Happy Valentine’s and Lunar New Year to everyone! For our Valentine’s pre-celebration Joseph and I stopped by for afternoon tea at the new Ladurée at Yorkdale Mall, surprise surprise. 🙂 This place is just too pretty to pass up! Luckily we went on a weekday because it’s always packed on the weekends, just look at the before and after pics.
Ladurée on a crowded Saturday afternoon…
…versus a calm Tuesday morning
Signature window display
Ladurée is famous for their French macarons and signature gift boxes but they also sell chocolates, pastries, accessories, recipe books, and loose leaf tea just to name a few.
Ladurée recipe books for sale
Macaron display
The Ladurée Tea Salon at Yorkdale has two general sections: 1) a counter for macaron purchases and 2) a small dining area. Sometimes if it gets too busy a line extends to the outside of the store but this is the same line to get inside to both.
I really enjoy Ladurée macarons for their moist and chewy texture and intense flavours, and I can honestly say they are my fav! These are not made in house but are flown in from Switzerland which is where all of their exported macarons (outside of France) are made. The maple syrup macaron is a Canadian exclusive and a must-try. The other flavours at the moment are: coffee, pistachio, rose, orange blossom, licorice, vanilla, chocolate, salted caramel, lemon, raspberry, passion fruit, hazelnut and strawberry candy marshmallow, each subject to availability.
If you want to purchase just a few macarons at $3.30 each you can, or you can also fill up a gift box of your choice. The beautiful boxes (although more expensive), come in a variety of sizes, colours, and prices:
Canada’s 150th Anniversary Box
Alternatively if you want to dine-in and stay for a treat then you’ll notice that there are 3 types of seating arrangements to choose from:
1) Table and chairs
2) Table and banquet seating
3) Table by the window and by far the best seat in the house. There’s only one! 🙂
For our Valentine’s celebration we ordered the afternoon tea set for two ($50 per person), and sat by the window which I highly suggest for a more intimate experience. I ordered the hot chocolate and Joseph chose the Café Blanc herbal tea with citrus fruits. FYI if you order only 1 afternoon tea set then you get half of what you see here and there won’t be a 3-tier platter for presentation, which is a mistake I nearly made. So… if you want everything that you see in this photo then you must order the afternoon tea set for two people. 🙂
The following half of this post will be PICTURE HEAVY of everything that we ate. Sorry, I don’t have any descriptive details of the food because everything went quickly into my belly after spending so much time taking a million pics, but I do recall that the sandwiches and treats were freshly made.
Ladurée hot chocolate, very rich!
Tea with a complimentary piece of 70% dark chocolate
Mini croque-monsieur with emmental cheese and a side of mesclun salad
Seasonal fruit salad
Individually wrapped finger sandwiches (2 per person), your choice of: avocado, ham, or smoked salmon
Avocado with red peppers
Ham
Smoked salmon
Desserts
Macaron tier: your choice of 3 macarons per person
More sweets: mini tartelette passion framboise, mini chou praline, mini délice griotte
Mini Délice Griotte: pistachio macaron, morello cherry confit, pistachio cream
Mini Tartelette Passion Framboise: sweet pastry, passion fruit cream, raspberry
Mini Chou Praliné: choux pastry, praline pastry cream, slivered pralines
Madeleines and financiers with chantilly cream. This is in place of traditional scones and clotted cream that you’d find in English afternoon tea.
For the record we finished everything but if you had to take some food home then this is just to show you that they’re packaged in these really cute boxes and bag. The take-home macaron box is nice but of course it’s not the same quality as the macaron gift boxes ($$$):
Take home goodies
Overall I had a wonderful Valentine’s Day celebration at Ladurée Yorkdale but largely because we came at the right time of day (11:00am on a Tuesday) and got the best table. Otherwise I feel this particular Tea Salon is too small and crowded for a leisurely afternoon tea session. That being said, Ladurée would make a perfect stop for a simple lunch date or even just for tea and macarons.
In terms of experience I have mixed reviews with the service received. I’ve actually had afternoon tea twice at this location and during my first visit back in December 2017 (when it first opened) my friend and I waited a good 30 minutes at our table after having our order taken by the same manager who seated us, before any server came to acknowledge us. Not even with a glass of water. At first my friend and I were too busy catching up to even notice, but then our mouths became dry from talking and the wait was getting ridiculously long. We thought the kitchen staff just needed more time to prepare our food but in reality they lost our order. Or maybe it wasn’t even entered into their system. Either way, if you’re ever seated and there isn’t a giant light green Ladurée paper mat on your table shortly after you’ve place your order then do ask for one because apparently you only get the paper mat once they’ve acknowledged your order. We didn’t get one at the time and when we finally did ask for one, after carefully observing other tables getting their food before us with said paper mats on their table, the server replied that he thought we’d just sat down and hadn’t placed our order yet(?!). Oh, and then they thought we’d ordered only one afternoon tea set and not two, and they also ran out of some sandwich and macaron selections. Uhh…
Anyway, with that lesson learned I can tell you that everything went smoothly when I returned for our Valentine’s Day celebration. Attentive staff, no wait time and my fav macarons to go! What a difference. 🙂
Cheers,
Melissa
Ladurée Yorkdale
Yorkdale Shopping Centre
3401 Dufferin St
Toronto, Canada
M6A 2T9
416-629-2391
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 Ladurée Canada. No compensation was received to write this review.
