Category: Journal

When afternoon tea is in full flight under the lofty ceiling of The Charles, it’s a beautiful sight. A trolley roams the room, groaning with cakes, chocolate and macarons, and guests sip artisan tea from fine china as they load up scones with preserves and cream. In many ways, The Charles offers a very traditional take on the afternoon tea, a concept masterminded in the mid-19th century by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, who would get peckish between lunch and her 8pm dinner. But in other ways, what head pastry chef Rhiann Mead and her team is doing is quite radical.

First, let’s backtrack – here in Australia we typically call this meal ‘high tea’. Yet in the UK, this betwixt-lunch-and-dinner feast is known as ‘afternoon tea’. So, what’s the difference? Traditionally, high tea was what the working classes in England might call dinner or supper (and it’s not unusual for many Australians to have grown up calling this meal ‘tea’). It was a filling meal of meat, carbs and, yes, tea, served after a long day of work. Still, scones, sandwiches and cakes scream ‘high tea’ to many down under.

“We didn’t want to restrict ourselves to the limited options of a standard high tea menu,” Mead says of The Charles’ decision to call the service afternoon tea. “Being a European brasserie, we have a much broader range to choose from, and we wanted the menu to reflect that.”

And Mead’s menu has a few items one definitely wouldn’t have seen on a Victorian-era high tea stand: unique takes on Kit-Kats, gummy bears and chocolate Flakes. “They’re beautifully refined and elegant, but also bring a sense of nostalgia,” she says. “They’re something you’d never see on an afternoon tea menu elsewhere.”

You probably also wouldn’t catch The Charles’ truly impressive honey cake on any other afternoon tea menus: it involves layer after layer (28 in total) of dulce de leche and honeycomb cake, making a spectacular crown for the dessert trolley.

Speaking of the dessert trolley: it’s a flourish you won’t see at any other afternoon (or high) tea in Sydney. It comes by each table after they’re served their scones and savouries, with diners invited to select from a bounty of sweets: the honey cake, tiramisu tarte, chocolates and macarons.

Some traditions, though, are never worth overthrowing. “You can’t have afternoon tea without scones!” says Mead, whose team bakes the classic every day. She also offers a practical answer to that old-age question: does the jam go first, or the cream?

“I’m a jam-first girl,” she says. “A scone will absorb more jam than it will cream, so it makes sense to do it in that order if you want to maximise your toppings!”

Afternoon Tea is available 12-5pm, 7 Days a week in The Charles Brasserie. Visit www.thecharles.sydney for more information

Celebrating World Whisky Day and craftmanship, Head Pastry Chef Rhiann Mead has partnered with Balvenie to create three desserts that perfectly pair with Whisky’s from Balvenie’s range. 

Starting from Monday, 8th of May, only available during the Month of May. 

View Menu 

Burgundy Dinner 

Tuesday 2nd of May, 6:30pm

Our first Wine Dinner at The Charles Brasserie will be dedicated to showcasing the hidden gems of Côte de Beaune, Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnais.   

At this dinner you will be expertly guided through 9 Burgundies by Etymon Projects Director of Wine Paolo Saccone, Head Sommelier Maxime Bellon & Fabio Pallottini of Franc About Wine alongside a 4-course menu perfectly paired by Executive Chef Billy Hannigan.   

Due to increasing demand and limited production, Burgundies are fast becoming one of the most elusive wines to procure. This dinner features a mix of wines to showcase the complexities of the terroir regions in which Burgundies are produced and the influence it has on the wine world  

The dinner is $475pp and includes 9 Burgundy and 4 Courses. This is an intimate evening and limited seats are available.   

To secure your seat, follow the button below or call our reservations team on (02) 8000 7800.  

Sample Menu

When you’re a pastry chef, Easter is truly your time to shine – especially if you’re also a professionally trained chocolatier, like The Charles’ multi-talented head pastry chef Rhiann Mead. This is one of her favourite times of year. It’s a prime opportunity for her to flaunt her chocolate-working skills, learnt during an apprenticeship at prestigious London chocolatier William Curley.

“In my first week I was shown how to create a chocolate flower – something that was well beyond my skill level at that time and something I’ll never forget,” says Mead, who further honed her skills crafting decorations, petits fours and chocolate bars at Sydney fine diners Bennelong and Quay. “The head chocolatier, Alistair Birt, invested so much time in teaching things, from the most simple decorations to a technical chocolate sculpture.”

And this fantastically chocolate-heavy time of year is the perfect time for Mead to put those technical and artistic skills in the spotlight. For The Charles’ first Easter she’s designed mini chocolate eggs to create an elegant, adult-friendly version of the Easter egg hunt. Salted muscovado caramel is encased in a 64% dark chocolate shell, flecked with gold leaf, then wrapped in colourful foil to “really spark that childhood nostalgia”, she says.

The opulence of The Charles’ dining room, which evokes the old-world glamour of Europe’s finest restaurants, is mirrored in a collection of larger, hollow eggs.

They begin with cocoa butter shells coloured with the light pinks and burgundies that are The Charles’ hallmark, as well as a gold lustre combined with cocoa for a gold-speckled effect. Depending on which egg you select, it will be lined with either a 40% milk or a 66% dark chocolate, combined with a beautifully textural crunchy praline mix.

The extra-special finishing touch on both eggs? A smattering of gold leaf, adding some extra Easter sparkle.

And unlike your ordinary mass-produced Easter eggs, every single creation served at The Charles is hand-tempered, decorated and finished – a practice of patience, and demonstrating a deep understanding of science and flavour. (Not to mention, working with chocolate in Australia can be a difficult undertaking, thanks to our warm and humid climate.)

The Charles’ signature dessert trolley will also be getting the Easter treatment, with Mead adding classics such as simnel cake – a fruitcake widely eaten this time of year in Britain that’s popping with marzipan, and with extra marzipan balls on top representing 11 disciples (minus Judas). And, now it’s an acceptable time of year to start eating hot cross buns, there’ll also be a hot cross bun gelato on the specials list in the lead up to the big weekend.

Keen on sampling Mead’s chocolate skills beyond Easter? You’ll find her cocoa-crafting handiwork on The Charles’ menus and dessert trolley year-round. A black forest cake on the bistro menu is a chocolate-lover’s dream, with three types of couverture chocolate, as well as cocoa nibs and cacao powder. And on the roaming dessert trolley you’re sure to find deftly crafted moulded chocolates, hand-dipped rochers and moreish chocolate bars.

The Charles Easter Eggs are available on the Dessert Trolley from Monday 27th of March – Sunday 9th of April. The Charles is open for Lunch and Dinner on Easter Saturday & Easter Sunday.