Ritzy Tea

Good grief! Have we really not been out for tea since 2009?? Yikes. I guess that's what happens when half the group is busy parenting vast hordes of children (vast hordes to a spinster = 1 or more). I think we've had some afternoon teas at home with the husbands and kids since then but none of our memories are what they used to be so don't ask me when and how many.

This afternoon, we all gathered again at the Ritz-Carlton for afternoon tea at noon. The usual funs were had but spoiler alert: I am leaning towards not returning.

Of course, the hotel is beautiful and the tea aesthetic was similarly spectacular. A lit tea box with comprehensive descriptions, Le Creuset teapots to keep the tea hot and the food itself was beautiful.

Photo credit: M. Kim

The tea itself is from Sloane Tea in Toronto. I stuck with my old pal, the Darjeeling, and was not disappointed. However, the other teas were just okay. We had the Heavenly Cream, Oolong and Earl Grey. I didn't see the advertised Spa My Blend by Clarins anywhere on the list.

I'm adding one of these Le Creuset puppies to my weight lifting programme Amazon wish list. I suspect the 22-oz size (2 oz more than a Starbucks venti) is sufficient for a spinster.

The sandwiches on the "wellness" tea menu are listed as:

Furikake Crusted Itsumo Tuna: Avocado, Pickled Daikon Relish, Togarashi Mayonnaise, Sesame Brioche Roll

Ham & Cheese: Aged cheddar, ham, parsley butter, multigrain bread
Sumac Eggplant Mini Pita; Hummus, Grilled Halloumi, Mint, Flash Pickled Cucumber
Smoked Turkey: Aged cheddar, cranberry relish, whole wheat wrap
Mushroom and Asiago Quiche

And the desserts include: 

Chocolate and sundried fruit mendiants
Apple, cranberry and oatmeal crisp
Coconut milk, chia seed pudding
Organic whole wheat, carrot and orange cup cakes
Battenberg 
Freshly Baked Raisin Scones

With preserves and Devon cream, naturally. 

Photo credit: M. Kim

I had similar sandwiches which accommodated my dietary restrictions but my desserts were a bit different. The coconut milk chia seed pudding and apple cranberry oatmeal crisp are worth trying to repeat at home.

So let me tell you what lost them points:

1. Slow service. We waited to order our tea. We waited for sandwiches. We waited to have both hot water and cold refilled. We waited to pay our bills. Lots of waiting. The staff could have been more attentive. Maybe they weren't because they knew their tip would be automatically added to the bill?

2. Small portions. I mean, I get this is haute cuisine but I'm used to feeling full after tea. Maybe "wellness" is Ritz secret code for starving yourself post-holidays.

3. Although they did a wonderful job of accommodating my dietary restrictions (eggs and dairy), they didn't actually call me back in response to the voice mail I left earlier in the week. Had we been able to have a conversation, I could have told them that I can eat butter and perhaps have tasted a scone. Apparently they were good.

So, for the price point of $44 for afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton, I don't feel my expectations were met. I can't recommend it unless the venue and the tea are more important to you than responsive service and feeling satiated.

Ladies, did I miss anything?

The Sweet Gallery, Bloor West Village, 2312 Bloor Street West

I had a very bad tea experience today at the Sweet Gallery in Bloor West Village. It's unfortunate because I should be happy when I get together with my friends but I was hungry and cold and angry. The service was not just bad, it was terrible. I was a little bit late arriving but my friends were already seated and had ordered so maybe the woman thought I was rude and wanted me to know that she disapproved of my timing. I suppose I could have skipped yoga class, or left early (the teacher was late this morning) or taken a cab or driven instead of taking the subway. The woman was downright bitchy.

Anyway, when I sat down and she asked me what tea I wanted, she didn't even offer to bring me a menu. They didn't have darlingjee so I accepted orange pekoe. When it arrived, the tea bag was from McCullagh Coffee. That was my first indication that things were not going to go well. If you were a coffee snob, would you accept coffee that was packaged and distributed by tea wholesalers? No, I didn't think so.

Then, our tiny tray of desserts and "scones" arrived. The total after taxes was just under $40 but I don't feel that I ate $10 worth of food. Part of the problem, of course, was that I am no longer eating desserts and pastries that might contain eggs. As a general rule of thumb, I will eat up to an eigth of egg but that only works when I am at someone's home and they can tell me the ingredients they used in recipe. So I didn't eat anything on the top tray and obviously didn't eat the egg sandwiches. I ate all three of the cucumber sandwiches but they weren't very good. They consisted of a thin slice of cucumber on a slice of baguette with cream cheese and smothered with pepper. Unimpressive. The scones weren't real scones. They were basically raisin buns. We didn't get enough cream and were only given individual packages of raspberry jam. I was starving from the gym and had planned to have a sandwich (smoked salmon on a bagel is my standard egg-free brunch food) but the waitress didn't come by to check on us so I decided that I didn't need an additional reason to tip her more.

The place was busy and, if I had felt that complaining would have improved our experience, I would have done that. We did complain about getting green tea instead of mint and the waitress brought the correct tea and apologized but she totally passed the buck. She said "oh she gave you green tea?" No woman, you took the order and you brought the tea pots. Therefore, you brought the wrong tea.

I can't stress enough that I will not be returning there. Fortunately I didn't pay for lunch because my tip would have been virtually non-existent. I suppose the place was pretty but I couldn't appreciate it. The entire experience was very upsetting. I didn't realize until a few minutes ago how much it has affected my whole day. basically haven't eaten anything since then and have been cranky and exhausted all afternoon. I hope the next tea will make up for today.

Long overdue update

So, a couple of things.

1. It has now been so long since we visited The Olde Curiosity Tea Shoppe that I doubt I can do it justice anymore. Highlights include the jam and cream-filled shortbread cookies which only come with Tea for 2 but are well worth it. The tea selection is impressive. There were almost one hundred different types of tea on the menu. Also, the service was excellent, considering the large size of our group (eight plus baby) and the small size of the establishment. The waitress brought each of us our tea selection to (for lack of a better word) smell. As a result, most of us ended up changing our tea choice. They were very accommodating all afternoon. I'm fairly certain that I had the darjeeling (I know, I'm nothing if not predictable) but I can't remember anymore. It might have been the Windsor Castle something or other. Finally, the owner was very friendly and gracious. I will definitely be going back in the new year.

2. Since the other tea ladies don't have time to blog (husbands, babies etc), I am commandeering this blog for my travels to HK and India. I won't be able to blog frequently but I will try to compensate for lack of predictability with length and detail. I am hoping to have high tea in Delhi and Calcutta but my schedule is rarely up to me. Look for updates on facebook as well.

I have eaten at some really great places so here are some shout-outs if you're looking for places to try in 2009:

My favourite Thai place - Golden Thai, Church and Richmond
http://www.goldenthai.ca/goldenthai_home.html
>Great service, good food, decent price - Hit

Recent date place (or maybe it wasn't a date?) - Rain, Mercer Street
http://www.rainrestaurant.ca/rain.htm
>Great decor, excellent service, decent food, very pricey - Hit if you're willing to spend the money. My "date" called it "food on a diet". The menu appears to have changed since I was there a few weeks ago but the mushroom tasting was excellent, as was the black cod. The salmon/tuna pairing was good but the salmon was a little fishy. I ate it anyway but I wish I hadn't.

As a caveat, I think that they served me something with egg in it after I specifically told them about my allergy. I didn't complain as I thought at the time that I was on my first real date with this person. I now wish I had said something because I'm starting to think it wasn't a real date at all. Didn't have dessert and there's a story behind this. Ask me if you're interested.

Recent rehearsal dinner - Asian Legend, Yonge north of Empress
http://www.asianlegend.ca/webe/menu.htm
>Surprising nouveau decor, good food, typical Chinese restaurant service, good price - Long time hit. Has been here for ages and the food is as good as I remember from their hole-in-the-wall days

Recent dinner with family and friends - Dynasty, Bloor west of Bay
>Overpriced Chinese food - Miss and go to Pearl at Harbourfront if you can't stomach the thought of eating at Chinatown. Looking forward to Chinese banquet this Saturday at Pearl for Andrew's wedding!
http://www.pearlharbourfront.ca/

Low key dinner with Jay on a weeknight - Jack Astor's, Dundas Square downtown
>If you're looking for something predictable and fast, by all means go to Jack Astor's. The food is significantly better than the Pickle Barrel or Milestone's (although Milestone's has great ambiance and a kickass patio) if you're looking for a safe, generic place to take your visiting cousins. However, this Jack Astor's is very small and you will likely have to wait for a table and may even end up at a small, bar height table as we did. Service was fast and good, as always. Food was exactly as it always is. We had two screens to watch basketball and hockey which was exactly what we needed: to sit, have dinner and not be too sociable (gotta love guy's night :). But it was loud, loud, loud. Good place for quick dinner, a beer and the game. Not a good place to take the girls for a catch up session.

Okay, that's all folks. Next post: overseas!

Oh right, I'm Indian too

I have had a very Indian few days. Not only have I had Indian food three out of the last four days, I saw the most atrocious film. But this is not about that (because I don't want to slam the film and put my name to that review) This is, however, about fooooood.

Udupi Palace, 1460 Gerrard St. E (at Coxwell), Toronto

On Friday night, I had dinner at Udupi Palace. A (non-Indian) friend wanted a dosa for her birthday dinner. She had the Mysore masala dosa which she seemed to enjoy and I had the regular masala dosa and a mango lassi. Our other brown friend had the paneer dosa (yummy and filling).

For those of you unfamiliar with dosas, they are basically an Indian-style rice crepe. They can be quite large but only the centre part is stuffed so start in the middle and work outwards. Usually dosa is served with chutney and coconut sambar. The paper dosas were *huge* so be warned!

We ordered appetizers because we were starving. We shared the combo platter (idly, daal, pakoras, medhu vada - like a lentil donut - and chili pakoras) and samosas. The samosas were good as were the idly and pakoras. I opted out of the chili pakora and the medhu vada was a little dry but perhaps it's supposed to be? Frankly, I have no idea.

For dessert, they were out of rasmalai (my favourite, I was heartbroken!) so I had the gulab jamun ice cream. If you like gulab jamun (dry milk and cottage cheese balls, deep fried and dipped in light syrup and rose water, served warm), skip the ice cream. It basically froze the second piece of gulab jamun before I could start eating it and the entire thing was too sweet, even for me.

They serve vegetarian, vegan and jain food. It looks like a basement food court with the bright lights and ghetto furniture but you don't seat yourself, you order from a waiter and they bring you the bill. Apparently they request that you tip in cash but we paid the entire bill in cash so we weren't asked. Bathrooms were not too bad but it was early in the evening (7.30 pm).

I will go back there if I'm feeling like dosa or want to remember whether or not I like utthapam. Overall good value for money ($80 for 5 people with tax and tip), decent service given the ambiance, excellent mango lassi.


Lahore Tikka, 1365 Gerrard St. E.(at Greenwood), Toronto

On Saturday night, I had dinner at Lahore Tikka. Another non-Indian friend (and altogether different ethnicity) wanted Indian food. Actually she loves all things Indian but her family won't eat Indian food as it's too spicy. She is vegetarian and heard about this place through her brother's girlfriend.

It's a large restaurant and can be quite confusing. When we walked in, we seated ourselves in what appeared to be one of a number of different rooms. The tables and chairs were patio furniture and I think that the entire restaurant was a series of interconnected trailers. It wasn't exactly clean and it's cafeteria style dining. The waiters will bring you a menu and a pitcher of water but you have to place your order at the front cashier. They give you a number and the food is delivered to your table.

We had the paneer tikka masala, the combo sizzler, till (sesame) naan, regular naan and I had a mango lassi. The combo really is a mixture of palak (spinach), chana masala (chick peas), aloo ghobi (cauliflower) and tarka dal (lentils). It was actually not very appetizing. The paneer (cottage cheese) tikka masala was good though. We forgot to order rice but, when we did ask after the food arrived, it came quite quickly. The portion sizes were not very large, especially considering how much we paid ($22 each with tax and tip). The lassi was only passable and we didn't try dessert. I don't think I will go back there.


Eddie's Wok and Roll, 6400 Millcreek Drive, Mississauga

I had lunch with a coworker here today. It's close to the office, located in a plaza at the south east corner of the intersection of Erin Mills Parkway and Millcreek Drive. The restaurant serves Hakka food and was nicely decorated, quiet despite being quite busy (arrive at noon if not earlier) and the service was excellent.

I had the butter masala chicken lunch special ($7.50) and the mango lassi ($3.50). I had to forgo the soup choice (hot and sour or creamed corn) because both had eggs in them. Instead, the waiter gave me an extra spring roll. The portion sizes were generous and I took half of mine home. The butter chicken was actually very good. I was quite surprised and will definitely go back there to try something different. Or maybe I won't be adventurous and stick with what I like :)

All three places were reasonably quick. There are other places on Gerrard Street that I would like to try (Siddartha, among others) but I would venture back to Udupi Palace with vegetarian friends and definitely will go back to Eddie's for lunch when I'm back at work full-time.

$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.