tearooms at vaucluse house: review
Nestled in the lush, green gardens of Vaucluse House is the Tearooms. The quaint and stylish eatery on the estate provides a tranquil setting to enjoy a lovely lunch, brunch or high tea.
Seeing as we were in the “neighbourhood” following our climb of 100 steps up then down in Macquarie Lighthouse (which really is hardly anything), we were famished for a hearty lunch.
Upon arriving at the Tearooms, the staff politely and promptly greeted and seated us. We couldn’t help but admire the layout of the room and the table settings. What stood out were the fluorescent pink light shades above the tables – definitely didn’t blend with the rest of the room but somehow seemed to work!
We ordered right on midday which was when the lunch kitchen opens and the food arrived fairly quickly.
The lunch menu wasn’t expansive but there was enough variety to choose from. Le chose the vegetarian pasta: fettucine with mushrooms and artichoke. It was full of flavour and the pasta was cooked perfectly. The portobello mushrooms were so juicy and flavoursome.
David ordered a 10-hour slow cooked lamb pie which was served with potato puree with roast parsnips. The potato puree was more like mashed potatoes and the roast parsnips were like hot chips (and we are NOT complaining). It was all delicious. In comparison, David’s lunch was a lot heavier than Le’s.
The rest of the party that joined us for lunch were all very satisfied with what they ordered.
A beef burger:
Fish and chips with pea mash:
Atlantic salmon:
The serving sizes were ideal for lunch and filled us up perfectly – the only shame was that we couldn’t try any of the dessert menu 😦
While we enjoyed our lunch, a group of ladies sitting nearby were having high tea… we couldn’t help but get a little food envy!
Missing out on dessert and high tea was too much for us, so we settled our bill and went to burn off lunch by walking around the well-kept grounds of the estate.
This is definitely a lovely spot on a beautiful day to eat and explore a part of Sydney’s history. Visiting here made us feel like we had a “little getaway” from the hustle bustle of Sydney.
wise monkeys abroad 
August 22, 2015 at 9:25 am
next time you should START with the dessert menu!
August 22, 2015 at 5:12 pm
Now WHY didn’t we think of that?? 😉
August 19, 2015 at 11:46 pm
The place looks great but the food does even better! Terrible to see these pictures when having missed lunch 😮
August 20, 2015 at 9:59 pm
Aww…. sorry you haven’t had lunch when you saw this post. Hope it inspired you to go get some lunch 😉
The food was delicious!
August 21, 2015 at 6:00 am
Sadly my food for that day wasnt that great. In the beginning we wanted to go out eating however business got in the way (so hard being your own boss!) and in the end I just bought some deep frozen pizzas…
August 22, 2015 at 5:13 pm
😦 Frozen pizzas are not always bad!
August 19, 2015 at 6:56 pm
I went there with my parents on our first big family holiday in the caravan, more than 40 years ago. I doubt we went to the tearooms though. That pie looks amazingly good.
August 20, 2015 at 10:00 pm
Well, 40 years ago was a long time… due for another trip just to try the tearooms and the delicious pie if it’s still on the menu 😉
How are you? Any plans for these school holidays?
August 21, 2015 at 6:31 am
We do have plans…a road trip from Darwin to Perth and home across the Nullarbor. Gotta love Long Service Leave!
August 22, 2015 at 5:13 pm
Ooooh… that sounds lovely 🙂 Enjoy the break. How long are you taking for that trip?
August 23, 2015 at 7:31 am
Six weeks or thereabouts. It should be wonderful.
August 19, 2015 at 4:42 pm
We’ve walked the estate but not tried the tearoom – thank you for the review. Might have to go and sample for ourselves.
August 19, 2015 at 5:12 pm
It was a lovely little surprise because it really felt like we were not in urban Sydney! Such a little treat… maybe for your next birthday celebration?
August 19, 2015 at 7:36 pm
Eleven months – tough call guys 😦
August 19, 2015 at 7:46 pm
What?! We just missed your birthday? Happy ‘belated’ birthday!! You don’t look a day older than 21 🙂
August 20, 2015 at 7:58 am
I’m just happy that I don’t look 71 🙂
August 20, 2015 at 9:58 pm
😉
August 19, 2015 at 3:27 pm
I’m curious, why couldn’t you have dessert and high tea, perhaps later on after the walk?
August 19, 2015 at 5:11 pm
We were tooooo full after lunch to have anything! But we might have to go back and give it a try 🙂
August 28, 2015 at 9:20 pm
I see 🙂
August 19, 2015 at 12:10 pm
What a classy lunch. Certainly very elegant decor and the food didn’t look like it disappointed. I found it amusing you went around taking photos of everyone’s food. But, they are such lovely photos, making me drool 😀
August 19, 2015 at 5:17 pm
Good food deserves to be photographed for the drool-factor later 😉 It was very elegant but without the pompous or snooty attitude to go with.
August 19, 2015 at 9:31 am
I remember visiting Vaucluse House on a school excursion when I was about 8 years old! Looks like I will have to go back for another visit 🙂
August 19, 2015 at 5:18 pm
Funny how we remember things from our childhood! It was a treat to visit something from our home city that we haven’t ever seen…. so much to explore right in our own backyard!