smaller size and perhaps lesser quality.

 Nanna rang. She wants her doilies back.

Mismatched china FTW

Here was what the afternoon had in store for us. For $35 per person, we got all that was on this menu, PLUS a jug of Pimms. And tea. This was awesome value - we checked out their drinks menu and normally a jug of Pimms itself is 35 bucks!

The menu

Oh Pimms, how I love thee.

First, the appetiser - ode to a smoked salmon sandwich. Kind of like a glorified canape, but luckily the elderflower and lemon creme made it a bit special. I couldn't really taste the vodka in the vodka-cure salmon, but that could be due in part to me just scoffing it down because I was hungry.

For the omnivores

Sarah M had the vegetarian version, minus the salmon.

For the vegos

Next up, a plate of thinly-sliced, all-kinds-of-smoked-and-cured oink-oinks. From Daylesford (oh how I love that place!)

Mmm...charcuterie.

Miss M, of course, had the vegetarian option: peaches stuffed with goats cheese and roasted red capsicums drizzled in honey.

Not quite the same as smallgoods.

Now, for the main event. Our three-tiered platter of goodness:

Doesn't look like much but we could barely move after all this.

From the top: two types of scones - plain, and pumpkin with toasted almond.
In the middle: gooseberry and coffee tartlette, white chocolate and silvenberry mousse, and the Southpaw Tim Tam - a spiced Medlar biscuit and dark chocolate marquise (no, I don't know what that is either).
At the bottom: ribbon sandwiches. 'Nuff said.

The scones came with three types of jam, and some cream whipped through with vanilla beans. It had a rich vanilla sweetness to it and a light, fluffy, vanilla cream-verging-on-ice-cream texture - if there is such a thing.

Scones and jams and cream and Earl Grey tea.

Up close and personal.

By now we had seen the bottom of our jug of Pimms and had started on the Earl Grey tea. And, while it didn't look like much, we were quite, quite full by the time we were halfway through the scones and sandwiches.

But we had to persevere. Must. Eat. Scones. And jam. And cream.

It was fun trying to identify which of three of the four jams they served us that day - we suspect that maybe the cherry laurel one was missing, but were too full to ask.

The sandwiches were probably the least special of them all. The tea-smoked chicken, while not your typical sandwich filling, was pretty good with the crab apple chutney, but the bread itself was a bit soggy in parts which made it kinda bleh.

We struggled through the desserts, which is saying a lot because I usually just inhale them. The white chocolate and silvenberry mousse was exceptional - the tartness of the silvenberry plus the sweet white chocolate seriously had a party in my mouth. The tartlette pastry cracked quite easily but wasn't soft and yucky, and the Southpaw Tim Tam was an interesting take on the original, although not quite similar for them to actually call it a Tim Tam.

By this time we couldn't really move.

Lopsided from too much food.

The final touch was the palate cleanser - a take on the Eton mess, perhaps? Given that it was called the drunken Eton. The Grand Marnier and brandy jam lent an extra dimension to the cream and marionberry, while the meringue was a clever textural addition.

I'm writing like a wanky food critic.

I could eat a big bowl of this.

All in all, an exceptional afternoon spent with awesome food and delightful company. Sarah M and I are now inspired - we want to try all the various high teas Melbourne has to offer, and report back with uncomfortably full bellies and many colourful pictures. If you know of a good one, tell us!