Afternoon Tea at The Empress Hotel

Afternoon Tea - The Empress Hotel on Urbanspoon

Afternoon Tea at the Empress Hotel is talked about like a sort of institution, a place that you "must" go if you are in Victoria. Sadly, marketers inevitably get their tentacles on anything that is a "must", and put the squeeze on anyone who "must" experience it.

Afternoon Tea here mainly distinguishes itself from other afternoon tea services by being in a heritage dining room in a heritage hotel, though its exotic tea blends might be (or just sound) more exotic than others available -- for example, the intriguing Quangzhou Milk Oolong Tea: "A most unique character best described as 'premium oolong with sweet milk and
light orchid notes peeking out from camellia depths'. The milky flavour of this tea is a result in a sudden and rare shift in temperature during harvest. This silky and smooth tea is produced in relatively small quantities from December to March. An amazingly profound tea indeed."

Other than that, it is not particularly special, though there is clearly attention to finer details that can slide, such as cucumber sandwiches that are actually tasty and bread that isn't dry. The selection feels conservative, and if you are vegan or celiac, try not to just walk in and catch them off guard.

Empress Tea ($49.95)

Fresh Cut Strawberries with Empress Cream
Smoked Salmon Pinwheel with Dill Cream Cheese
Roasted Bone-In Ham with Tarragon Dijonnaise
Free Range Egg Salad Croissant
Cucumber & Ginger Mascarpone on Butter Brioche
Moroccan Spiced Coronation Chicken on Marble Rye
Freshly Baked Raisin Scone with Strawberry Jam & Empress Cream
Grande Marnier White Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Tea Cup with Matcha Cream
Vanilla Bean Shortbread
Salted Caramel Coffee Delice
Lemon Curd Tartlet

Tea is served in simple steel pots that hold a remarkable amount of tea and keep it hot. Nothing fancy to look at but certainly practical. The placement at the table may require that it be passed to you, but typically your server will look in on you and keep your cup topped up. Depending on how quickly your table drinks, this may feel intrusive.

At $49.95, afternoon tea at The Empress Hotel is a steep proposition; it is a further +$15 to try one of their more interesting teas. If paying for heritage ambiance and to literally dine as the royals did, then you will not blink at the price. If a tasty and interesting afternoon tea is your sole aim, then look elsewhere.
Nostalgic seniors (age 60+) may opt for a Senior's Tea (January 6 to February 28) at $29.95.

In May to September, evening tea is available from 7pm to 9pm.
The small blue boxes of their "Empress Blend" looks a reasonable size, but contain a mere ten (10) packets of tea.

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 3

A picture from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. I can't remember why I had this couple in the picture, but I do vaguely remember this to be in London, on the first official day of the tour group getting together. Their insistence on my helping them take a picture caused the three of us to be late getting back to the bus. The local tour guide had a "rule" about lateness, that we had to buy chocolate to share with everyone. As it turned out, later in the trip, on at least two occasions, we were stuck on the highway on either a long commute or a traffic jam, and I had chocolate and chocolate-covered marzipan to share. About the chocolate-covered marzipan -- Apparently we were in Austria just as they were celebrating Mozart's birthday with special marzipans wrapped in foil with the famous composer's picture. I'm pretty sure it was Mirabell Mozartkugeln . Anyway, there were enough to go around the en...

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 10

The last of my pictures (at least the ones that survived the cheesy disposable cameras) from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. Below is the obligatory group photo. Not sure everyone's in it, actually. I'm pretty sure this one was taken by the tour director, Mike Scrimshire as I'm in the back row, on the right side.

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 9

More assorted couples on my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. An American couple who joked about being from "the land of the giants" -- and with good reason, because both of them were really tall! A cute Jewish mother-daughter pair who ducked out part-way to divert to Israel. I vaguely remember the issue of the daughter being an orthodox Jew was highlighted in France when, to make things easy, she just declared herself vegetarian for the wait staff. I also remember there was some logistics error in France because our party size was way underestimated or simply relayed incorrectly, and there was a shortage of food at dinner. Dessert came as an unopened can of yogurt. It did not seem like they tried to make it up to us later, either. Plus there was smoking every which way in France, and I had a helluva time with that. We were also in a hotel that seemed tucked away in the burbs, and not walking distance from anythin...

Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Search This Blog