Last Saturday, I was lucky enough to be treated to a belated birthday High Martini at the Double Bay Intercontinental Hotel in The Stillery. In case you are wondering, High Martini is like High Tea, but with 3 matched martinis instead.
As you can see from the photo above, The Stillery is a lovely venue, though it was very quiet when we first arrived (1pm) and felt a bit like being a library. We commented that we almost expected to be shushed. Having said that, it is very popular with stylish hen days and civilised baby showers. Very appropriate for Double Bay really.
The food consisted of 2 tiered stands to share, the first being savoury food (eg – Olive baguette with Serrano Ham, Basil and Parmesan) and the second being dessert (eg – Spiced Bread Crème Brûlée and Rose and Raspberry Macarons). We received a full sized champagne cocktail (French 75) with the first stand and 2 mini cocktails (Spring splash martini and Affogato espresso martini) with the second. The Expresso Martini was particularly delicious, and I was disappointed to find it in such a small glass, but for $65 in a five star hotel, the value is pretty good.
In summary, we had a relaxing, afternoon here, though the service was very slow.
We rounded off the lovely afternoon with a visit to their Rooftop Bar & Lounge, where the views are absolutely stunning! As per their website “The Rooftop Bar & Lounge is primarily reserved for our in-house guests, however visitors to the hotel have the opportunity to access the space pending availability”. Luckily, there was a couple of spare table when we asked last minute. There are also poolside cabanas, which have a minimum spend of $500.
It doesn’t get much more Sydney in summer than this, and it certainly makes you realise how lucky we are to live here!