As of March 2023, Grace Patisserie will be closed as they welcome a new addition to their family. We wish you all the best, and thank you for the lovely memories the High Tea Honeys created visiting your gorgeous patisserie.
The High Tea Honeys descended on Grace Patisserie for a festive celebration high tea to wrap up the year.
Grace Patisserie raises the bar for afternoon tea experiences every time. The patisserie is exquisite and the beautiful Noble & Sunday range of tea is always served prepared to perfection.
They say good things come in small packages and if you have been there before - you'll know what I mean. 16 of us almost had the place at capacity but not in an uncomfortable way. The space is lovely - it's light and bright and I have always been a huge fan of the enormous dried flower arrangement mounted gracefully in front of the cabinet.
Speaking of the cabinet you immediately know you're in for a treat for high tea when you see the cakes, pastries and macarons available. I'm partial to an almond croissant at the best of times and theirs is a stunner. Anyway, back to the afternoon tea...
I started by selecting the lime and chamomile tea option. I love that Grace Patisserie is supporting a kiwi run tea merchant called Noble & Sunday and serves it properly. Other options included Strawberry & Plum, Vanilla & Cacao and the popular Maple & Walnut blend.
The high tea service was prompt and it's always nice when time is taken to present the items that feature on each of the tiers.
We got stuck into it, tackling the savoury tier first as always. We enjoyed a ham and cheese tea sandwich, a salmon cream cheese pastry, a ginger scone (which I thought was a nice festive twist) and the tiniest of the lot but the one that packed the most punch - a small but delicious caramelised onion quiche in the most divine pastry shell. How do they even get it to taste like that?!
It was hard to not rush to the middle tier and want to devour it all in one go. Between a beautifully presented mirror glaze mousse, a striking vanilla cupcake with pistachio cream and the orange dark chocolate choux - where do you start with that? My favourite in the centre tier was the choux pastry - beautifully rich and delectable.
On to the top tier, always the one with the famous macarons. If I am honest, I can normally take or leave a macaron so I saved the stunning raspberry and basil opera cake for last instead. The opera cake was interesting - basil and raspberry is an unusual duo. The colours were striking and the christmas tree piping was exquisite however the standout on the top tier for me was the macaron that if you closed your eyes, you would have a hard time distinguising whether you were eating a macaron or a candy cane. Absolutely spectacular.
I can speak on behalf of our group that the High Tea Honeys are very fond of the experience that Grace Patisserie offers and this weekend affirmed that. Grace Patisserie is without a doubt a top 3 high tea experience in Wellington. I'm dreaming about their cabinet full of pastries so I think before the year truly wraps up, I'll be back for a croissant and a coffee, until our next high tea date.
