The lovely table setting!
I ordered the Fu Man Chu tea which had the following description: "Beauty & the beast ~ the luxurious earthiness of Pu-erh serenely cloaks the beautiful Jasmine-scented pouchong ~ a setting for a palate of contrast & resolution."
It definitely had the underground earthy taste to it, I felt like I was drinking tea in a cave because it had that
musty and cavernous smell. About the jasmine... I felt the earthiness overwhelmed the jasmine flavour but I
could still recognize taste that it was jasmine tea.
Eve's Temptation Tea
An all fruit blend comprised of organic apples, mangoes, hibiscus and rose tips. Very nice and quite fragrant.
The Afternoon tea offerings
Delish! Bite size morsels of yummy-ness!
Smoked Salmon and Wasabi Sour Cream
with Salmon Caviar
&
Cucumber with Sundried Tomato Paste
and Dill Cream Cheese
&
Grilled chicken, Granny Smith Apples
Citrus Mayonnaise, Greek Yogurt & Chives
I loved the smoked salmon sandwich! It was my favourite of the three, the wasabi sour cream and smoked salmon combination worked really well. The cucumber and sun-dried tomato sandwich tasted like they used a sun-dried tomato & dill cream cheese. I thought this fell flat for me since I was looking forward to a classic high tea cucumber sandwich that you see in movies and TV shows, but we didn't really get that. Instead, we got a cucumber garnish, so I was pretty disappointed with the sandwich. The grilled chicken was okay, and I was surprised when I saw the menu after my meal since I didn't taste the granny smith apples in the sandwich, although it did have a little tangy taste - maybe that was apple sauce and the citrus mayonnaise?
Fresh Scones with Preserves
and Devon Cream
~~
Goat Cheese
and Caramelized Shallot Tart
~~
When I first tried the tart (the tiny yellow tart at the top of the picture), I thought it was goat cheese and caramelized onions but it was caramelized shallots! I thought the tart was ok - I'm not really a huge fan of goat cheese, but the pairing of goat cheese and the caramelized shallots was interesting since the shallots mellowed out the goat cheese a bit. I thought that the tart was a little too flaky for my taste.
The scones were AMAZING, they were lemon and raisin and with the clotted cream and home-made strawberry preserves & blueberry preserves, they were heavenly! I totally demolished the spreads - mmmm so good!
Now onto the Petit Fours!
Raspberry pistachio cakelet is at the top, I found the cake layers were too hard (I could barely use my fork to cut the cake to eat it properly), but I loved the pistachio cream!
The red velvet cupcake at the bottom, I found was too sweet and the cake wasn't as moist as I would have wanted it.
From the top, the blueberry almond cake was deliciously yummy! I really liked the almond flavour of the cake and it was a great combination. I wasn't a big fan of the lemon meringue, but it looked really cute whipped up in swirls on top and torched slightly brown on one side. The sea salt caramel was SO GOOD! I loved how the sweetness of the caramel was balanced out with the sea salt and in conjunction with the chocolate cup - it was the perfect combination and it wasn't too sweet. The last item on the plate was a chocolate raspberry mousse using dark chocolate, it looked nice with gold flakes, but I wasn't a fan of the mousse since it was heavy on the dark chocolate (I'm a huge milk chocolate fan) and I thought it was way too rich for my taste & I didn't quite get the raspberry taste (except for the actual fruit on top).
Lastly, real whipped cream with strawberries. Yum! Light and refreshing - a nice way to end the meal.
Originally when I first arranged the High Tea, I was expecting to have to eat lunch after, but I think with all the clotted cream, scones and mini-sandwiches, I was pleasantly surprised when I came out feeling like I ate a really filling meal.
It was my first experience having High Tea, and I really enjoyed the whole experience at the Windsor Arms - it was very elegant, had a great tea selection and yummy snacks!
No comments:
Post a Comment