Take Two at Ben's Gurney Paragon

Forgive me as I'm still a little obsessed with Ben's so I've been dragging Glam Girl, Hubs and Bubs with me on repeated visits. I was really insistent on trying Ben's scones (huge afternoon tea fanatic) so I was crushed when the waiter said afternoon tea only starts at 3pm :(

The ever gorgeous Glam Girl, such a glowing mama to be :)

We'd a beefburger and mac-n-cheese. Both were nice but not really stellar though.

A meal at Ben's is never complete without dessert - this round we tried black forest and rocky road which were served in very generous wedges. Can you spot Bub's antsy look in the photo? ;) He finds my no-touching-mummy's-taking-a-photo-rule before cake extremely annoying and a test of his patience. He was well rewarded with all the cake his little tummy could fill.

I adored the black forest cake which I thought nicely presented with pieces of meringue shards (my favourite!) at the side and the juicy pieces of cherries sandwiched between the chocolatey cake were to die for. Topped with fluffy marshmallows and layers of peanut cream, chocolate mousse and a crushed biscuit bottom, I found the rocky road to be on the rich and heavy side.
 

Wearing a loose, flowy skirt in anticipation of all the eating we're going to be doing

Since I didn't get to try the scones, I insisted we head back again for the afternoon tea, time time ensuring that we were there after 3pm. Hubs rolled his eyes but as usual, Bubs is always game for any kind of cake ;)

For the afternoon tea: you get a choice of coffee or tea for two from the main menu and yes, Ben's does have a good selection of both. We had a mocha and green tea which I was happy that they used T2 teabags (Gorgeous Geisha - a nice, fruity green tea). Bubs had the iced water - free flow and no extra charge from Ben's :) I thought it was a nice touch for them to include a slice of biscotti with our hot drinks.

You also get to choose a slice of cake from the dessert display and the other two tiers are filled with scones, marshmallows, mini cakes, chocolate truffles, cookies and sandwiches. Is it sad to admit that at this point, I'd pretty much tried most of Ben's cakes so I stuck with my favourite black forest?

The scones at Ben's are more biscuit-y and crumbly, I usually prefer my scones to be softer. At least the cream served was decent and heaven forbid, not whipped cream! I found the highlight to be marshmallows which had a very lemon zing to them. Hubs enjoyed the chocolate truffles coated in cocoa powder.

Initially when the goodies were served, I was thinking that the portions looked very scant and thought of ordering more food - luckily Hubs restrained me because we were struggling to finish everything and zonked out with all the sugar. We found the afternoon tea to be really good value for money as it fed two adults and a cake-mad toddler.