Keri Craig Emporium

Keri Craig Emporium
Address:160 Queen St, Brisbane, QLD 4000
http://www.kericraig.com.au/

I would like to start off by acknowledging that I am passionate about high tea.

The idea of a relaxing afternoon with lots of good tea, delicate sweets and good friends gossiping away... Just blissful.

But the trcky thing abut high tea is that it can come in so many forms and variations (and good china can be optional at some places... ><). I have had high tea which served me sausage roll (as part of the savory tidbits), places that organized buffets, indoors overlooking the Hong Kong skyline and outdoors picnic syle looking at the bushes and trees.

Keri Craig Emporium however, was different to them all. In fact, finding the place, was a tny challenge.

Located on the Queen Street Mall, it is hidden in the basement of the Arcade. At this point, if you are familiar with the Arcade, the question popping up will be, 'you mean that clothing shop'?

Yes, at Keri Craig, you will be high tea-ing amongst racks of clothing and other fancy nick-nacks. Talk about a different type of view huh?

But despite the initial quick raise of eyebrow of the different setting for high tea, what I experienced at Keri Craig was nothing but pleasant and relaxing.

All the little touches from the flower arrangement on the tables to the lacey doilies the cakes and sandwiches are presented on, it tied in well with its surrounding and gently hinted its vintaged elegance.

Food wise, on the savory slide, you had your usual suspects - the cucumber sandwiches, the chicken sandwiches, the ham and cheese, the salmon sandwiches and the mini quiches.

My favourite would have to be the cucumber sandwiches. Not because it was spectacular or anything but the simple fact that nowadays, most of the high tea places have swapped out the cucumber for the egg and mayo sandwiches and it was just refreshing to see someone still serve what was a part of the classic english high tea.

The scones I will not comment much. I am massive fan of jam and cream on scones (in fact, it's a treat that I give myself at least once a fortnight). And for me, the only way you could ruin scones when you don't get the fluffiness of the scones right and so far, I don't think I have been to one high tea where people have mucked that up.

As for cakes - a duo of petite fours - there was the lemon curd heart & blueberry creme tart. Again, Keri Craig was stuck firmly to the traditional and choose not opt for the generally popular option of the decadent chocolate varieties and kudos to them for doing that.

The only trouble with that is not everyone enjoy the sweet and sour lemon cakes. Whilst I wolved it down, my friend who accompanied me didn't find the lemon cake very attractive...

In all, Keri Craig was a pleasant, albiet different high tea experience. Proving to the world that it old fashioned elegance still works in this modern era.