The new afternoon tea at the Ovolo Hotel in Woollomooloo is inspired by the Italian themes of Dolce & Mare or sweet and seafood. The three tiered stand is paired with Veuve Clicquot Champagne, first nations tea blends and tea inspired cocktails.
The Dolce & Mare afternoon tea is the newest afternoon tea launched at Woolloomooloo Bar, where Alibi restaurant and bar used to sit. Until COVID, the Ovolo Hotel was an all vegan hotel but has now reverted back to a non vegan menu. The theme of this afternoon tea was inspired by the Italian immigrants that settled here and called this area home after World War II. Many of them went on to work in the rapidly expanding fishing industry.
The afternoon tea at the Ovolo at Woolloomooloo Bar is available from Thursday to Saturday on at three different times of the day at 12pm, 2pm and 4pm. There are two types of afternoon tea on offer a Veuve Clicquot high tea for $119 or a high tea with Blak Brew tea for $89 per person (the Veuve Clicquot also includes the tea).
Laura and I are here on a late spring afternoon and are joining the 4pm session for afternoon tea. The tea does need to be booked ahead of time to avoid disappointment although they can also accommodations walk-ins too.
Service is very friendly and they take our drink and tea order. We try a couple of the cocktails all designed with tea as an ingredient. The Tea Hee has green tea infused vodka, green tea syrup, crème de violet, lemon juice, raspberry syrup and aquafaba. The violet is the strongest flavour and with the addition of dried rose petal is a very floral cocktail. Laura prefers strong drinks so her choice is the Chai After Dark made with scotch, chai syrup, Tia Maria, vanilla syrup and orange bitters and it is surprisingly sweet and strong.
There are 8 varieties of Blak Brews tea to choose from. Blak brews is a first nations owned Australian tea company that uses native ingredients in their tea blends. I select the Red Centre tea while Laura chooses The Aussie brekkie. The Red Centre tea is a glorious pink colour and incredibly vivid when it is poured from the tea pot. It is a caffeine free red blend of rosehip shells, hibiscus, strawberry gum and quandong extract and can be served either hot or iced.
They bring out the afternoon tea stand. Both Laura and I are savoury lovers so we go straight for this stand. Our favourite morsel is the mini lobster roll with Avruga caviar and chives. It's finally diced lobster in a mayonnaise with chives topped with Avruga caviar. The Sicilian swordfish croquettes with apple emulsion are creative take on a croquette. The swordfish is strong and fish forward but we like the creativity.
The Caprese slider with a semidried tomato, mozzarella and basil pesto is slightly wet with the plump cherry tomato sitting inside the bun. The only bite that we didn't really go for was the rockmelon gazpacho with Parma ham wrapped around a grissini. The rockmelon gazpacho tastes mostly like a rockmelon puree because it's such a strong flavour and the bottom of the crostini ends up being wet sitting in it.
Onto the sweet layer, the snowball tiramisu is a nutty, round Italian cookie that is coffee flavoured with cream on top. The mixed berries zabaglione is eggy and creamy with a hit of Marsala and large plump blueberries and raspberries. The limoncello ricotta cake is both of our favourites although it's not what you would consider really a cake. It's more a cookie with limoncello ricotta piped on top.
The scones are served warm, although we did eat these last. They're served with clotted cream and a mixed berry compote jam. I do like my scones a little larger and fluffier but points for the clotted cream which is rich and decadent.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you prefer your scones warm and fluffy or crisp and petite? Would you choose tea, cocktails or champagne to go with your afternoon tea?
Ovolo Hotel
6 Cowper Wharf Roadway, Woolloomooloo NSW 2011
Phone: (02) 9331 9000
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