[FOOD REVIEW] Alice's Tea Cafe, Chatswood

I haven't had the time to talk about this cafe I visited a while ago since the time I bought the vouchers from Scoopon for the breakfast and high tea. I went on different occasions for the two and so I wasn't pigging out! :p 

Alice's Tea Cafe is a cafe located on Level 3, Westfield Chatswood (1 Anderson Street). It has an 'Alice in Wonderland' theme with chess pieces and soft elegant chairs. There's even a teddy bear on their little couches! However, there were some chairs and couches that looked a bit dirty and stained so that was a bit of a turn off. I didn't even realise until my friend mentioned it! At times, it can be a bit loud since it is located in Westfield but it is also a nice place to chill and unwind in a busy environment. Service seemed relatively fast; probably around 10-15 minutes?

I've had the Mocha ($3.80) a few times already and I liked it but wanted to opt for something different this time and they happened to add Green Tea Latte ($3.50) to the menu. I've never tried any sort of green tea latte before so I didn't know what to expect but I personally wasn't a fan. It seemed to have some powdery flecks and was quite milky. The green tea taste seemed quite artificial and was quite sweet for green tea. If I come here again, I don't think I'll order this.

Although the latte wasn't anything impressive, I really liked the Eggs Benedict with free range eggs, hollandaise sauce and ham served on sourdough with baby spinach ($13). Isn't the pig board super cute?! Haha, I think they changed to serving with these recently because I used to just get a big white plate. I think this one is either a hit or miss. The quality of this cafe varies every time I visit. The last time I ate this, the egg didn't ooze out at all! It was fully cooked. But the other time I visited, the egg was so soft and fluffy and the oozing yolk just made it all the more droolworthy. The ham is pretty average, nothing special, reminds me of woolies ham. That would go for the bread and spinach as well. The sauce was nice and runny with a slight tinge of sourness to make the saltiness of the ham a bit more endearing. Overall, I liked it but I'm rather iffy about the quality of the food here these days.

I can't really remember the price of the high tea now, it's been a while but it's okay since I wouldn't recommend it anyway haha. The apple juice tastes just like Goulburn Valley but there was an occasion where it tasted really sour and diluted and so I don't think I'd get juice here anymore if I come back.

The high tea here was quite mediocre. The fruit cake and tarts on the top tier looked really similar to ones you could get from Woolworths and they did taste like the ones there so I would assume they were store bought. As for the macarons, I couldn't really taste the difference between the flavours, they were all just super sweet. Full of sugar with macaron texture.

On the second tier were raisin scones with jam and whipped cream. Nothing too crazy here but I personally didn't like the raisin scones. There were a lot of raisins and it was quite hard on the outside and it was soft on the inside but quite dry. 

The best thing about this high tea were surprisingly the sandwiches! I don't know if it's because everything else was sub par but they tasted quite nice. Perfectly sized and a bit warm. Chicken was a bit dry but it nicely complemented with the tomato and greens. The bread was nice too. Wouldn't say they were the best sandwiches ever but definitely the best tier.

Overall, I don't think I would come back here for their high tea. I think the mocha was nice though. It had a nice balance of bitterness and sweetness to it that I enjoyed. The egg benedict was enjoyable but due to the varying quality, I don't think I'd come back especially for it.