These wonderful delicacies are from the front window of the superlative Hopetoun Tea Rooms, in the Block Arcade, Melbourne. A visit to this city is not complete until you have secured either a luncheon spot or afternoon tea spot at this splendiforous olde-worlde institution. The tea room offers high tea seven days a week (sometimes you require a special booking), however, there are no reservations required for general dining, but at peak times, you will have to wait in the queue to get inside.

A Melbourne institution; the Hopetoun Tea Rooms were established in 1892, by the Victorian Ladies Work Association, in honour of their founder Lady Hopetoun, wife of Lord Hopetoun, the Victorian Governor (1889-1895). On the back wall of the shop, hangs a magnificent oval-shaped etched mirror dating from 1891. For further details, see the Hopetoun Tea Rooms website.

For further information about the Block Arcade, where the Hopetoun Tea Rooms reside, see my earlier post and for further examples of beautifully presented food, see my Edible Art page.

And as for the infamous Queen Marie-Antoinette of France quote of “Let them eat cake” upon learning that the peasants had no bread to eat; this cannot be truly confirmed; but I’m sure most of you would rather agree with her tenet i.e. eat cake rather than bread!

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