THE Table Bay hotel’s Mother’s Day high tea will be a treat for both sweet and savoury tastes. The hotel’s new pastry chef Shana Faes has special treats planned for the special event on Sunday, 12 May.
“This is a classic high tea menu with a twist. We planned this with our own mothers in mind, and I know my mother would love every moment of it”, says Faes, who joined the five-star hotel in February. Since then she has been hard at work to develop a special high tea menu with sweet and savoury stands.
The sweet stand will be stacked with a selection of chocolate hazelnut eclairs, cinnamon milk tart crème cupcakes, pistachio and raspberry verrine, roasted white chocolate pillows, delicate rose-flavoured Turkish Delight and dark chocolate and citrus macarons, matcha opera petit fours and coconut passion parfait.
Of course no high tea would be complete without delicate sweet scones with freshly whipped cream, grated cheese and homemade jams.
For savoury tastes, the stand includes boerewors and blue cheese phyllo tarts, cucumber and cream cheese finger sandwiches, savoury scones with goat’s cheese nougat, and mushroom and micro herb quiches. Plus chicken liver pâté on savoury madeleines with cranberry pearls, smoked salmon macaroon with caviar, beef and cheese empanadas and truffle mushroom mousse medallion with herb crust.
Faes, with her newly-minted diploma in professional cookery from Protea College North, worked at The Table Bay earlier in her career. Since then she has since worked at many big-name hotels and restaurant in and around the Cape including Le Quartier Français where she trained under celebrated chef Margot Janse.
The Cape Town-born chef now leads a team of eight, which is responsible for the daily running of the pastry department, covering breakfast, banqueting, in-room dining, lounge and high tea. “I enjoy putting on a big spread for people and having the satisfaction of seeing people enjoy my food,” she says.
Faes’s goal is to make The Table Bay’s pastry team bigger and better. “I’ve learnt patience in this game, especially when you are training new people. We all need to get on the same page. I aim to get us comfortable with each other as I learn their strengths and weaknesses. High tea is a draw card for The Table Bay, and every day we need to put out the same top class spread, regardless of who is on shift.”
Faes spent her childhood in the kitchen with her family, which led to her love for cooking and baking. Now, as a mother of two, she has passed this love into her 16 and 20-year-old sons, Leo and Connor. “Connor is studying at the Cape Hospitality School, where I lectured during the pandemic. Leo also has a keen interest in pastry, so it is possible he could also end up in working in catering or hospitality.” In her spare time, Faes enjoys relaxing at home and spending time with her sons.
- What: Mother’s Day high tea
- When: Sunday, 12 May
- Where: The Table Bay hotel lounge
- Cost: R450 per person
- Booking: Essential via [email protected]
