One of my favourite places to have afternoon tea in Cape Town is at the One & Only hotel’s Vista Bar and Lounge. This past Sunday, my friend Nasreen and I went there as part of her birthday celebration. It was my third time and her first. We both enjoyed ourselves immensely.
Entering the Vista Lounge. You can see people already checking out the goods on offer.
The One & Only has the most superior selection out of all the places I’ve been to for afternoon tea. The reason for this is that they offer a savoury selection on their buffet as well. Most other places bring you a plate of mini sandwiches. Here the savoury tooth is considered as much as the sweet tooth. I have a preference for savoury delicacies as must most of the people who were having tea at the hotel this past Sunday because the savouries were constantly being topped up. I suppose one can also realistically eat more springrolls than slices of peacan tart.
Rolls, salmon wraps, aubergines. They filled up the tray just after I took this pic.
Fishcakes and quiches
Rye topped with mushrooms in between the rolls
Not that their sweet selection is anything to scoff at. It’s a diabetic’s wet dream. From Lindt cookies to meringues to chocolate mousse – the variety is endless. And uber delicious. The sweet treats I had (I couldn’t possibly have one of each thing; there are just too many and I didn’t want to roll home) were beautifully presented and absolutely delectable.
Nougat, cupcakes and mousse.
Everything on the buffet is marked and the sweet buffet includes indications of whether anything contains gelatine (which isn’t always halaal) and alcohol (definitely never halaal). Thankfully only 3 items on the sweet buffet were not fit for our halaal consumption: marshmallow, mini churros, and fridge cheesecake. All the savouries are halaal so we could taste it all.
No tea is complete without macaroons.
On offer on the savoury buffet: Chicken pies; veg springrolls; mini veg quiches; tiny fish cakes; small salmon wraps; cocktail rolls with various fillings incluing egg and mayo and cheese and pastrami; aubergine rolls stuffed with a creamy chicken; crostini topped with a salsa; chicken live pate. There may have been more but I can’t recall.
Rye topped with mushrooms in between the rolls
On offer on the sweet buffet: Chocolate mousse; cupcakes; eclaires; banana loaf; marble cake; berry meringues; chocolate cake; pecan tart; Lindt biscuits; One & Only biscuits; peanut butter cookies; marshmallows; mini churros; baked cheesecake; fridge cheesecake; scones with jam and cream; toffees; nougat; almond biscotti and so much more.
Beautiful meringues
Passion fruit mousse.
They also has a great selections of teas on offer and all hot beverages are included in the cost of the buffet. We had the fruity berry tea, cappuccino, green tea and strawberry and vanilla. We both agreed that the berry tea was our absolute favourite.
All the teas are served in these beautiful cast iron teapots.
Cappuccino
Fruity berry tea
Overall it’s a wonderfully relaxing experience, service is excellent and the food on offer is top notch. It currently costs R195 per person (quite a bit more than the R145 I paid the first time I went a few years ago but the quality now is better than the first time) so it’s a bit pricey, but if you find yourself with spare cash and want to treat yourself, you won’t regreat this experience.
Is the buffet halaal?