Afternoon Tea Reviews Part II: Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

Originally posted 6/26/12:

The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver is pretty much an institution. An unmistakable landmark of downtown Vancouver, its iconic copper roof adds olde worlde charm to an otherwise modern skyline. So, when Rilly got a coupon to try out the high tea at their 900 West Lounge, we got gussied up in our Loli threads and headed downtown. 

The lounge is tucked away in the back and you have to walk past the concierge and down a hallway to reach it. There is an entrance near where vehicle pick-up/drop-offs are located around the back of the hotel, but it's not visible at all from the main entrance off West Georgia. This, coupled with the rather dim lighting, adds intimacy to the venue. One can see the kitchen with its serving counter while seated on the rather old, slightly threadbare armchairs, some of which, weirdly enough, are on casters. Everything gives the impression of a grand old hotel just very slightly going to seed.

Because we were there on a coupon, as most people probably were, the place was busy and reservations were recommended.  The Fairmont Hotel's high tea service runs 7 days a week from 12 noon to 4:30pm and it is usually $38 per person.  The host was a tad slow, but once he had us settled in with our menus, the server came quickly to take our tea order.

Tea selection is not spectacular, nothing like the hundreds of teas offered by Urban Tea Merchant, but decent enough to suit most tastes, offering the usual estate black, flavoured black, greens and herbals.  Tea came very quickly, as did the high tea dainties, which we could see lined up all in a row in anticipation of a busy day full of people coming for the same thing.

The china with its ornate jewel toned pattern and the solid silver teapots fitted the atmosphere of the old hotel quite well, though I thought that the heavy iron stand with its worn cream coloured paint for the high tea platters was more suited to potted plants in a garden than inside a fancy lounge.

The menu is as follows:

• Chicken salad with celery on French baguette
• Egg salad with green onion on fresh brioche
• Westcoast smoked salmon on dark rye
• Warm mini croissant filled with black forest ham, brie cheese & dijon
• Fresh baked raisin scones served with clotted cream and jam
• Fresh strawberries
• Mini lemon tart
• Passion fruit mousse pastry swan
• Mini chocolate tulip with chocolate mousse

Price: $38/person + tax and gratuity

Unfortunately, despite all the pomp and circumstance, I have to report that the high tea was surprisingly disappointing.

Most of the sweets had a liberal dusting of icing sugar on them, which only served to up the already high sugar content of the desserts.  I was also disappointed that instead of house made preserves, we had a mini jar of commercially prepared strawberry jam, though this seems to be the standard for hotel chains.  The scones were too sweet and the strawberries were sour.  The rest of the sweets were likewise sugar filled and boringly one-dimensional in taste.  I would never have guessed that the pastry swan was filled with passion fruit mousse had I not been informed of the fact beforehand.

The savouries faired little better.  The French baguette was tasteless had the look of styrofoam, and the chicken salad on it was dry despite the mayonnaise dressing.  The egg salad was not served on brioche but on more slices of baguette, which did nothing to improve the flavour.  The warm croissant was nice, but only because the change in temperature from the other food made it distinguishable from the beige tedium on the rest of the tea tray.  I believe Rilly found the smoked salmon on rye too salty, but I found the cream cheese that it was rolled with, flavourless.

Pretty much the only redeeming feature of the high tea was that it was prepared fresh, and had not had the opportunity to sit out so that the bread got stale and the cream watery.  If the Fairmont Hotel and Secret Garden tea shop were the only two high tea places in Vancouver to choose from, I would say go to the Fairmont.  However as there are much better, more economically priced high tea services in this fair city, I would say definitively never come here for the high tea (unless you have an ancient aunt whose strict dietary regime requires her to eat only bland foods, or you're a recovering invalid who shouldn't be unduly excited). 

Rillystar says:

Taste: 1.5/5
Presentation: 2.5/5
Service: 2.5/5
Price: 1/5
Decor/Ambiance: 2.5/5
Location/Transitability: 5/5
Loli-Loli Rabu Factor: 1/5

Overall Score: 2.29/5

Comments:  Out of all the Afternoon Tea services I've had in Vancouver, I must say that this has been one of the most disappointing. People I've heard talk about the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver Afternoon Tea seem to hold this place as some bar. If that's the case the bar is set pretty low. Maybe this used to be the standard that other tea houses tried to match but in this day and age I found the food to be bland, unappealing and to be honest, sub-par for the amount of money you have to pay. For example the egg salad had almost no flavour and the slice of baguette or whatever bread it was on, wasn't even toasted to provide some sort of texture difference - just gummy white bread which also had no flavour (it makes me wonder if everything was pre-prepared as we did get the food quite quickly). The teas were interesting but nothing I would write home about or probably order again. That pretty much sums up the service for me; the most basic of flavours and textures - no undertones or anything to make it interesting or set it apart from something you could make at home or buy pre-made and pop into the oven. The service itself was ok and the ambiance presentation was passable (though the arm chairs on wheels was a bit odd and you could start to see the wear and tear on the furniture). While we went in lolita and I feel comfortable wearing it in most situations, the odd mix of clientele there (tourists or people with crying babies to the more sophisticated individuals) was definitely not particularly used to seeing ladies in lolita. Occasional glances over at our table, a few overheard comments from other guests and the lack of interest from the servers there made it obvious that the establishment was more interested in turning over tables. With that in mind and the fact that normally each service is a whopping $38 +tax +tip, I would definitely give the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver Afternoon Tea Service a pass. I'm just glad I bought the coupon so it was half price for both of us.

Kurasune says:

Taste: 2/5
Presentation: 2/5
Service: 3/5
Price: 2/5
Decor/Ambiance: 3/5
Location/Transitability: 5/5
Loli-Loli Rabu Factor: 2/5

Overall Score: 2.71/5

Comments: Please note that the overall score is somewhat skewed due to the higher scores given for ambiance and transit friendliness.  The Fairmont Hotel is lovely and oozes vintage charm, but I would rather wear a 1920's flapper gown and some outrageous feathers in my hair, swan around the front section of the lounge with a cocktail indulging in some foie gras canapes, than have the high tea service here.  If you want a great high tea experience, walk two blocks up West Georgia to Urban Tea Merchant and have their petit tea service for $13 less.

Joint overall score for Fairmont Hotel Vancouver's 900 West Lounge:  2.5/5

Tea Time on the High Seas: Afternoon Tea Reviews for Vancouver Part I

Since I'm starting up this new foodie blog, I thought I'd snag some of my older reviews for reference, and extra reading for anyone interested.

This first foodie post is about Afternoon Tea, and was written back in 2012. For all these older posts, I will eventually go back (unless it was terrible) and write up another post if any major updates need to be made on service or food quality/style. I've left in the ratings as they make sense in the context that I had written them up, however any new posts will likely not include them.

Original Post - June 13, 2012

Since kurasune and I happen to love going to AfternoonTea Services (aka High Tea) and tend to have a picky and discerning enough pallette, we have decided to do a comprehensive and detailed accounting of as many places of business offering said service.

While we have commented or reviewed a tea house or restaurant here or there, this series of reviews will be tailored to those who are just starting to venture out to try High Tea, as well as those who are more experienced in the worldly ways of High Tea. Of course these reviews are tinted with our own personal tastes and preferences but we hope that it will give at least a baseline of what to expect.

Typically for restaurant reviews we have posted in the past we touch on food, presenation and price. For this series we will also expand this to include:

• Service
• Decor and Ambiance
• Location/Transitability (is that even a word?)
• Loli-Loli Rabu Factor (how friendly they are to us more alternatively dressed individuals)

So 7 ratings all contributing to an overall rating. Hopefully this will provide a better guide to all the tea experiences that Vancouver (and surrounding areas) has to offer.

So without further ado, our first review of this series....

The Urban Tea Merchant!

While we were on the hunt for the best teahouse to have the rilliest birthday tea party in, a friend recommended Urban Tea Merchant (UTM from now on to save my precious nails from clicking on the keys too much - must keep them unchipped and lovely for the upcoming date). Having a gander at the website (http://www/urbantea.com) my curiosity was piqued as they offered a variety of options for those with dietary restrictions, namely vegan and gluten free options. Since my guests run the gambit of eating issues we decided to give this place a once over and see how they fared with event planning women like ourselves.

UTM is located in the Downtown core, at least their flagship shop is. Easily accessable via transit (both bus and skytrain) it was a no brainer to skip bringing the car around and take our frilly frocked selves out for a lovely walk from the Burrard Street SkyTrain station. A definite thumbs up on that scale. I wouldn't suggest driving the car in fact as Downtown is notoriously expensive to park the car (and the meter maids are quick to write up tickets or get your vehicle towed if you're parked illegally) that and the typical frustrating experience of actually driving around Downtown is something I definitely didn't miss. However do keep your eye out for the sign, the store can be easy to miss during chillier days as there isn't much outside to indicate the shop is what it is.

Originally we weren't even thinking of having tea service - just there to check out the location and chit chat with whoever did the bookings. When we walked in the door however we were immediately distracted with interesting china ware - teapots, cups, a macaron counter and a huge wall of bins of tea. The macarons were so vivid in colour and they had some pretty interesting flavours but we passed on those and made our way to the back of the space where the tea service area was.

While the wait staff were unable to assist us with specifics, the store manager was available to see us. For drop in short notice, it was a pleasant surprise that we were able to have someone attend to us and our questions right away. I found the manager extremely helpful and forthright; he answered all our questions, even let us have a free pot of tea to sample (pot for each of us - I tried the Polo Club and kurasune had the Napoleon). While of course they have certain policies and prices to adhere to, especially for weekend bookings, I found overall they were very flexible and willing to accomodate our needs to the extent that for our private booking they would open the shop far later than they normally would. Surprisingly they are also quite accommodating with food allergies, and more than willing to substitute items (I'm a no shellfish girl myself).

As for the decor and ambiance, the back area is well lit by natural daylight, however the tables and plateware themselves are more minimalist and sleek in design. White china, metal tea cozy over a white porcelain teapot and a metal three tier tray with again, white china plates. It reminded me more of a quiet cafe bistro in its set-up and feel (not that that is a bad thing) but not as fun or themed as other tea houses. One thing to note is that the wait staff and the manager are all French speaking. It makes quite the pleasant experience to be hearing the French language being used there (perhaps that's why I was chanelling French bistro rather than High Tea). One downside though is that the tables, other than a tin of their TWG tea, along with sugar pot and place setting, offered no other compliments to brighten the setting.

Once we were seated and sipping tea, and after all our questions were answered we decided last minute to share the 'Petite' High Tea Service between the two of us. What came in short order was a three tier tray, savories at the bottom, scone in the middle tier and sweets on top. Overall the flavors were delicate and subtle - the smoked salmon sandwich wasn't too salty, and the sweets weren't too sweet (even the marzipan covered petit four wasn't as over the top sweet as we expected it to be). I quite enjoyed the chicken salad finger 'sandwich' which came in a savory cone and the scone which wasn't overly sweet, allowing for the Devonshire cream and jam to do the legwork for the sweet factor. However I wished they'd used their own in shop jam rather than purchased little jars. The fresh fruit was a nice touch including a chocolate dipped strawberry, and presented quite prettily on the plate, though some was a little on the tart side. Overall it was quite an enjoyable service and coming in at $25 on the lower end of the price spectrum within the city while still boasting a veritable horde of teas to choose from.

Service on this occasion was passable. It was during a quiet period of the day and not overly full of patrons being a Monday afternoon. However service can be slow, or servers intermittent as they have to monitor both the back area where the diners are and the store front counters (the tea counter and also the Macaron and other sweets counter).

Now in terms of event planing, UTM was certainly very accommodating. For my part of 27 people, at least 10 of them (myself included) had some sort of dietary restriction, food allergy or food aversion. In fact we had not only vegetarians, vegans, gluten free and diabetic needs but also someone who requested a vegetarian and gluten free service. This tea house was able to provide all of the dietary requests beautifully - I didn't hear complaints about taste or food amounts certainly. One down side however is that we weren't given much time to prepare so our decorations were as little fuss as possible and built to be easily set up.

Kurasune says...

Taste: 4/5
Presentation: 3.5/5
Service: 3/5
Price: 3.5/5
Decor/Ambiance: 4/5
Location/Transitability: 5/5
Loli-Loli Rabu Factor: 4/5

Overall Score: 3.86/5

Comments: Tastes were subtle and never overwhelming, though I would have liked a bit more savouriness (my personal taste).  Food was always fresh and presented simply without flourish.  Table setting is likewise simple, with a tin of one of their signature teas and a pot of sugar as the only decorations.  The salon is small, quiet and brightly lit due to one wall being mostly windows.  A tranquil get-away from the bustle of the city's business district.  The menu upon first glance is expensive, but one will never leave with a half-full stomach.  Service is a bit slow as the salon is tucked in the back and the wait staff have to monitor the front counter as well and aren't always present and on-hand.

Rilly-rating...

Taste: 4.25/5
Presentation: 4/5
Service: 3.5/5
Price: 4.5/5
Decor/Ambiance: 3.5/5
Location/Transitability: 4.75/5
Loli-Loli Rabu Factor: 4.25/5

Overall Score: 4.11/5

Comments: My preference for tastes runs to the subtle and delicate - I dislike overly salted foods and am particularly sensitive to salty flavours so the lovely textures and flavours of the food at UTM was (in my opinion) the best of the tea houses that we have frequented in the past. The food is certainly fresh, and the quiet ambiance is pleasant. The amount of food one gets is, for high tea, of good value for the price point though there are more expensive options (of which I did select for my birthday tea). Service isn't terrible but as kurasune mentioned they have to work both front and back. The tea canisters are kept out front so when people can't decide on a tea the poor servers have to truck large tins back and forth slowing down service overall.


Our joint overall score for Urban Tea Merchant = 3.98/5

Welcome! A New Beginning.

On a late night whim, I've decided after some discussion earlier in the week with my lovely sister, that I will start up this new blog 'Frilly Foodie'. Mostly photos and my own opinions on the food and whatnot of the establishments I encounter both at home and on my travels.

For those not in the know, this is me:

I love my frilly clothes, and I love food. I won't be doing any sort of rating system, because, to be honest, it's my opinion and fairly arbitrary since there will always be the next new tasty thing. The only thing I won't write about are crustaceans. I'm allergic to those so, barring an accidental trip to the hospital, don't expect me to be noming away on those (we're talking shrimp, crab, lobster and the like)

I will from time to time post up things that I make at home, and share what I think are tasty recipes.

Please feel free to drop me a line or comment if you have any suggestions of what you'd like to see or, if you want me to check out a certain eatery.