Food porn: Afternoon tea.
Nov. 11th, 2003 05:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaThank heavens for governmental clinics following government holidays, because after my non-restful weekend I was so ready for a day off today.
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helygen's in town, and we had decided that we wanted to spend a little time together one-on-one. We went to Finnerteas, a tea shop in Hampden I'd been wanting to try ever since kazoogrrl (I think) posted about going there. It's a comfortable little shop, done in a sort of celery green color, with outrageous old hats hanging on the walls. The teacups and saucers are mismatched antiques, and very pretty.
They have four levels of tea service - we decided to go for the full afternoon tea with all the bells and whistles. We each chose a pot of tea from their 22 varieties - I chose a Ceylon Black tea, andhelygen chose a South African Red Bush tea. (Oh! Googling for it, I see that it's the same thing as Rooibos, which I know that therealjae's mentioned before.) My tea was a very good example of a simple black tea, but I liked helygen's better. It had a lovely malt-y scent, and reminded me of touring whisky distilleries in Scotland. The tea was served in coffee presses, which I'd never seen done before. They worked so well for tea that now I'm considering buying one.
They brought the food out in three stages. First we were each served two tiny scones, full of plump raisins and, according to the hostess, fresh from the oven. With them came little glass dishes of jam and clotted cream. Then we got a plate of the most adorable tea sandwiches ever: tiny little things, again, with crustless bread cut into interesting shapes. Shrimp salad, and chicken salad, and bits of turkey with cranberry sauce, and cream cheese topped with a few bitsy slices of grape tomato and a dusting of bacon shavings, and cream cheese topped with a cucumber slice cut into the shape of a flower, and a little bit of watercress rolled up in a rolled-flat bit of bread, and a truly amazing thing that was cream cheese topped with slightly bitter marmalade topped with two tiny mandarin orange sections. And a hot puff pastry filled with sausage. I know this sounds like an amazing number of sandwiches, but they were tiny, honest. One or two bites each.
Finally, a plate of desserts, all, again, tiny. A little tartlet filled with cherries in syrup (I lethelygen have mine), a bit of sponge cake covered in chocolate which was way better than it looked as if it was going to be, a shortbread cookie ditto, a lace cookie, and three more mandarin orange segments. Mmmmm.
Everything was delicious, but I confess that I'm also a huge fan of anything miniature. The littleness brought our meal that last step towards perfection.helygen and I realized with pleasure that we'll have to go back at least ten more times so we can sample all of their teas. Yay.
helygen's in town, and we had decided that we wanted to spend a little time together one-on-one. We went to Finnerteas, a tea shop in Hampden I'd been wanting to try ever since kazoogrrl (I think) posted about going there. It's a comfortable little shop, done in a sort of celery green color, with outrageous old hats hanging on the walls. The teacups and saucers are mismatched antiques, and very pretty.They have four levels of tea service - we decided to go for the full afternoon tea with all the bells and whistles. We each chose a pot of tea from their 22 varieties - I chose a Ceylon Black tea, and
helygen chose a South African Red Bush tea. (Oh! Googling for it, I see that it's the same thing as Rooibos, which I know that therealjae's mentioned before.) My tea was a very good example of a simple black tea, but I liked helygen's better. It had a lovely malt-y scent, and reminded me of touring whisky distilleries in Scotland. The tea was served in coffee presses, which I'd never seen done before. They worked so well for tea that now I'm considering buying one.They brought the food out in three stages. First we were each served two tiny scones, full of plump raisins and, according to the hostess, fresh from the oven. With them came little glass dishes of jam and clotted cream. Then we got a plate of the most adorable tea sandwiches ever: tiny little things, again, with crustless bread cut into interesting shapes. Shrimp salad, and chicken salad, and bits of turkey with cranberry sauce, and cream cheese topped with a few bitsy slices of grape tomato and a dusting of bacon shavings, and cream cheese topped with a cucumber slice cut into the shape of a flower, and a little bit of watercress rolled up in a rolled-flat bit of bread, and a truly amazing thing that was cream cheese topped with slightly bitter marmalade topped with two tiny mandarin orange sections. And a hot puff pastry filled with sausage. I know this sounds like an amazing number of sandwiches, but they were tiny, honest. One or two bites each.
Finally, a plate of desserts, all, again, tiny. A little tartlet filled with cherries in syrup (I let
helygen have mine), a bit of sponge cake covered in chocolate which was way better than it looked as if it was going to be, a shortbread cookie ditto, a lace cookie, and three more mandarin orange segments. Mmmmm.Everything was delicious, but I confess that I'm also a huge fan of anything miniature. The littleness brought our meal that last step towards perfection.
helygen and I realized with pleasure that we'll have to go back at least ten more times so we can sample all of their teas. Yay.
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no subject
Date: 2003-11-11 03:03 pm (UTC)Also, rooibos? *Love* it. It's on my LJ interests list. I have several versions of flavoured rooibos at home. It's non-caffeinated so it's perfect at night. When I first saw it, I was in a tea place in Edmonton and I asked one of the employees what it was. The best description he could come up with was "You know South Africa? If you were there? And you wanted a hot drink? This is what you'd have. You can smell it if you want."
no subject
Date: 2003-11-11 03:06 pm (UTC)How about this? When you finish NaNoWriMo, I'll treat you (and
"You know South Africa? If you were there? And you wanted a hot drink? This is what you'd have. You can smell it if you want."
*snort* Well, smelling it was probably helpful, but I'm not so sure about the rest.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-11 03:43 pm (UTC)If you wouldn't mind, I think I shall send you an assortment of some of the more unusual teas I've found this year. And I haven't bought any yet, but I finally found a source for the rosebud tea that I once sent you!
Mini food...that reminds me of the fairy tea that was discussed in
no subject
Date: 2003-11-11 04:04 pm (UTC)Ah, afternoon tea!
Date: 2003-11-11 04:29 pm (UTC)Re: Ah, afternoon tea!
Date: 2003-11-11 04:52 pm (UTC)Re: Ah, afternoon tea!
Date: 2003-11-12 02:01 am (UTC)This is quite clearly traditional afternoon tea, as served at the Ritz, the Savoy, etc. High tea is taken later in the day, and is more like supper: it will include some kind of hot dish, or at least something more substantial than dainty sandwiches, scones, and cake.
Last time I had the full works for trad afternoon tea was with J from Texas actually at the Savoy - their tea-lounge overlooking the Thames, with a pianist tinkling the ivories. They could have done with more choice of teas, as I recollect.
Re: Ah, afternoon tea!
Date: 2003-11-12 12:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-11 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-11 04:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-11 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-11 07:17 pm (UTC)The Peticoat is more like a small cafe. The food was excellent (especially the soup!). We got a plate of 4 scones (2 types) with jam a devon creame. Then soup. And then a platter with tea sandwhiches (I rememder cucumber and dill, curried egg salad, tomato with old bay), fresh fruit, cheeses and sausage, and the top layer was small cookies. The service was great - I just wished for more of a "dessert" ending.
The Thir-tea First is in an old house with great dark furniture and the wallpaper is amazing! The service is a little more formal, in that the server seemed to be concentrating on making sure everything was perfect. We had: 3 tiered platters with hot! sweet potato rolls, 2 kinds of scones and biscuits with several jams and devon cream. Then soup (veggie or chicken veggie). Next, tiered platters of sandwhiches that included thyme skewers with grilled shrimp and rosemary skewers of marinated and grilled tofu, chicken salad in tiny pastry boats, on top of more traditional sandwhiches (lots of vegetarian selections!). Then a salad, then lemon sorbet, then dessert - (hot again!) a small key lime bar and a brownie topped with fresh whipped cream.
The tea - I love tea but I know nothing about it. At the petticoat I has an english breakfast, it was good and they were attentive about bringing fresh pots. At the Thir-tea First there were more herbal infusion varities, I had a breakfast and then a jasmine tea. One person had their iced herbal tea (good!). I've also heard their brunch is awesome.
I want to try Finnerteas, especially since I can walk there. Time to make reservations with my mom!
no subject
Date: 2003-11-11 09:03 pm (UTC)In case you couldn't tell from the review, I definitely recommend it.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-12 08:56 am (UTC)We have three
large Glass, Small glass and small plastic (good for travel)
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Date: 2003-11-12 06:55 pm (UTC)