High tea

Madhatters Tea at the Westin, Sydney

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

Afternoon tea number 2 of 5 during my week in Sydney last year.
The venue: The Westin Hotel located in the GPO building of Martin Place. It’s an architectural historical icon in Sydney, or at least I think it is. It also oozes suits. The interior is fancy!
The lucky dining companion was my older brother. No one in my family escapes being dragged around to high teas with me.

From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea

I really liked the concept of the traditional (heritage-style) contrasted with the new and modern. This is reflected in their menu. There are two high tea menu offerings – the Heritage Afternoon Tea and the Mad Hatter’s Afternoon Tea. Why choose one, when you can have both. We opted for one of each so we could each then share and sample both. Yes, all in the name of comparative research.

From Westin afternoon tea

The Heritage Tea option:

From Westin afternoon tea

The Mad Hatter’s option:

From Westin afternoon tea

Champagne:

From Westin afternoon tea

Here they are side by side:

From Westin afternoon tea

Portions are somewhat on the smaller side.

From Westin afternoon tea

This was the modern traditional one:

From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea

It looked pretty and fancy, but it was lacking in flavour.

The desserts were different and not your typical fare:

From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea

On the Mad Hatters Afternoon Tea tier:

From Westin afternoon tea

Bonus points for colour and creativity. But the flavour profiles weren’t so great. They were not the most palatable dishes. But they did make for great photos. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of icing, so all this coloured icing was a bit of a turn off for me. But how cool does it look!

From Westin afternoon tea

Alice in Wonderland represented: The watch, the hat and the Queen of Hearts.

From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea

There was only one of each so we had to cut each item in half so we could sample everything. This got very messy.

From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea

Now you can see why I am an advocate of new/fresh plates for each tier at afternoon tea. It should be standard.

From Westin afternoon tea

Splitting the salad was a lot more difficult:

From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea

I thought the scones here were good:

From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea

What I also enjoyed about this venue, is that you can have as many different teas as you like. I am pretty sure this is the only venue in Sydney I’ve been to so far that allows this. Most venues restrict you to one blend of tea. You can have as many as you can muster here. I think I only through 2 or 3 different teas here.

From Westin afternoon tea

And the tea selection from memory was quite extensive. I got a black tea of sorts, probably some breakfast blend and also got a jasmine tea:

From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea

The GPO Building interior is also worth checking out. It’s home to some fancy stores and dining establishments.

From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea
From Westin afternoon tea

I have mixed thoughts about this one. I think on the whole, it would be a positive high tea review. Unlimited tea is a definite bonus. Nice building location. And the food was pretty good. Menu definitely looks good on paper. I liked the modern touch to this place and the creativity of the menu.

Advertisement

Hills Lodge afternoon tea: the best in the west

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

I have a slew of afternoon tea blog posts to write up about. It’s not that I haven’t partaken in afternoon/high teas of recent, rather I just haven’t had time to sort through photos and do write-ups etc. This blogging business is time-consuming stuff, and this thing called “full-time work” really interferes with the blogging.

I have at least 8 afternoon tea reviews to write up about, so lots to look forward to, dear reader.
Last year, I actually didn’t do many afternoon teas in Japan at all, so most of the high tea blog posts will be international ones, so that’s pretty exciting.

Let me start off, with one of the best afternoon teas, or at least my personal favourite, I did in 2013.
This was back in Sydney in November last year. A nice father-daughter afternoon tea. Every visit home, I drag my dad along to a high tea. Secretly, he loves it. He’s done a handful of afternoon teas now. We had to do a Westie high tea though. But can I say, Westie high teas are the best. So, don’t mock the West. West is Best.

The Hills Lodge offer afternoon tea on Fridays and Saturdays only. Alas, my visit to Sydney was short and I was due to fly out on Friday morning. I would miss out on their Fridays and Saturdays only high tea offerings. However, they made special arrangements for me, and offered to do a private high tea for us on the Tuesday, for which I was extremely grateful.

Technically, the restaurant for afternoon tea was closed, but they had the chef prepare afternoon tea for us especially. This place excels in service. Firstly, they were most accommodating. I emailed the Lodge asking for afternoon tea service on Tuesday, which they did, just for us. I figured, it didn’t hurt to email them and ask. They happily agreed to serve us. We were the only guests in the whole restaurant. Had the whole venue to ourselves. And secondly, the service was outstanding. Granted, we were the only patrons there. The manager, Joel, was amazing. Super nice, friendly and attentive. It was a real treat coming here. People, service and the food was outstanding.

I was very impressed by the food here and it was a super pleasant afternoon.
The venue itself is in the Hills district of Western Sydney. The Hills Lodge is an English Tudor style lodge.

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

The whole venue to ourselves! VIP treatment.

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

The indulgence high tea is 3-tier stand of the usual treats and a piccolo of Moet champagne. Yes, please. I will never say no to bubbles:

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

Looking like the lady of leisure that I am:

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

Now, bring on the goodies:

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

Afternoon tea for two:

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

Westie food is such comfort food. Some good ol’ sanger’s and mini quiche. And you know I’m a sucker for quiche:

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

Warm, tasty, mini quiche:

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

A plateful of sweets:

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

An assortment of 8 different sweets including some ol’ classic favourites such as lemon meringue, and a lamington (an Aussie thing).

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

Alas, there was only one of each, so we cut each in half so we could sample all 8.

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

Everything was sooo good here.

And some proper Aussies scones and chocolate-dipped strawberries. Aussie scones are hands down the best. No where else quite does scones like they do Down Under. And believe me, I’ve done afternoon in about 10 different countries.

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

All washed down with a generous pot of tea:

From Hills Lodge afternoon tea
From Hills Lodge afternoon tea

I thoroughly enjoyed this special high tea by request. Big thanks to Cheryl, Joel and chef that helped make it happen. Definitely worth the trek out to the burbs for this afternoon tea. Over course of 2013, I visited about another 4-5 afternoon tea venues in the Sydney CBD, and I would have to say, afternoon tea at the Hills Lodge was the best of my Sydney tastings.

Website here.

Aussie Afternoon Tea at Sir Stamford

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

Am very behind on my afternoon tea reviews.
This is one that I did back in Sydney over the Christmas break….yeah, yeah, I know, that was over 6 months ago. But better late than never.
I figured I should probably get these up on the blog before my next Sydney trip rolls around which I realised is only a couple of months away.

First up was Afternoon Tea at the Sir Stamford Hotel. One of my Christmas presents from my dad was a high tea at a venue of my choice. There is no shortage of high tea venues in Sydney – there are soooo many of them, so it’s hard to prioritize which one to go to. I spent weeks researching which one to go to. I decided on the Sir Stamford Hotel near Circular Quay.

From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea

I definitely enjoyed this one – good food and good company.
I went along with my one of my best friends – Nell, my dad and his SO.
We splurged and went for the Elegance High Tea which included champagne.

From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea

Afternoon teas in Sydney aren’t cheap. In fact, Sydney is not a cheap place at all. I actually think living in Tokyo is cheaper.

Afternoon tea here is served at The Bar. Not A Bar, THE Bar:

From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea

Inside The Bar:

From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea
From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea

It’s a traditional style bar with quite the masculine feel to it. No florally, feminine furnishings.

Bring on the champagne:

From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea

High Tea Tiers all round:

From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea

Yum, yum, yum. I love Aussie afternoon teas. Yummy savoury morsels.

From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea
From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea
From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea

Generous portion of smoked salmon and caviar:

From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea
From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea

This curry pastry puff was the best. Could have had me a lot more of these. I think these were a winner all round:

From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea

The sweets round:

From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea
From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea
From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea
From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea

As always, I save the scones for last. Aussie scones are the best. I dream of Aussies scones. I salivate at the thought of them. No where else does scones better than Sydney. In Sydney, we like a scones fluffy, not dry and hard. I’ve had high tea in about 8 different countries and none compare to Aussie scones.
This is what scones should look like:

From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea
From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea
From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea

And yes, us Aussies like to dust our scones with icing sugar. Simply, the bomb! Can’t say the same for the guava jam that was served with it. Keep it simple, folks. Nothing beats strawberry jam.

From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea
From Sir Stamford Hotel Afternoon Tea

The only downside to note about afternoon tea in Australia, is that you generally can’t sample different teas. Gotta choose one tea blend and stick with it, although they will usually allow hot water refills (just don’t burn yourself).

Afternoon tea here was classic and solid.

I’ve got another two Sydney venues to write up about….plus get thinking about the next venue for my next Sydney visit.

Mohini – mini high tea

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

I’ve been slack on my high tea consumption.
I partook in afternoon tea last month with a friend made through this blog. She contacted me and told me she was a fan of high tea, so we arranged to meet up. Coz, that’s how I roll.
We ended up going to a small tea cafe called Mohini for a mini high tea.

Served on a single tray platter we got tiny finger sandwiches, a small piece of pound cake, some fruit, and the tiniest scones I have ever seen! It was very cute. The set is called “small afternoon dish” and not bad for a mere 700yen. Pots of tea are 550yen and there is a very good selection of teas. It’s a tea specialty store. A simple afternoon tea which made for a pleasant change from a hotel high tea. I’m finding that the service at hotel high teas are terrible. There are no shortages of plenty of cute cafes around Tokyo.

It was nice simple old school, home-style afternoon tea, something you’d whip up if your neighbours were to drop by. A nice light refreshment served with a pot of tea.

From Mohini – mini tea
From Mohini – mini tea

The tiniest scones ever:

From Mohini – mini tea

Cute tea cafe:

From Mohini – mini tea
From Mohini – mini tea

Mohini website.

Afternoon Tea in London (Four Seasons)

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

This is an afternoon tea that I did last summer when I was in London. Still haven’t gotten around to posting anything from the my London Trip (last June!).

I would absolutely love to live London! It’s the mecca of high tea! It was a major dilemma to decide which two afternoon tea venues I would do there. So many to choose from! As part of my Four Seasons Afternoon Tea project, I had to go to the Four Seasons hotel in London. A perfect venue for a mini reunion! I was in London to meet my best friend and her fiance, plus catch up with Bex and Jess (whom I knew my days living in Fukushima back when I was a JET). It was pretty awesome that we were all going to be there in the one city at the same time.

The Four Seasons Hotels always have impeccable taste in decor and matching tableware etc.

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Champagne all round to start of the festivities:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

I should probably add, that I only had about 2 days in London and I crammed two afternoon teas in one day! So actually, before attending this afternoon tea, I had come straight from another one beforehand. Ugh, what a glutton.

Lovely tableware – plates, cup saucers, timer sets (for optimal tea brewing).

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

There were two afternoon tea options here. Decisions, decisions. They had the traditional classic “English afternoon tea” as well as a “Gourmet Italian dolce vite afternoon tea”. Talk about torn.

I am a massive fan of Italian food, so the Italian set it was. Between the six of us, I think we ended up 3 Italian sets and 3 English sets, that way we could try both and share.

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea
From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea
From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Yay. Reunion time:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

The Italian-themed afternoon tea set did not disappoint. The savoury morsels were to die for. Way better than cucumber sandwiches.

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

The desserts on the Italian set were also the better option. The two side by side (Italian desserts on the left, English desserts on the right):

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

English desserts:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Italian treats:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Yum:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Only the English afternoon set came with scones though.

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

I thought the food in the Italian afternoon tea set was amazing. Would definitely opt for that again.

Plenty of pots of tea:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Service here was also great. They each gave us a little souvenir of some chocolate tea leaves which I took all the way back to Japan with me. They also gave us a Four Seasons pen. The afternoon tea here is a solid choice venue.

Friends and tea – nothing could be better:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

IVIV: Afternoon Tea at 165 – KL

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

A few months back I was in KL for a couple of days, and of course, I managed to squeeze in an afternoon tea or two. My high tea project needs its own passport, me thinks.
I spent months trying to narrow down the 2-3 venues I would partake in tea at. Kuala Lumpur has a bountiful selection of venues where you can do afternoon tea. Malaysia is a food mecca after all.

The best afternoon tea I did in Kuala Lumpur was at the InterContinental Hotel – at their lobby lounge called IVIV (in Roman numerals) or 165 (numeric).

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

Why 165, you ask? It’s the number of the hotel’s address.

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

I pretty much had the lobby lounge to myself, being the lady of leisure that I am, I settled in for the afternoon at a table for one.

Two afternoon teas on affair – which one to choose?

The Malaysian version:

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

or go traditional:

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

Traditional it was. They had me at lemon meringue pie!

The presentation of the afternoon tea is awesome. I like new and interesting ways of presenting afternoon tea.
I was particularly taken with these stands.

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

Little shelves of yummy treats:

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

All the components here were really tasty. Every. Single. One.

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

And the lemon meringue pie was what I was hanging out for. Not as great as I thought it was going to be, but I’ll take what I can get.

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

A little too meringue heavy for my liking:

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

Scones with strawberry jam and cream – at last.

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

And a pot of tea to top it all off.

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

Afternoon tea – Hotel Seiyo Ginza

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

Occasionally, I get people emailing me who have contacted me though my blog. To date, I have even met some people – total strangers, at that, through my blog. There was a Spanish guy who would write to me asking about open water swimming in Japan. I met up with him twice over the course of my three years in Tokyo.

I then met a girl who lived in Australia and was visiting Tokyo. She was a fellow foodie and we exchange a few emails about recommended eats in Tokyo, and I agreed to meet her for lunch. I haven’t written a blog post about that lunch…yet. I can’t remember if I mentioned it here or not, but the day I met this girl – we ran into Hugh Jackman’s wife – Deborah Lee-Furness. I just missed out on seeing Hugh Jackman. He was in Tokyo filming the new Wolverine movie. It was sooo exciting just to meet his wife! For the record, we had lunch at the Park Hyatt hotel. I still need to write up about that lunch… that was months ago now.

About 2 weeks ago, I got to meet another blog-reader. We had afternoon tea together. She is such a cool girl. We had so much in common. I’m sure in another lifetime we would be best friends, were it not for the fact that she lives in Ecuador! I am totally going to have to go there! We made arrangements to meet at the Hotel Seiyo Ginza. I had chosen it purely on the fact that the hotel is closing down as of May this year, so I had wanted to go there before they close down. We rocked up without a reservation and were given a table immediately. Two afternoon sets were ordered and we chatted the next couple of hours away. Basically trying to tell our whole life stories in a matter of a couple of hours. Carolina is such a cool person – positive energy and vibe with a lot going for. We’re both foodies and fans of afternoon tea and travel. This was only her second afternoon tea experience ever. The afternoon tea here was very classic, traditional – very tame. Not bad, not terrible either. The hotel isn’t going to be around much longer so I figured I’d give it a try. The Seiyo Hotel in Ginza:

From Hotel Seiyo Ginza afternoon tea
From Hotel Seiyo Ginza afternoon tea

The savoury plate’s saving grace was the mini hamburger.

From Hotel Seiyo Ginza afternoon tea
From Hotel Seiyo Ginza afternoon tea

Sweets and cakes:

From Hotel Seiyo Ginza afternoon tea

Scones – plain and choc chip

From Hotel Seiyo Ginza afternoon tea
From Hotel Seiyo Ginza afternoon tea

The afternoon set here comes with a glass of sparkling wine (or juice) plus four beverages of your choice – tea is served by the cup, not by the pot. So I tried four different cups of tea (original blend tea, assam tea, houji cha milk tea, and a mint tea). All in all, not too bad – 5 drinks plus afternoon tea set comes to 5000yen. Maybe not one of the best options for high tea in Tokyo though.

From Hotel Seiyo Ginza afternoon tea
From Hotel Seiyo Ginza afternoon tea
From Hotel Seiyo Ginza afternoon tea

Is it a little bit uncanny, but do we kinda look alike? (Apart from the fact that I wear glasses.)

From Hotel Seiyo Ginza afternoon tea

 

Hotel Tokyo Palace Afternoon Tea

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

The Palace Hotel Tokyo right near the Imperial Palace garden precinct and Tokyo Station district opened earlier this year in May. It’s also really close to my office building. I’ve been able to see the hotel being constructed over the last year or so. Since the hotel opened in May, I’ve been meaning to go and check its afternoon tea. Finally got around to getting there last Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny, warm autumn day. Such a shame I had a bit of a hangover. It was a rather subdued afternoon tea as we’d all been out the night before celebrating a friend’s birthday. I took a stroll through part of the Imperial Palace area. Lots of people out and about enjoying the sunshine. (All photos taken on iPhone and not my SLR this time).

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

Marunouchi CBD in the background.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

The Palace Hotel:

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

They don’t take reservations on weekends for afternoon tea. Most unfortunate. They only take reservations on weekdays. We arrived at 2pm, and had to wait about 30minutes for a table. The Lounge was quite busy, and weddings were also going on in the hotel. We waited in the hotel lobby until a table was available. We finally got a table for our party of six. Afternoon tea is served in the Palace Lounge (lobby lounge).

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

The hotel is very new and the interior is nice with lots of natural light. The new polished floors were a little slippery! Wasn’t a huge fan of the ergonomics of the decor. It’s one of those lounges with comfy soft chairs, but with coffee tables built way too low. The Afternoon tea set here is pretty good. It gets bonus points for creativity and it’s serving ware. I kind of like it when places don’t serve afternoon tea on 3-tier platters. This place serves its afternoon tea in a really cool way. Autumn place setting:

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

The tea set includes unlimited tea of any variety. Yay. I think I tried four different kinds of tea!

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

Loved the teaware!

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

The tea selection is very decent. I was suitably impressed. My favourite of the day was a black tea blend called Trois Freres. A good strong tea best served with milk. The genmaicha was a nice tea to end with. Also had the English breakfast (not that good) and the light Ceylon tea which was too light. The way the afternoon tea is served here is really cool. No tiered platters…instead you get a lacquered wooden box! It kind of looks like a jewelery box with little drawers.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

Pretty neat, ay.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

Each drawer pulls out as an individual box of food, kind of like a bento. One of the slim drawers then serves as a plate.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

The top drawer contained the scone.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

The scone was pretty awesome. Definitely one of (possibly if not the best) scone I’ve had in Japan. It was definitely less ‘biscuity’ and more softer/fluffier on the inside. It was also square-shaped. I wish there had been two scones to a serve though. Scones should not however be served with honey and apricot jam. Where’s the regular strawberry jam?! And honey has no place on scones. Crumpets however are totally deserving of honey. Oh well. The savoury “drawer” was my favourite.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

Two portions each of sandwiches, quiche, pork rillette on baguette, and even inari sushi! The quiche was pretty divine. I thought the raisins and dried apricot was a nice touch. The dessert drawer was ok – an assortment of cakes and berries.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

And I always save the scone for last. Sadly, sans jam.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

Afternoon tea here is standard fare. Not the best and not the worst in Tokyo. Location is convenient though and the food is decent, as is the tea selection. The service however was ridiculously slow! Be prepared to wait 30minutes for each pot of tea. I am not exaggerating. Doesn’t help when the wait staff are shuffling about in kimonos – makes it awkward to carry trays and serve food etc. It is all very pretty though. Afternoon tea (includes unlimited tea) is 3800yen plus tax (about 4100yen). Menu can be viewed on their website.

Afternoon tea at Enokitei, Yokohama

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

It’s been a while since I’ve done an afternoon tea in Tokyo…maybe about 6 months…so it’s about time I did one. The weekend before I last I went to Yokohama for afternoon tea. I was finally able to go to a venue that had been recommended by a blog reader of mine (“Bottlelobotomy” occasionally reads my blog for my afternoon tea reviews, and I had asked him once what his recommendation was, and he said it was Enokitei in Yokohama. Since then I’ve been meaning to check it out. There are two Enokitei branches in Yokohama, one of which has a private tea room. I ended up taking my eikaiwa class (Fukushima survivors, from my Namie days) there. So our party of six was able to book out the private room (flat fee of 2000yen split between 6 people). We were each served our own afternoon tea tiers which made for a very crowded table!

From Enokitei
From Enokitei

The private room is a bit on the small size. Very cozy indeed and was up on the second floor of the building with windows that looked out onto the courtyard. It’s nice for some privacy in a small group where you can talk without being a disturbance to others. It fits a maximum of 6 people.

From Enokitei
From Enokitei

The afternoon tea is very simple and traditional. It consisted of toasted sandwiches with ham, cucumber, cheese and mayonnaise (no assorted sandwiches here), two currant scones, and a plate of cakes. Tea variety is limited. From memory, I think only 2-3 kinds of tea and no English breakfast tea. There might have even been only kind of tea from memory. I had Earl Grey Tea and I think I may not have had a choice about it. The tea is of course served in pots thankfully with little tea cozies.

From Enokitei

The vibe here is very quaint English rose theme. They offer home made cakes and sweets as well as lunch sets.

From Enokitei

Simple, classical afternoon tea. Sandwiches – I did like that they were toasted sandwiches!

From Enokitei

Currant scones with jam and cream – the scones aren’t probably what I would call “scones”, but nevertheless they were actually delicious. They were on the well-baked crunchier side which I enjoyed. I think “Australian” scones are very different to the scones in America, Japan and England. I think the best scones are most definitely “Australian” scones.

From Enokitei

Plate of cakes – raspberry bomb cake, fig and caramel cake, and a hazelnut chocolate cake which was delicious, and a generous dollop of cream.

From Enokitei
From Enokitei
From Enokitei

Afternoon tea here is very pleasant and cozy. Also on the second floor is a little store:

From Enokitei
From Enokitei

On the first floor is the general seating (second floor is the private room). The venue was really crowded on a Saturday afternoon, and there was even a long line to be seated. I was really glad that I had booked the private room.

From Enokitei
From Enokitei

The building itself is very quaint – a more European colonial style building, being that it’s in the Yamate district of Yokohama which has a more international/European style of architecture. It was actually my first time to that area of Yamate and I definitely need to go back to explore more of that beautiful area. Lots of cute cafes there.

From Enokitei

There’s also a nice courtyard which is perfect for spring/summer afternoon tea.

From Enokitei
From Enokitei
From Enokitei
From Enokitei
From Enokitei
From Enokitei
From Enokitei
From Enokitei

The view of Yokohama from the Foreigner’s Cemetery:

From Enokitei
From Enokitei

Afternoon tea set (includes the tea and food platter) is 2,575 yen. There are two Enokitei cafes located close to each other in the Yokohama area. There’s the Enokitei main store, and also Enokitei Rose Garden. I’ll have to go and check that one out too sometime. Both offer afternoon tea sets, as well as cakes, tea/coffee and light lunch meals. On this occasion, I went to the Enokitei main store. If going in a group, I’d recommend booking the private room in advance (2000yen fee for the room). Private room option only available at the Enokitei main store. Website here.

Tea at Laduree, Ginza

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

I don’t feel so guilty for not going to the gym this morning, because I woke up to sea of snow. The ever-picturesque view from my apartment window:

From Laduree

So that gives me extra time to do a blog post of the first afternoon tea for the year in Tokyo.

From Laduree

After running around watching the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday, I ended up in Ginza where I met a handful of friends for afternoon tea. I had chosen the venue with it’s location in mind – prime real estate in Ginza with views of the Marathon to boot.

From Tokyo Marathon 2012

The building on the corner in the photo above is where we had afternoon tea – on the second level of the Mitsukoshi departo (in the corner of the shoe section) is Laduree French tea salon.

From Laduree
From Laduree

We got there early (before midday) to secure a seat. This place gets busy and reservations not accepted.

From Laduree

It’s a little heavy on the French decor.

From Laduree

The sole reason for doing this venue on this day was to watch the marathon whilst having tea. The L-shaped tea salon has large glass windows with full views over the Ginza intersection, allowing front-row seats to the Tokyo Marathon. Check it out!

From Laduree
From Laduree
From Laduree

So yep, safe to say, that Laduree Tea Salon is the best place to go and watch the Tokyo Marathon with a cup of tea and macaroons in hand.

From Laduree

We we’re in fact here for food and tea. Laduree is both a tea salon and french patisserie. They have lots of beautiful-looking sweets to tempt the tastebuds:

From Laduree

The dessert to the left (in photo below) looked oppai-ish.

From Laduree
From Laduree
From Laduree

I started off with the champagne and macaroon set.

From Laduree

The menu here is quite extensive. They offer a la carte light dishes, the 3-tier afternoon tea set, as well as various lunch sets. We actually all ended up doing the lunch set instead of the afternoon tea set. I went with the omelette lunch set which came with an omelettte, mini bread roll, choice of dessert and choice of tea. I probably wouldn’t recommend the sandwich sets as they looked tiny (half a sandwich only). It was a truffle omlette too.

From Laduree
From Laduree

Had a little bit of food envy because a couple of the others got the hot lunch special – choice of fish or beef. They went the beef which looked delicious.

From Laduree

We could choose one dessert (from a select 4). So a friend and I chose a different one each and shared them.

From Laduree

The desserts here are pretty divine. They really excel in the patisserie department. I got to try the giant raspberry and lychee macaroon sandwich filled with raspberries. The other dessert was insanely delicious – chocolate, hazelnut, crispy goodness. Tasted like nutella. Really clean, sharp flavours. The tea selection here was also impressive. 3 pages of teas to choose from. You can choose any tea with the lunch sets.

From Laduree
From Laduree
From Laduree

The highlight of the day were the macaroons. Laduree is famous for their macaroons. I’m generally not a fan of them. Love looking at them, but I don’t enjoy them so much. The macaroons here won me over. They are totally worth it. And you’ve not had a macaroon until you’ve tried Laduree macaroons. Hands down, they win the best macaroon award in Tokyo (to date). This is their specialty. I got to choose two flavours from the window selection.

From Laduree

I settled on the chocolate madagascar macaroon and the citron macaroon. Simply divine. Totally satisfied with my selection. The chocolate madagascar was yummy and the citron was amazing lemon creamy tartiness. Imagine a lemon meringue pie captured in a macaroon. And the texture of these macaroon were amazing.

From Laduree

Macaroon Tower:

From Laduree

Laduree Tea Salon: Level 2, Mitsukoshi department store, Ginza But there’s a bunch of them around Japan. Also one in Nihonbashi (Tokyo). Afternoon tea and lunch sets vary between 3200-3500yen. Champagne and macaroon set 1800yen A la carte also available.