As you know, The Roof at the Hotel Vancouver actually isn't on a roof. But it does have a bright, classy, elegance that is so appropriate for afternoon tea service. At $49, it's at the higher end of tea services in Vancouver, so food quality and location ambiance will both have to measure up. For the most part it does, but depending on your server, it may fall a bit short.Maybe because it is afternoon tea and I have preconceptions of an elegant, calming time, when someone places a sausage roll upside down on your plate it feels like a travesty. And could they not at least flip it over?
Anyway, despite that, afternoon tea at The Hotel Vancouver turned out quite nicely. No missteps with the food. Bread at afternoon tea services can sometimes be cold and dry, but not here. For $49, you get...
- Creamed Asparagus Tartlet
- Put the whole thing in your mouth: The green goop filling is soupy and you'll just make a mess otherwise.
- Chicken & Apple Sausage Roll
- Rather firm sausage with some sweetness to it, so maybe the apple was mixed into the meat.
- Except the over-firm sausage, this was quite decent.
- Yogurt Panna Cotta, Macerated Fruits
- Looks like real vanilla bean seeds in it!
- Warm Butter Scone and Orange & Apricot Scone, house-made Fruit Preserves and Devonshire Clotted Cream
- Enough butteryness for a slight aroma. Not enough to get people up in arms about fat. Very nicely done and served properly warm.
- Cold Smoked Wild Salmon, Organic Egg Salad, Russian Rye, Caviar
- Argh! Somebody stole mine!
- Yes there's caviar. Just a token, decorative amount though.
- Curried Free Range Chicken, Branston Pickle, Caraway Roll
- Surprisingly nicely done. Tender bun, generous almost-spilling-out amount of chicken.
- Maple Glazed Ham & Gouda, Dijonnaise, Cracked Wheat Bread
- English Cucumber & Upland Peppercress, Buttermilk Loaf
- Lemon Curd & Charred Meringue
- Looked like a mini version of their lemon tart from the dessert menu, minus the gold flakes.
- Chocolate Vienetta
- An extremely soft and creamy chocolate cake. Well, actually, it felt more like layers of cream.
- NOT a slice of ice cream viennetta.
- Fruit Tartlet
- Tiny gold flakes sprinkled on the raspberries that topped this.
- Signature Tea Truffle
- Interesting, with a strong peppery-ness to the flavour.
- Cassis Macaron
- Intense flavour. A very nicely done macaron.
For my choice of tea, I chose bubblegum. It's listed on the "Children's Bubblegum Tea" ($19) menu. It tastes like some kind of fruity tea. It does not evoke any similarity to any bubblegum I have ever tasted.
The metal teapots were extremely annoying. Something about the shape of the spout causes the tea to dribble down the outside. Rest the tip of the spout on the edge of your cup when pouring, so that the dribbling goes into your cup. Make sure your napkin is positioned in case of a spill, and you might as well use it to wipe the spout if an excessive amount of tea comes out.
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