Willow Street Cafe was a simple stop for a lunch on a cold, rainy day in Chemainus – about 1 hour north of Victoria. We visited Westholme Tea Farm in the morning and did some antiquing in Chemainus that Thursday afternoon.
Lisa: Split-pea soup (the best she’s ever had!) and a cheddar scone. The scones here are as big as the moon! I could eat only a half a scone with the bowl of soup. Sad to waste it…
Nick: Turkey club wrap
Can’t get much simpler than that! I normally wouldn’t include this as even an informal tea, but the scone was so good, it was worth a post mentioning!
The Venus Sophia Tea Room is a vegetarian tea room and you’re certainly not missing anything with the hearty afternoon tea here. The tea room is situated right inside Chinatown, so we had nice shopping afterwards! One time here was enough for us but it a must-visit if you are vegetarian.
Tea: Lisa had the Blue Sapphire Earl Grey & her second pot was Venus Sophia Chai. Nick can’t remember what kind of tea he had. 😦
Meal: Nick ordered the pear and blue cheese sandwich with a house salad. He really enjoyed it.
Lisa ordered the Royal Afternoon Tea:
Bottom tier: three sandwiches on homemade bread: cranberry mascarpone, wild BC mushroom (wonderful), English cucumber with mint tea, and kale pesto quiche (fabulous!).
Middle tier: chocolate mint scones with cream and jam (I don’t remember them that much – cannot remember the chocolate or the mint in them at all).
Top tier: lemon cheesecake, chocolate eclairs (good), pumpkin pie with meringue (ok), Egyptian date cake (sorry, tasted stale), Victoria sponge snow cake (also a bit stale), and shortbread (couldn’t eat – too full!).
Murchie’sis a tea and coffee shop that’s been selling tea for 125 years. Half of the store is has merchandise, tea and coffee – the other half is a cafe with such tempting items — I’d be eating here several times a week if I worked downtown! Matter of fact, Nick got sick of me saying, “we could always go to Murchie’s…”!!
For a quick lunch, we pulled together an informal afternoon tea by splitting a few things: The Wild West sandwich – Montreal smoked beef, caramelized onions and Swiss cheese on nine-grain bread. It was yummy.
Tea: Nick – Murchie’s Medley Latte- Murchie’s afternoon tea with caramel and vanilla. Lisa: Moroccan Mint. We loved our drinks here. Nick never had a tea latte before and he’s a fan now.
Scone: blackcurrant with jam cream – good! More of a “North American” style scone – but tasty.
Nick and I planned a trip to Victoria, BC and planned 3 formal afternoon teas and a few informal ones. Pendray Inn & Tea House had an amazing server, even when we arrived 30 minutes early at 11:30 a.m. and tons of people came in about a half hour later. We were the first two customers to begin the lunch hour. There was a special “Dine Around 2020” deal where I was able to receive, even though it technically ended a day early. At $40CAN, it was such a good deal. Nick ordered the Daily Special – soup and quiche. His soup was leek and potato and the quiche – vegetable with bacon. He thought they were good.
Teas were served in pots with two bags of TWG tea. Nick chose 1837 Black Tea and I had a pot of Royal Darjeeling. Nick wasn’t that thrilled with his – tasted average. I enjoyed my simple tea and had a hot water refill in my pot, as I prefer a weakly brewed pot.
Afternoon Tea:
1st course: My tea started with a small cup of roasted butternut squash soup with maple creme fraiche. It was tasty, though reminiscent of baby food as pureed soups often are textured.
Bottom tier: contained a tasty smoked salmon pinwheel sandwich with flying fish roe. The cucumber with lemon & dill cream cheese was good and I shared the roasted turkey tea sandwich (it was huge) with Nick – it had cranberry and dijon. I loved the last two savories, brandy & dried plum pork sausage roll (with onion and pickle – super awesome!) and the warmed spiced chicken and mushroom bun.
Middle tier: 2 scones – white chocolate lavender (my fav) and TWG Earl Grey scones with holiday-spiced Devon-style cream and house-made triple berry jam.
Top tier: profiterole with TWG chai caramel sauce (YUM!), La Roux Macaron (Nick ate), spiced pumpkin tart (delish!), flourless chocolate cake with candy cane topping (could only eat a smidge – I was so full).
Cost with generous tip (server was so nice!) $71.98US.
It’s the second Jane Austen Birthday Tea I’ve been able to attend with the Jane Austen Society of North America – Indy region. It was so delightful! Wonderful comrades, delicious tea and treats.
I planned an afternoon tea for my library foundation’s legacy giving group: The Silver Tree Society. It’s name is as a nod to Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree book. Our marketing staff designed a lovely keepsake menu bookmark. Place cards were made from Christmas cards. I spent the last several months hunting at antique stores for dishes, silver plated silverware and 3 tiered plate trays. It was tremendous fun to plan, bake, cook and organize! But I cannot imagine how tea rooms do this on a daily basis!
The Menu:
Sip – Gingerbread Pu’erh, Wintermint-green and Vanilla Rooibos
Scones – English-style Scones with Clotted Cream and Blackcurrant Jelly
Sweets – Indian Tea Biscuits, Mini-Pavlovas, Chocolate Walnut Fudge and Gingerbread Treats
As far as the food goes, all the savories were a big hit and attendees asked for more cucumber sandwiches and curry chicken-salad croissants. The scones – I wish I baked them at the venue – they would have been better more fresh than a few hours before the event. The Mini-Pavs were a disappointment. The meringue was great the first time I made them, but these – when I filled them with pineapple and kiwi and custard, became as chewy as taffy and you had to eat them with a knife and fork! Other than that, everyone loved the dishes. I provided Rubbermaid containers for folks to take home the many leftovers.
My friend Sarah Nathan donated the tea and is a tremendous fountain of knowledge all things tea!! JCPL’s assistant director also helped with the setup of the event. Our HR manager and her sister volunteered to work the event and were cute as buttons in their white lace aprons. They kept the teapots flowing; not a dry cup all evening! I appreciated their help with the set up and the warming up of the savories. They had the dishes all washed before I said goodbye to the last guest!
Lastly, our amazing Johnson County Community Foundation loaned us the use of their gorgeous facility for the event. We had 12 attendees and it was a perfect spot for a winter afternoon tea.
Another lovely birthday afternoon tea that was part of the Jane Austen Festival in Louisville. Our JASNA-Indy group chose the 1:15 p.m. tea time and there were about 10 of us there. Tea was lovely as ever…always simple, but well worth the $25 price per person. Nick and I were very hungry going into what we would call a late lunch, but the tea hit the spot!
We were served Bingley’s Teas – Jane Austen character teas – two new ones for me. The first was a very fruity flavored herbal tea – “A Catherine Morland’s First Blush” But I preferred the rose and black tea with a hint of vanilla: “A Tea Rose Gown for Mrs. Allen.”
Menu: Chicken salad on mini-croissant Pimiento cheese on marble rye Mini-quiches Grapes Blueberry lemon scones with clotted cream and jam Choice of 4 desserts – Nick chose lavender rum cake and I had the hummingbird cake with whipped cream.
This afternoon tea was in a lovely section of the Henley Park Inn off the bar and lobby area. Natural sunlight and cozy spaces to have afternoon tea. While the tea selection was good, but it was bagged tea rather than loose leaf. But my pot of tea was good, and so was Nick’s. We opted for the “English Tea” at $28 per person. The egg sandwiches and smoked salmon sandwiches were very good. The scones were wonderful. Tea menu.
The menu – we chose the “English Tea”
Wonderful sandwiches and scones!
Fabulous and generous scones. Had one for breakfast the next morning!
Truffle was super rich and bitter chocolate. Tart was divine. Lemon curd cake was good.
Nick and I thought the atmosphere was very nice and we liked that we could share 1 afternoon tea by purchasing another scone & pot of tea for $10 more. I had the Morcoccan mint tea and Nick tried the Blueberry Elderflower tea. The sandwiches were excellent, particularly the egg salad and chicken salad. The cucumber sandwiches were ok. The scones, while good, seemed a bit dense and biscuity texture. But I did like the sultanas and cranberries in them. The orange curd was excellent and the clotted cream was more like butter.
But overall, an elegant place to have tea. Our shared meal cost $50 with gratuity included.
Afternoon Tea Time with Lisa & Nick 