During the April school holidays, the Stamford Plaza in Brisbane is offering a Mad Hatter’s High Tea for the whole family.

I took my two children, ages 9 and 5, to the opening 11am Saturday session. Here is my full review of this heavily-themed high tea.

The Venue

The Stamford Plaza is a luxury hotel in Brisbane’s CBD. Located right on the river, this 5 star hotel is over 100 years old and has a traditional feel.

The hotel offers an array of high teas including their signature Spirit of Queensland High Tea. During the school holidays, the Stamford Plaza offers themed high teas aimed at families, and this school holidays they have chosen an Alice in Wonderland theme with the Mad Hatter’s High Tea.

The Mad Hatter’s high Tea takes place in the Grand Ballroom of the Stamford Plaza, reached by going up the impressive staircase that dominates the hotel foyer.

Mad Hatter’s High Tea Theming

The Mad Hatter’s High Tea is a buffet high tea laid out in a small room next to the ballroom. The fantastical theming is excellent from the moment you go up the stairs. With Alice in Wonderland displays everywhere you look. This theming is carried through to the buffet room, which is filled with a cornucopia of high tea treats, all sticking closely to the theme. There are toadstools, playing cards, clocks, red everywhere and to access the Grand Ballroom you walk through a special twinkly walkway into the ballroom. The theming continues in the ballroom which has more Alice in Wonderland displays including on your table, which is kitted out with bottles of “drink me” potions and an extravagantly decked out high tea stand. Snippets of the movie play on the walls around you. This is an immersive experience!

On top of this, there is an interactive element, with a group of high schoolers dressed up as characters from the movie including the Queen of Hearts, Alice, the Cheshire Cat, and the Mad Hatter himself. They walk around the tables talking to the kids in character. It’s a little cringey but the kids seem to enjoy it.

As you leave the high tea, you can have a game of croquet with flamingos, or have a go at the pin the smile on the Cheshire Cat game.

If you like high teas with a theme try Belle Epoque in the Emporium Hotel for seasonally changing high teas. Read my recent experience here.

The Food

The Mad Hatter High Tea is a buffet high tea. This means you serve yourself from the buffet with as much food as you like and can go back as many times as you like. It’s an effort to restrain the kids from overindulging, there are so many sweet treats for them to discover.

On offer is a selection of savoury food, scones, a jelly station, a lolly station, a candy floss machine, a drinks station and the absolute highlight – a massive long table piled high with miniature cakes and desserts.

The Drinks

The tea is definitely secondary to this high tea. Although on offer, the tea and coffee is self-serve from canisters and hidden around the corner, easy to miss. The choices are basic, so don’t be expecting any exciting teas. To be honest, we saw very few people having tea or coffee.

There are plenty of other drinks on offer though. There’s a self-serve drinks station with soft drinks and juices and the kids favourite – pink lemonade.

You can purchase alcoholic or other drinks from the small bar in the buffet room.

The Savouries

The savoury buffet consisted of a few different kinds of sandwiches including classics like egg mayo and cucumber. The cold savouries also included a ham and cheese mini croissant and a chicken salad burger. The warm savouries on offer were a cheese and corn croquette, arancini balls, mini beef wellingtons and a sausage roll pinwheel.

We tried a selection of all of these. The mini beef wellingtons were a hit with the kids, and I was over the moon that they had proper tea sandwiches on offer – I’m a high tea purist remember! Although my favourite savoury item was actually the cheese and corn croquette which was delicious. The best high tea I’ve ever had was in The Ritz – read my full review here.

The Scones

There were three different scones on offer – white chocolate and treacle, apple and sultana, and plain. These were served with jam and whipped cream.

The scones were simple and tasty, although obviously no clotted cream on offer as we’re in Australia, which is always a disappointment when I have a high tea here.

The Sweet Treats

This is where the high tea really comes into its own. There is a lavish bounty of sweet treats on offer, it’s hard to know where to begin.

The highlight of the sweet treats is the endlessly long table of cakes and desserts, which you can’t take your eyes off from the moment you walk in. These are again heavily themed, with Alice in Wonderland pictures on top of the cakes and names like “shrinking potion opera cake”. Nothing was repeated along the table, there must have been at least 20 different desserts on offer.

The cakes were also exquisitely put together, and wouldn’t look out of place in a fine patisserie. Given that this was a high tea aimed at children and a lot of effort was concentrated on the theming and sense of fun, I was pretty impressed with the quality of the cakes. They tasted delicious, with the little pink raspberry opera cake being my favourite.

For the kids the highlight of this exuberant display of extravagance was the red chocolate fountain complete with churros, marshmallows and fruit to dip in.

Also a highlight for the kids was the jelly station, with three different types of jelly.

And yet another highlight for the kids was the candy floss machine, which attracted a big crowd of children at all times while they watched the candy floss being made before their eyes.

Lastly there was a popcorn machine and a lolly station with jars of sweets and chocolates. I think this was overkill and could be left out of the high tea – the last thing you want after overindulging in so much sugar is a bag of sweets to take home.

Mad Hatter’s High Tea Final Review

The Mad Hatter’s High Tea is an excellent high tea. Fun for the kids, immersively themed and with a huge amount of food on offer. This high tea is a fun treat for everyone, and makes for a nice way to spend a few hours with your family.

The quality of food is good, and there is so much to choose from. Come hungry, and pace yourselves.

Your kids will leave with full bellies and a smile on their face almost as big as the Cheshire Cat’s.

The Stamford Plaza will be running this high tea throughout the April school holidays, don’t miss it!

Pricing

The high tea is $79 for adults and $49 for children 5-12 years old.

Over the Easter weekend the prices are $90.85 for adults and $56.35 for children.

The high tea is offered on weekends, with two sittings a day.

You can book your tickets here.

Extend Your Stay

Why not make a weekend of it and stay overnight in the Stamford Plaza? It’s a beautifully traditional hotel positioned on the river and only a few minutes walk into the main shopping and entertainment area of Brisbane CBD. For good deals on an overnight stay have a look here.

Looking For More School Holiday Ideas?

If you’re looking for more things to do with the kids these school holidays I have plenty of ideas – start here for some inspiration.

If you like high tea you can consider me something of an expert. To read my other high tea reviews have a look here.