Life is hectic when you work 6 days a week and then trying to fit in errands on the one day that you are free. Then on the weeknights you have to push yourself to go to the gym so you don't get fat from all the catch-ups breakfasts/lunches/brunches/high teas/dinners that occur. To top it off Perth's weather hasn't been the best with lots of lovely pitter patter of rain drops. So all I want to do is curl up in front of the telly and catch up on movies/tv shows and fall asleep listening to the sound of rain.
Lucky for me I have amazing bunches of friends that drag me out of my hermit cave. One of the things I love doing indoors away from the cold, the wet and the heat is checking out the museum exhibition at the Western Australia Museum in Northbridge at the Cultural Centre.
At the moment, until 22nd of September Secrets of the Afterlife exhibition is on, which if a journey into ancient Egypt and the world of magic, mummies, and afterlife. It features over 100 objects from amulets and jewellery to coffins, painted texts and spells for the dead, as well as rituals for the perfect afterlife.
It was amazing to see objects and artifacts from thousands of years ago (and how they survived!) and just reading about the believes of the ancient Egyptians. It's worth checking out! Oh and the duck may not be thousands of years old but it's still hella cute.
After we had our education session on obtaining that perfect afterlife, we made our way to the Muse Cafe situated behind the main museum entrance. Muse Cafe is offering Egyptian Style High Tea.
They decked out the room into a very Egypt theme with posters, camels and ancient Egypt themed chess pieces. They offer 3 sessions for the high tea at 11am-12:30pm, 1:00pm-2:30pm, 3:00pm-4:00pm. The cost of the high tea is reasonable as it includes the tickets to the exhibition ($65 or $75 if you want a cocktail along with the high tea).
The Muse Cafe also offered a variety of different high tea menus to suit people's dietary requirements, which I think is brilliant! I'm so glad they take allergies and food intolerance very seriously. They have a vegetarian, nut free, gluten free, and low risk pregnancy menus.
We started of with a refreshing watermelon and coconut salad with honey mint syrup appetizer, which had the sweetness of the watermelon, coconut flakes provided the texture and the mint (couldn't really taste the honey syrup bit of it) left you refreshingly cool.
Then the tea order was taken (they also do coffee), but their range of teas is pretty impressive, there is about 10-15 different types of teas and they come in proper "made-to-share" teapots which can be topped up or if you are sick of the tea you are trying they will just swap over the pot for you. We ended up trying cinnamon and orange tea, pomegranate green tea and rooibos tea. The teapots are ultra cute too, most likely sourced from many an antique shop or vintage markets. I love it.
Then the high tea delights came out (fairly quickly too might I add). We started off with the sandwiches. They were in plain white bread but the filling was rather delicious, with hints of spices and herbs to keep to our Egyptian theme. There was the cumin sandwich, the Moroccan chicken, and cucumber and rocket with goat's cheese sandwich . They were all rather delicious, although I wish the cumin sandwich had more cumin in it, because it really lacked oomph. But the waitress did warn us that the amount of cumin may be a little as people have been finding it a bit strong. They might have overdone removing it.
Then the scones came out - yum! Mixed fruit scones with the best fig compote to go with it. So delicious. So fluffy and nicely warmed.
After scones comes the warm food, consisting of eggplant masaka tart and the bay and cardamon braised lamb pie. They smelt so delicious and the flavours in both the tart and the lamb pie transported you to the hot bazaar of Egypt. Perfect to eat on a rainy day. Warms your soul.
Then the best of the high tea - the dessert. This consisted of pomegranate chocolate cake, rose marshmallow, pistachio and apricot baklava.
The pomegranate chocolate cake was this dense, rich, moist chocolate cake, an absolute indulgence. The rose marshmallow was the complete contrast to this its light airy texture, sweet rose smells and just melt in your mouth moment of sweetness. The pistachio and apricot baklava (if eaten last) didn't taste as sweet as baklavas tend to be, which is something that I really appreciated. The nuts and apricot added textural interest and it just seemed to round out the high tea very nicely.
The Muse cafe is a lovely place with a massive outdoor area. It's perfect for the warmer climates. But even in winter and with the rain the indoor area is so cosy and warm it's just the perfect place to hide away. I love how they do their teas in large pots and with such a variety of selection. The service is lovely and as attentive as possible, and I love how they cater for dietary requirements and allergies. More places in Perth needs to take that up. It's definitely one to go to especially if there is an exhibition on at the Museum and they have themed their high tea accordingly. Why not have a day out? Go see the Egyptian Exhibition (on until 22nd September) and have the high tea as well (as a lunch perhaps?). You can get tickets to the exhibition here and for the combined experience of high tea and exhibition click here.
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