I didn’t drink tea but I was given mad e-props for knowing where to find the best gelato in the City.
We started at 7 West. I’m not sure why I had never heard of the place before considering it’s practically around the corner at Yonge and Charles. Three floors of cozy hard wood floors and small tables topped by a west-facing windless but worthwhile patio. I had one martini – a wedding cake - but would love to return for dinner soon. The wedding cake was more like a pina colada. Vanilla vodka, Malibu and a splash of pineapple juice. Except for the whipped cream. I think that was the “wedding” part. Which would have been fine had it not melted quickly in the afternoon heat and slid obscenely down the side of my martini glass. Fortunately, I rescued it with a napkin. The incident may have been too risqué for the company I was with.
Second stop for the evening was The Red Room at College and Spadina. Again, great atmosphere with interesting art, quirky lighting and medieval feast furniture in the back. Picture oversized benches and long wooden tables which would be perfect for a large group of starving and thirsty graduate students from U of T. The patio is one of the few, if not the only one, on Spadina. My Wedding Cake was stripped of its whipped cream and demoted to a Fallen Angel. She treated me well though and I will likely to return to pick her up again. We ordered perogies and the chicken fajita. Both were more than reasonable in portion size and, although I didn’t sample the fajita (again, a little too risqué?), I did enjoy the perogies. They don’t measure up to Lord English’s culinary creativeness but they’ll do in a pinch. Don’t be in a hurry though, unless you’re prepared to be assertive with the service.
Next up, gelato. The Big Chill in Little Italy has been one of my favourite places since a coworker discovered me to it last summer. It’s a tiny nook just off College on Manning and is worth the walk for a scoop or three. Filled with cows, it offers a surprising array of flavours and options for its limited 500 square footage. Thursday’s tasting included pistachio for me and strawberry for The Other. While I was offered a taste, I was too coy to take advantage of the situation. More fool me. The pistachio rivalled Ed’s at The Beach(es).
Finally, a pre-pumpkin drink at Il Gatto Nero (College and Crawford). The patio was sizeable, the service acceptable. We even saw a minor celebrity, according to the patron at the adjacent table. Never figured out who he was though. They have Guinness on tap which was apparently a hit with The Other. My mystery Riesling – Canadian, with a hint of bleach – was not worth a repeat trip but I haven’t entirely written off a second visit.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
$20 should have bought us more
Hmm, Dining Queen is too generous. Millcroft Inn would not merit a passing grade from me.
While my Bukhial assam tea was fabulous, I was underwhelmed by the service and the quality of the food. I would expect nothing less from a tea rated TGFOP, now that I understand the rating.* In fact, I would say that the food and wait staff did a disservice to the high quality tea being served at this establishment.
Usually when I go to a restaurant and I tell them that I am allergic to eggs, they are quite accommodating. They won't revamp the menu but they will try to find ways to make sure I'm not hungry when I leave. It doesn't matter if it's the dodgiest dive in Chinatown or a fancy schmancy Italian place in Bloor West Village. They want repeat customers and they don't want to get sued. They either cater to their clientele or go out of business.
This afternoon, I asked the waiter to let me know if there were eggs or mayonnaise in anything. And that was all he did. I'm almost positive that most restaurants would prepare an alternate batch of sandwiches with butter instead of mayonnaise. Or at least prepare a few more sandwiches of a different variety. This place, not so much. Because, as our hostess informed us when she seated us, the food is prepared ahead of time. Sandwiches! And scones! Prepared ahead of time! Seriously?! That probably should have been our cue to leave. But I know I was starving and my tummy was making audible rumbly noises. One of the other ladies stated a preference for no smoked salmon. It was moot. There were no smoked salmon sandwiches at all that day. Perhaps we should have told them about our food preferences when we made the reservation? Silly me, I thought I only had to do that at catered functions.
Furthermore, I don't recall the menu stating that a 15% gratuity would be added automatically to parties of 6 or more. In fact, I'm looking at the online version and it specifically states that gratuities are extra. Both the hostess and waiter failed to mention it when they seated us. The waiter even asked if we wanted separate bills. He should have mentioned it then. Had I known, I would have been more demanding of his time and attention. I guess he knew that he didn't have to work for his tips with us. I certainly would have left less than 10%. At least we filled out the comment card.
So overall, I would not recommend the Millcroft Inn for afternoon tea. If you find yourself stranded and starving in the Village of Alton, by all means stop in for an inexpensive lunch. While it was nice to spend ten minutes sitting in the Muskoka chairs on the lawn in the sunshine, high tea at the Millcroft Inn is a definite miss. Spend your $20 on a bag of tea instead.
*According to the Holy Mountain Trading Company, Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - This grade represents some of the most precious tea in the world. After brewing, it is not uncommon to see whole leaves in their original state. The tip on these leaves can make up as much as a fourth of a whole leaf.
While my Bukhial assam tea was fabulous, I was underwhelmed by the service and the quality of the food. I would expect nothing less from a tea rated TGFOP, now that I understand the rating.* In fact, I would say that the food and wait staff did a disservice to the high quality tea being served at this establishment.
Usually when I go to a restaurant and I tell them that I am allergic to eggs, they are quite accommodating. They won't revamp the menu but they will try to find ways to make sure I'm not hungry when I leave. It doesn't matter if it's the dodgiest dive in Chinatown or a fancy schmancy Italian place in Bloor West Village. They want repeat customers and they don't want to get sued. They either cater to their clientele or go out of business.
This afternoon, I asked the waiter to let me know if there were eggs or mayonnaise in anything. And that was all he did. I'm almost positive that most restaurants would prepare an alternate batch of sandwiches with butter instead of mayonnaise. Or at least prepare a few more sandwiches of a different variety. This place, not so much. Because, as our hostess informed us when she seated us, the food is prepared ahead of time. Sandwiches! And scones! Prepared ahead of time! Seriously?! That probably should have been our cue to leave. But I know I was starving and my tummy was making audible rumbly noises. One of the other ladies stated a preference for no smoked salmon. It was moot. There were no smoked salmon sandwiches at all that day. Perhaps we should have told them about our food preferences when we made the reservation? Silly me, I thought I only had to do that at catered functions.
Furthermore, I don't recall the menu stating that a 15% gratuity would be added automatically to parties of 6 or more. In fact, I'm looking at the online version and it specifically states that gratuities are extra. Both the hostess and waiter failed to mention it when they seated us. The waiter even asked if we wanted separate bills. He should have mentioned it then. Had I known, I would have been more demanding of his time and attention. I guess he knew that he didn't have to work for his tips with us. I certainly would have left less than 10%. At least we filled out the comment card.
So overall, I would not recommend the Millcroft Inn for afternoon tea. If you find yourself stranded and starving in the Village of Alton, by all means stop in for an inexpensive lunch. While it was nice to spend ten minutes sitting in the Muskoka chairs on the lawn in the sunshine, high tea at the Millcroft Inn is a definite miss. Spend your $20 on a bag of tea instead.
*According to the Holy Mountain Trading Company, Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - This grade represents some of the most precious tea in the world. After brewing, it is not uncommon to see whole leaves in their original state. The tip on these leaves can make up as much as a fourth of a whole leaf.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Millcroft tea
Well I guess I'll start the reviews... our most recent misadventure was to Millcroft Inn for Afternoon tea at 2pm for $20. The grounds are very cute and the waterfall looks really quaint... it has the feel of a country inn. A couple of the girls went early for spa treatments and had rave reviews of the service they received... unfortunately for the rest of us who just went up for tea, we were not so lucky.
Tea started off on the wrong foot since the reservation was for 7 and we only had 6... the host looked really peeved at us. The waiter looked really young and didn't know the details of the menu when we asked about an acronyms about the tea that was listed. Service was on the whole was very slow... it was a good thing we ladies like to talk since we had to wait for our tea, refill of hot water and extra orders of ice cream.
Now let's talk about the food: scones- hard and too sweet- covered in sugar. Sandwiches- bread was crusty and not freshly made (the host said that everything was pre-made), there was no smoked salmon that day so we had egg, tomato and cucumber, ham sandwiches... not really a 4 diamond rating restaurant. VERY disappointed about them not having salmon. Pastries- cream puffs with cherries was okay, brownies was too rich (I could feel a toothache coming on) and dense and last was blueberry crumble cake was the best part of the meal. The portions of the dessert was huge for afternoon tea standards, just too bad they didn't taste so good.
I would rate this tea spot a 6/10.
Tea started off on the wrong foot since the reservation was for 7 and we only had 6... the host looked really peeved at us. The waiter looked really young and didn't know the details of the menu when we asked about an acronyms about the tea that was listed. Service was on the whole was very slow... it was a good thing we ladies like to talk since we had to wait for our tea, refill of hot water and extra orders of ice cream.
Now let's talk about the food: scones- hard and too sweet- covered in sugar. Sandwiches- bread was crusty and not freshly made (the host said that everything was pre-made), there was no smoked salmon that day so we had egg, tomato and cucumber, ham sandwiches... not really a 4 diamond rating restaurant. VERY disappointed about them not having salmon. Pastries- cream puffs with cherries was okay, brownies was too rich (I could feel a toothache coming on) and dense and last was blueberry crumble cake was the best part of the meal. The portions of the dessert was huge for afternoon tea standards, just too bad they didn't taste so good.
I would rate this tea spot a 6/10.
Ladies who do tea
Hi, welcome to our blog. This blog is written by, about and for ladies who do tea. Specifically, eight lovely, wonderful, beautiful and intelligent tea-loving ladies. We are close friends who consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to spend the occasional afternoon having tea and eating finger sandwiches and scones and devon cream. This blog is about our misadventures with tea.
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