Miss Marple's Tea-room ~ Mt. Dandenong

I've heard of this famous Devonshire Scones in Mt. Dandenong but never had the chance to visit this place on my previous trips to Melbourne. This time around I made sure that I won't give this place a miss ...........
Miss Marple's Tea-room! Miss Jane Marple is a fictitious character created by Britain's famed crime novel writer, Agatha Christie to solve crimes based on her observation and knowledge of human nature. An elderly spinster who lived in the quaint English village of St. Mary Mead, she was first introduced in the novel 'Murder at the Vicarage' in 1930. If you wish to know more about Miss Marple, check it out 'here'.
Now back to Mt Dandenong and Scones ..........

We arrived in Mt. Dandenong shortly after noon on a weekday but the place was already packed and we had to register for a table and told to come back in a hour's time. So we strolled along the rather quiet street to kill time and took some pictures of the neighbouring shops.

This is a sweet shop, just down the road, not many doors from Miss Marple's.

A gift shop, very beautifully decorated and you can spend quite some time there browsing through their display and maybe end up picking some souvenirs.

A shop selling an assortment of candles, in various shapes and size.

This tea shop sells a variety of tea but the place is a bit cramped.

See the 'old couple' on the chair .... so cute, it's for sale, can't remember the price but certainly not cheap.

Some antique and clothing outlets.

Before an hour was up, we returned to the tearoom and waited. It's a quaint, compact very Enligsh looking cottage and we were ushered to our table by a stern looking, no nonsense tea lady with an apron ....... somewhat like the figure you see in the picture! See the various bottles of jam on display and up for sale.

A quick look at the menu and we decided on ................

Fresh pumpkin soup

served with freshly baked buns and butter

Cottage chicken pie with a filling of chicken breast , chopped corns, peas and carrots, topped with mashed potatoes and served with their own sauce.

Smoked salmon, eggs, cheese and caper fingers topped with alfafa....... Finger food.

Finally .... what I was waiting for. Their much raved about scones served with a 'Teapot of Taylors'. These scones were different from the usual round, fluffy scones, in fact they resemble big cuts of square sponge cakes dredged with icing sugar. One plain and the other fruit. A bit dry I would say, but their homemade raspberry jam and freshly whipped cream did complement them. I have a feeling that these were baked in a big tray, then cut up and served as scones!

I like the raspberry jam, fresh and not too sweet.

Look at the assortment of tea pots up there below the ceiling.

Some pictures of Miss Marple portrayed by different actresses in the movies.

Hope you have enjoyed reading this post on Miss Marple's Tea-room and this wraps up my recent trip to Melbourne.

Miss Marple's Tea-room

382 Mt Dandenong - Tourist Road

Sassafras 3787, Victoria

No Reservations

Herbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Gao

H erbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Ga o literally translated means 'Tortoise Jelly' is one of my family's favourite desserts. It's much more economical to prepare this at home for you'll need to fork out between Rm 9 to Rm 11 for a bowl of this cooling dessert in any of those herbal tea outlets. This soothing jelly, served chilled, is supposed to be able to help reduce our body heat, helps to get rid of toxins and is believed to be good for the skin thus culminating a healthier complexion.

Read on for the Recipe

Braised Pork Belly with Mui Choy ~ 梅菜焖五花肉

Mui Choy is preserved mustard greens and there are two types, one is salty while the other is sweet. There are many ways of cooking mui choy with pork belly. Instead of braising, you can steam it with minced pork but here I am using only the sweet mui choy and I braised the pork belly with it. This is a flavourful dish and you can serve it with plain rice or plain porridge. Braised Pork Belly with Mui Choy ~ 梅菜焖五花肉 Ingredients 400 gm pork belly cut into bite size 100 gm preserved sweet mui choy 3 cloves of garlic 2 slices ginger Seasoning for the pork belly 1 Tbsp dark soya sauce 1/4 Tbsp sugar 1/4 Tbsp sesame oil 1/4 Tbsp oyster sauce 1/2 tsp pepper 1/8 tsp light soya sauce Method Season the pork belly for about an hour or more. Set aside. Soak the mui choy for 45 mins., rinse and squeeze dry. Cut into slices Heat some oil in the wok, fry the mui choy. Add in the ginger slices. Stir-fry. Add in the pork belly, fry for a while and

Tamarind Pork Belly (Babi Assam) ~ 亚参五花肉

A very appetising dish with tangy and robust flavour of tamarind juice, red and green chillies added more oomph to the dish. This dish will surely whet your appetite and you'll go for second helping of rice to soak up the tangy gravy. This is a Peranakan dish but as always, there are many varieties to this delicacy. I tweaked the recipe a bit to suit what I have in my pantry and the end result is a very yummy dish that I will not hesitate to whip up again and again. Tamarind Pork Belly (Babi Assam) ~ 亚参五花肉 Ingredients 450 gm pork belly, cut into bite size 5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 3 shallots, finely chopped 30 gm tamarind pulp (Assam paste) + 250 ml water 3 green chillies 2 red chillies 2 tsp tau cheong (preserved bean paste) 2 tsp dark soya sauce 1 Tbsp brown sugar or to taste 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp fish sauce 1 onion, sliced Method Mix the tamarind pulp with a cup of warm water, squeezed out the ju

penny aka jeroxieFebruary 18, 2011 at 1:16 PM
It is a quaint place and the scones are to die for.
ElinFebruary 18, 2011 at 4:16 PM
Yesss....I love Miss Marples from Agatha Christie . Enjoy your write out much :) Tell me more when we meet up :)
lenaFebruary 19, 2011 at 1:17 AM
next time if i visit melbourne, must get some ideas from you first..so many interesting places you've shown us. Got to wait for an hour, the place must be very popular and the scones really look fluffy.
Sharon @ Fun and LifeFebruary 19, 2011 at 1:30 AM
What a delightful place for tea! I love it. And I would definitely go there for the scones and jam - they look delicious! That cottage pie looks really good too :D
Sokehah cheahFebruary 19, 2011 at 9:00 AM
Penny
It's my first time seeing such scones and I like the interior of the tea-room, very cosy.

Elin
Ok, I will, so much to talk about!

Lena
The scones taste like cake but I like the jam, so they sort of complement each other. The scones at the Caldermeade Farm on South Gippsland H'way were much better, warm, soft, fluffy and their jam was just as good. My girl took us to other places for food but the pictures didn't turn out well, rather yellow because of the lighting, so I didn't post them. The place opens at 11am so if you want a place you'll need to be there before that time, after that you've got to wait. The place is popular and the interior is quite small. After all it's a tourist attraction.

Sharon
Think the English scones will taste much better. These taste like a cross between cake and sponge cake. Cottage pie is so, so, nothing to shout about, that's what my son said.
My Little SpaceFebruary 19, 2011 at 12:49 PM
Cheah, yes, that is exactly what I saw in that picture...scone more like bread texture... which is really fluffy. I bet I will love that too since I'm a bread & scone person. ha... Thanks for taking us along the trip and showing us all those nice places. I enjoing very much. Have a good weekend.
Cheers, Kristy
The SweetyliciousFebruary 20, 2011 at 7:07 PM
those places look so beautiful and calming. definitely a great escape from the buzz world we are living in . .
Sokehah cheahFebruary 21, 2011 at 10:13 AM
Kristy
Yup, they taste different, but not too bad either.

The Sweetylicious
I like the Enligsh cottage atmosphere in this tea-room. Agree with you, nice, quiet and serene area, far from the madding crowd!
UnknownJuly 3, 2016 at 9:18 PM
Scones here look nothing like scones I agree, but they taste amazing! I asked if they had egg in like a cake and was assured that the recipe was scone mixture, nothing else, and on tasting them I agree. They are great, can't wait to go back and have again but I am going to try to replicate it back in th uk

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