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High Tea Parramatta: Gatehouse Tea Rooms:

June 11, 2019 / High Tea, Parramatta, South West, Sydney, Sydney Food / 0 comment

Gatehouse Tea Rooms: High Tea Parramatta

Enjoy high tea in the historic Gatehouse, located in beautiful Parramatta Park. Choose from a traditional high tea, savoury high tea or kids high tea. Gluten-free high tea, dairy-free high tea and vegan high tea are available.

Parramatta Park is rich in colonial history. In 2007 the park and Gatehouse building were granted World Heritage Listing by UNESCO.

Built in 1887, the Gatehouse is one of the oldest high tea venues in Australia, and my favourite spot for high tea in Parramatta.

There is indoor and outdoor dining available. The outdoor dining has a lovely view of the park but I imagine could be a bit cold in winter and a bit hot in summer.

There are several high tea options at the Gatehouse.

Traditional High Tea
Finger sandwiches*
Tiny pastries (bacon is the standard quiche served. I received cheese instead).
Scones with jam and cream
Homemade petit fours and sweet bites
Tea or coffee
($44 pp or $49 weekends. Add $5 for sparkling)

*Cucumber and cream cheese, chicken are the standard options. I received mixed vegetables as my vegetarian alternative.

Royal High Tea
The Traditional High Tea served with a piccolo of Moet & Chandon champagne
($74 pp or $79 on weekends)

Savoury High Tea
Freshly prepared finger sandwiches
Pumpkin, carrot and zucchini muffins with cucumber yoghurt
Savoury pastries (included goats cheese, mushroom and one meat-filled pastry)
Coffee or tea
($44 pp or $49 weekends)

We requested as well as the muffins.

High Tea for Tin Lids
(3-12 years)
Mini sandwiches (cheese)
Fairy bread triangles
Mini cupcake and assorted sweet bites
Juice or soft drink
($24pp or $29 on weekends)

Add $5 for gluten-free or dairy-free and $10 for vegan

The Traditional High tea was an absolute delight. Warm scones, plenty of jam and cream. fresh sandwiches and delicious sweet treats. They included a red velvet cupcake, fruit tart, caramel slice, dark chocolate tart and passionfruit cookie.

The addition of the Savoury High Tea to the menu is extremely welcome as several members of our family prefer savoury to sweet. We all tried a bit of the muffin and it was delicious. You can ask for the muffins to be swapped with scones if you prefer that.

The Kids’ High Tea is an excellent option and it was completely devoured. Lovely to have the mini muffins and cupcake as the “sweets” (plus a marshmallow that is hidden). It was the perfect size for our almost 8 year old. They even served her orange juice in a teapot.

The service at the Gatehouse is top notch. I appreciated that the staff came to check on us and brought us extra boiling water to refresh our tea.

Parking is next to the Gatehouse. It is $3 per hour, $14 all day or free after 12pm Saturday and all day Sunday.

There is lots to explore in Parramatta Park so set aside the whole day. Near to the Gatehouse is the Pavilion Flat Playground which has been newly renovated and is about to reopen.

About a 20 minute walk away is the excellent Domain Creek Playground. You can read more about the Domain Creek Playground here.

We absolutely loved this tea and highly recommend the Gatehouse for high tea Parramatta.

Gatehouse High Tea Rooms
Macquarie St Gatehouse,
Parramatta Park,
Parramatta
Tue-Sun 8am-4pm
(02) 9635 1515
gatehousetearooms.com.au

More things to do in Sydney

Find a list of the best things to do in Sydney with kids here.

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Find the best animal experiences in Sydney here.

Visit the best kid-friendly restaurants in Sydney here.

Find the best high teas in Sydney here.

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Cool down at one of these free water parks in Sydney.

Find the best vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Sydney here.

Kid-Friendly Restaurants in Sydney: Jamie’s Italian Trattoria Parramatta

November 5, 2016 / Parramatta, South West, Sydney, Sydney Food / 0 comment

JAMIE’S ITALIAN TRATTORIA PARRAMATTA IS NOW CLOSED

This branch of Jamie Oliver’s popular dining chain is an excellent spot in Sydney’s South-West region for dining with the whole family. We’ve been to Jamie’s Italian Trattoria Parramatta a few times now, for both date nights and family lunches, and always enjoy the food and ambience of the restaurant, as well as it’s top location in Centenary Square, right next to the fountain.

The first Jamie’s Italian opened in Oxford, England, in 2008. Since then the brand has expanded to open more than 40 restaurants worldwide. The restaurant chain is designed to be accessible and affordable, providing “good food for everyone”, as is Jamie’s ideology.

We most recently dined with our family and enjoyed a number of dishes: the Mezzaluna Caprese (Buffalo ricotta & spinach ravioli tossed through tomato sauce with torn mozzarella & sweet baby basil – while I ordered a small size, a large portion is $23.50), Turbo Rigatoni Arrabbiata (A fiery tomato sauce with garlic, basil, Scotch bonnet chillies, vegetarian pecorino & herby breadcrumbs – this was also a smaller portion, with the regular sized priced at $19.90), Italian Hot Pizza (Crushed tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, spicy pepperoni & wild oregano, $24.50) and the Italian Steak & Fries (Flash-grilled prime beef steak with Italian-spiced skinny fries & rainbow slaw, $26.50).

Jamie’s Italian is renowned for their excellent kids’ menu. We ordered the Secret Seven Tomato Pasta (Homemade curly wurly pasta in Jamie’s seven-veg tomato sauce with pecorino cheese & crunchy, herby breadcrumbs).

It’s available in two sizes for kids of different ages and appetites and priced at $9.50/12.50. The meal came with a drink (my daughter chose milk) and the cutest salad. She was so delighted by how adorable the salad was that she actually ate it, which is a miracle for anyone who knows my vegetable-hating daughter.

If you want to order dessert, which we didn’t, they have some good and reasonably priced kid’s options worth mentioning: Ice Cream or Sorbet ($2.50, served with an Italian cookie and chocolate sauce), Seasonal Fruit ($2.50), Gooey Chocolate Brownie ($5, with vanilla ice cream, crunchy toffee popcorn & chocolate sauce).

We booked a table for our large group well in advance, but the restaurant is quite large so I would think you would be able to waltz in and grab a table for a small group at any time without a booking.

As well as the excellent kid’s menu, Jamie’s delivered the kid a really cute colouring in sheet and pencils. I really like when restaurants put in the little bit of effort to print their own colouring in sheets for some reason – maybe the effort shows they care that little bit more?

Anyway, while the salad was a hit, our fussy daughter wasn’t overly keen on the pasta. It was clearly handmade and while I thought it was delicious she prefers the store-bought kind she’s used to. I’ll have to take her to more places serving freshly made pasta!

As noted in the list of dishes above, Jamie’s Italian lets you order a small portion of the pasta dishes instead of the main size that is listed on the menu. I didn’t know this was an option as it wasn’t listed on the menu, but my cousin had dined there previously and let us know, which I appreciated. My Mezzaluna Caprese was excellent and I will order the larger sized version next time I go in, for sure. Creamy filling inside perfectly cooked pasta sheets. Delicious. The pizza didn’t get the best wrap, with the recipient saying it was a bit bland despite being spicy. Hubbie had the steak and liked it enough to hover it before I could ask him any questions, so that was clearly a success.

There are many restaurants in Parramatta, several Italian ones too, but Jamie’s Italian manages to hold its own among them, in part because of their excellent brand name, but also because the food is of a high quality while being decently priced. It will remain out go-to restaurant in the area, with and without our munchkin, but particularly with her, as it’s one of the best kid-friendly restaurants we’ve found in Sydney.

Want to let the kids run off some energy afterwards? The Parramatta CBD River Foreshore Park is nearby.

Jamie’s Italian Trattoria
Highchairs: Yes.
Stroller storage: Yes.
Easy access: Yes.
Change tables: Yes.
Kids’ menu: Yes.

Jamie’s Italian Trattoria Parramatta
Centenary Square, Church St,
Parramatta NSW
Phone: (02) 8624 6800
Prices: $$$
Hours: Mon-Thur 7:30am-11am, 11:30am-9:30pm, Fri 7:30am–11am, 11:30am–10pm, Sat 8:30am–10pm, Sun 8:30am–9:30pm
Get Directions

Paper Planes Cafe: Kid-Friendly Cafes, Parramatta, Sydney

January 10, 2016 / Parramatta, South West, Sydney, Sydney Food / 0 comment

Paper Plane Cafe is quirky little place in Sydney’s South West serving all-day (well, till closing at 2pm) brekkie and burgers. The cafe is a few streets back from the main drag, giving it a bit more of a peaceful feel than you’d expect for the centre of Parramatta.

On the day we visited (a hot Sunday) the cafe was humming with activity, but not so crowded we couldn’t get a seat.

I ordered The Vegetable Plate (platter of scrambled eggs with truffle oil, portobello mushroom, tomatoes, asparagus & sourdough toast with pesto & feta, $19.50). It was so big it could have fed two of us. I regret that I ordered more food for Cheese as she ate one of my pieces of toast and avocado. I loved this massive dish, but would have preferred the eggs without the truffle oil.

The Tiny Dancer (Platter of poached eggs, smoked salmon, capers, avocado, sauteed spinach, tomatoes, asparagus, bocconcini and sourdough toast with Hollandaise sauce, $20.50) was another massive dish that hubbie Alec managed to completely devour.

Extras: Flat White, $3.50, Babyccino, side of Fries.

We had an excellent experience at Paper Plane Cafe. The staff were extremely friendly and welcoming, and the food was really delicious. Although they didn’t have any “small” dishes on the menu that I could order for Cheese, I appreciated their suggestion that I could order a side of fries, despite this not being on the menu. In big bold letters on the menu states “no substitutions”, which, as any parent knows, is often the death knell of a dining experience with kids if the menu isn’t a large one to begin with. Thankfully Cheese was happy with the fries and picking at my dish too.

We will be back to try some of their other delicious-sounding dishes such as the French toast.

Highchairs: Yes.
Stroller storage: Yes.
Easy access: Yes.
Change tables: No.
Kids’ menu: No.

Paper Plane Cafe
5/2 Horwood Pl,
Parramatta
Phone: (02) 8677 4372
Prices: $$
Hours: Mon-Fri 8am-2pm, Sat & Sun 9am-2pm
Get Directions

Parramatta Park + Parramatta Park Cafe; Kid-Friendly Sydney

March 31, 2014 / Parramatta, Sydney, Sydney Food, Western Sydney / 0 comment

When meeting a friend for breakfast recently, we chose Parramatta Park Cafe purely due to its location — exactly in the middle of where we each were staying in Hornsby and Liverpool. It’s the first time I’ve been to Parramatta Park since having Missy E, so it was a pleasant surprise to find another great area of Sydney to take a crazy toddler for a fun morning outing.

Parramatta Park is World Heritage listed. It’s the home of Old Government House and has evidence inside the park of 20,000 years of Aboriginal occupation. Parramatta Park became a public park in 1858 — one of the earliest parks in the world.

As well as the cafe we visited, there is a larger (and fancier) restaurant located in the Old Government House, plus several play gyms scattered all over the park. There’s also a stream running through the park, lots of walking paths and plenty of birds to amuse little tiny ones.

Parramatta Park Cafe opened in 2005 to offer locals and park visitors a casual breakfast and lunch option in a tranquil setting. The cafe overlooks the river and plenty of greenery. Grab a seat on the balcony and admire the view with your morning coffee.

Kids are frequent guests at the cafe – evident by the colouring in sheet-slash-menu and pencils that the kids are quickly given. The menu is more lunchy than breakfast, so we chose Kid’s Chocolate Shakes ($3.80) for the toddlers, and both my friend and I decided on the Vegetarian Omelette (with tomato, mushroom, feta and spinach served with sourdough toast, $14). The omelettes were massive, plenty of food for us to share with the kids. We asked for extra plates and vegemite for the toast. The shakes were pretty large as well — which meant plenty for me when E decided she only wanted a few sips. Score!

While we were dining I noticed a local mothers group turn up with their newborn babies. With a lot of room and obliging staff, they couldn’t have chosen a better location to meet for a stress-free breakfast.

Last Bite: A kid-friendly and casual breakfast or lunch option in Parramatta Park.

Highchairs: Yes.
Stroller storage: Yes.
Easy access: Yes.
Change tables: Yes.
Kids’ menu: Yes.

Parramatta Park Cafe
Byrnes Ave,
Parramatta NSW 2150
Prices: $$
Phone: 02 9630 0144
Hours: Daily 8am-3pm
Get Directions