It’s been a while, but last weekend we went for some afternoon tea! Yum, I love tea. I love its aroma, its taste, and its beautifying antioxidant benefits. While this wouldn’t be our first time for cream and scones (we loved it at Niagara and Vegas), it would be our first experience in Toronto and we had it at The King Edward Hotel.
The tea is held either in the lobby or inside their tea room. We preferred the lobby because it actually seemed more quiet and spacious.
They give you a sample box of tea leaves to scope out, and after careful consideration (and sniffing all of them), I settled for Mountain Berry and Joseph on Chai. I really like fruity teas, and you also really can’t go wrong with Chai (we love Chai lattes), but I wish there were more exotic blends. Then again The King Edward serves a more traditional style of high tea.
Chai on the left, and Mountain Berry on the right.
Our tower of goodies! We went with The King’s Tea for $42 per person, which comes with finger sandwiches, a selection of pastries, and scones. The top tier consisted of desserts, middle: scones, bottom: spreads. You can also order champagne or wine with your tea set at an additional cost, and they have a kid friendly menu as well (the Jester’s Tea Party for $20 per guest who are 12 years and under).
These savoury finger sandwiches were delicious, but I really wish the bread was softer. It wasn’t terribly dry, but dry bread in general is a pet peeve of mine. There were a nice assortment of flavours, and according to their menu we had 1) smoked salmon with preserved lemon and dill shrimp, 2) lightly curried chicken waldorf with blistered grapes, carrot and celeriac splinters, 3) roast beef with horseradish and mustard cress, 4) welsh rarebit with caramelized onion and ale chutney, 5) double smoked bacon and egg salad.
It wouldn’t be a tea party without scones! We had raisin and cranberry scones with a side of devonshire cream, apple pear brown butter, and strawberry preserves from Greaves! Greaves is this great Canadian company based in Niagara-on-the-lake who make THE most amazing jams. We all know that Niagara-on-the-lake is a region that yields amazing fruit, hence producing the finest wines, so it’s only fitting that Greaves also makes the best jams. I first fell in love with them at the Prince of Wales for afternoon tea, nonetheless. In fact, my only real complaint here were the tiny scones. I really wish they were bigger so I could load up the jam!
An assortment of desserts: according to their menu we had 1) lemon and blood orange posset with gingered clementine, 2) caramelized banana coconut cream tartlet, 3) hazelnut opera slice, 4) vanilla bean sable, 5) dark chocolate and casis pot de creme. All equally delicate and flavourful, but the hazelnut opera cake was my fav!
Left: carmelized banana coconut cream tartlet, Right: dark chocolate and casis pot de creme.
Afternoon tea at The King Edward Hotel was a very relaxing experience. Although the lobby was spacious, I felt it needed some sprucing up to make the decor even more exciting, or perhaps just a change in the fine China (our teapot leaked as we poured). Their scones truly were delicious but on the small size, and we would have preferred them warmed. Overall our afternoon tea experience made for a very enjoyable afternoon and we certainly would suggest it to anyone.
Cheers,
Melissa
The Omni King Edward Hotel
37 King St E
Toronto, ON M5C 1E9
(416)863-9700
Greaves James & Marmalades
55 Queen Street
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON, L0S 1J0
(905)468-7831
UPDATE June 2014: Now serving Sloane tea!
We have more! Click here for our other Afternoon Tea posts. 🙂
Disclaimer: The opinions and claims reflected in this blog post are my own and not those of The Omni King Edward Hotel. No compensation was received to write this review.
A nice thorough review – going to make reservations – thank you.
You’re welcome! Wishing you a wonderful afternoon tea session. 🙂