High tea on the Gold Coast: garden or grand hotel?
Search for high tea on the Gold Coast and you will meet the same list: the casino, the resort lobbies, the marble and the chandeliers. The hotels do a lovely job of that style, and if a tower view and a champagne trolley are the occasion, book one and enjoy it.
There is a second style, and it grows on a green wall in Currumbin. The Tarte Tea Garden is a garden room beside the Beach House on Currumbin Creek, set with lavender, gardenias and climbing vines. Australian Traveller put it at number one on its round-up of favourite high teas. We are biased, but the judges were not.
What the Tea Garden does differently
Everything on the stand is baked on site that morning by the same team that runs our Burleigh bakery. Scones come warm with fresh cream and Tarte’s raspberry jam. The sweet tiers carry speciality tartes, brown butter choc chip cookies, muffin tops and our signature crullers. The savoury side runs to finger sandwiches and bagels, including our smoked salmon bagel with dill and crispy capers. The line-up moves with the seasons, which is what happens when the kitchen is thirty metres away rather than a loading dock.
High tea is $55 per person and includes your choice of hot or cold drink, with a cloud drink or old-fashioned French hot chocolate for a small add-on. Sittings run for 90 minutes, Wednesday to Sunday from 9am. Speciality teas are blended for the room: French Earl Grey, Strawberries and Cream, Sticky Chai, a dozen more. If the occasion calls for bubbles, there is Prosecco, Veuve Clicquot and a proper Mimosa.
The honest comparison
A hotel high tea buys you grandeur: high ceilings, piano, skyline. The Tea Garden buys you daylight, sea air and pastry that was laminated that week, not thawed that morning. Most hotel services on the coast cost a fair bit more; the Tea Garden is $55 with a drink included. Parking is free and easy, the creek is across the sand for a walk afterwards, and dogs can join you at the Beach House Cafe next door before or after your sitting.
For birthdays, showers and the whole-garden takeover
Private high tea in the garden seats up to 24 guests outside with a two-hour sitting. The Hideout, our air-conditioned function room above the Restaurant with water views, hosts seated high teas for 12 to 32 guests at $89 per person including a glass of sparkling, wine or a mocktail. The whole Tea Garden can be hired for up to 80 guests standing. Details and dates are on our functions page.
Tarte Tea Garden at Tarte Beach House. Shop 1, 2-4 Thrower Drive, Currumbin QLD 4223. High tea Wednesday to Sunday from 9am.
Book high tea at tarte.com.au/high-tea
