I went here with two friends before Christmas last year — I can’t believe I didn’t get to this blog post until now! Anyways I had a good experience and a nice chat with my two friends. I believe there is another location in West Vancouver but we visited the one on West Georgia in Downtown Vancouver. The Urban Tea Merchant is a high end tea store that also offers afternoon tea service, check out their website here. We reserved seats and when we arrived we were seated promptly. The “Salon de Thé” is not a very big space, there are about ten tables but the environment was comfortable and quiet.
They have an extensive tea menu and their food menu includes afternoon tea sets, light lunches, and desserts. I chose the “Petite Afternoon Tea Service” which includes tea sandwiches, sweets, and a tea of your choice.
Since I didn’t want to be adventurous with my tea choice, I chose the “French Earl Grey” and it had a smooth feel in the mouth with very aromatic floral notes — can’t go wrong with an Earl Grey tea.
Petite Signature Afternoon Tea Service — $25
The “Petite Signature Afternoon Tea Service” came in a tiered presentation with fruits and sweets on the top, a scone with butter and jam in the middle and tea sandwiches and a chicken salad cone on the bottom. I started from the bottom and worked my way to the top. The tea sandwiches tasted pretty good but I think I enjoyed the chicken salad cone more. It is a waffle cone stuffed with chicken salad and lettuce — the cone was crispy and sweet while the chicken was savoury. The scone was still warm when I got to it, it was very good, flaky and buttery — so yummy with the whipped butter and strawberry jam. The fruits were fresh and the sweets were okay — not very remarkable. I couldn’t tell what flavour the French marcroon was and the little white chocolate covered cake was pretty sweet.
Signature Tea Sandwiches — $15
One of my friends had the “Signature Tea Sandwiches”. It is a full selection of tea sandwiches served with seasonal greens. The sandwiches were like the ones I had for my tea set but with more variety.
Earl Grey White Chocolate Cheesecake — $9
She also had the cheesecake, infused with Earl Grey tea and Belgium white chocolate. I had a bite and I think it the flavours went together very well. It also had a nice presentation with a caramelized sugar layer on top, which had a crispy texture that contrasted with the smoothness of the cheesecake.
Smoked Salmon — $16
My other friend had the Smoked Salmon, which includes cream cheese, green salad, a choice of bread. I think this one had a pretty good portion for the price. The flavours were not surprising but the ingredients were very fresh and delicious.
Overall, we had a good experience, the environment was comfortable, services and food were also good.
Con clu sion:
Ambi ence: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Value: 3.5/5
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