High/Afternoon Tea

The first image that springs to my mind when I think about high tea is a British grandmother sitting in a hotel lobby and sipping on some earl grey tea with her pinky sticking out.  It’s rarely an activity that I associate a group of late-twenties grad students participating in.  Interestingly enough, this is exactly what our group was composed of (not counting myself since I’ve yet to become a grad student).

My first introduction to the world of high tea, or afternoon tea, was last summer during my whirlwind trip to China.  I got to see the high and mighty eating yummy sweets and sipping their tea at the Penninsula Hotel while I merely walked by, drooling over their scrumptious arrangement of treats.  It was actually Antony’s idea to do high tea for his birthday as opposed to a yummy steak at the Keg (my poison of choice for birthdays).  Toronto actually has a fair share of choices for high tea such as the famous Windsor Arms and the chic Four Seasons.  We went with the King Edward since it had great reviews and wasn’t overly pricey (at about $20-$30 a head depending on the set you choose).

Teas for sniffing

We were first presented with a open box of all the teas, allowing you to sniff each one so that you can make your selection.  Sara went with the Darjeeling Oolong tea while Antony and myself went with the traditional English Breakfast tea.  Jenn decided on the house blend, her choice being influenced by having a tea that she can put both honey and milk into.

The tea strainer

The interesting thing about high tea is that the tea leaves are placed right into the pot with the water, otherwise known as loose tea.  The filtering happens through use of a tea strainer which is placed right on top of your china tea cup.  A couple of times, we’d forget to place the strainer on our cups before pouring and would have to pick out the leaves after.

I can’t really comment much about the tea besides that it took a while to steep and become strong enough to taste in the back of your mouth.  Infact, with Sara’s tea, it didn’t finally come on strong until the tea was already cold.  Fortunately, this is somewhat remedied by our server who would kindly pour more hot water into our tea pots through the course of the meal.

The King's Tea set

For our food platter sets, we each went with the traditional choice of the King’s Tea serving.  This comes with a few finger sandwiches, some scones with clotted cream, and a few tarts.

The seafood based sandwich had a very overwhelming fishy taste.  It only consisted of smoked salmon with chopped bits of shrimp and mayonnaise.  Thanks to my shellfish allergy, I couldn’t try it, so my previous comment is actually based on the opinion of my friends.  On the other hand, the ham sandwich was great.  It was a nice melody of chopped ham and chicken with some herbs and a bit of mayonnaise.  The set also came with a cucumber sandwich and an egg salad sandwich, both were okay but nothing too special.

Clotted cream.. clotted for clotting your arteries!

Now onto the scones.  First off, allow me to display my shallowness by saying that my original thought behind clotted cream was “yuck!”.  Why does this make me shallow?  Well because on an episode of The Girls Next Door (see?), the girls went to London and tried clotted cream and were mostly disgusted by it.  Fortunately, I loved the stuff.  I know it’s pretty much composed of all of the fat and bad-for-you stuff of milk, but it’s so darned smooth and good, especially on the cranberry scones.  Plus, top it off with some jam and you’ve got yourself one of the best afternoon snacks you could treat your taste buds to!

The treats at the top weren’t too noteworthy.  I guess the meringue tart was probably the most memorable with it’s crunchy meringue and fresh raspberry sitting on a chocolate filled tart.  It makes a great taste all together if you manage to fit a bit in your mouth.  I ate my meringue first.

It was a nice experience trying out high/afternoon tea for the first time, and I regret not doing it while in London or Hong Kong, but I do plan on doing it when I visit said places again.  Oh, and since this is mainly an experience piece, I thought I’d make note of Sara’s bathroom experience.  While she was utilizing the facilities post-tea time, she could hear the pleasurable ecstatic moans of a female coming from the service room.  Hopefully her experience at the King Edward Hotel was as tasteful as ours.

(I can hear Sara already saying, “Aww why did you have to write about that on your website?”)

the market-like atmosphere of Richtree

In the heart of the financial district, right inside of the architecturally stunning Brookfield place, lies a bustling restaurant with a market like atmosphere.  When you first enter Richtree, you’re given your own swipe card.  How it works here is that you can ‘shop’ for your food at each station which caters to a type (ie, seafood, pizza, sandwiches, desserts, etc).  When you decide what you want, your card gets swiped by the chefs, and your food is made right in front of you.  It’s sort of a self serve method, taking away the need to rely on waiters.  It’s the overall market place theme of the place that makes it so great though.  The theme is present right down to the seating areas which are roomed in areas that also contain their own theme such as a Parisian and Italian.

Rosti, uncooked on the inside, crispy on the outside

Presentation aside, I’m here for the food, and food is exactly what this place is known for.  I’ll start with the most popular dish, the Rösti.  Rösti is typically shredded potatoes that are pan fried served with a side of sour cream or apple sauce although Richtree only offers the former.  It costs about $4 for just the rösti but for an additional $4 you can get it served with the sausage of the day.  I’m mentioning the price here (which I don’t normally do) as I felt an additional $4 for just the sausage was a bit ludicrous.  I didn’t have the sausage this time but I’ve had it in the past and it’s really nothing special.  As for the rösti itself, it’s usually pretty good.  But not this time.  The first rösti I was given was burnt black to a hard crisp at the bottom of it.  The chef at the counter had no problem replacing it for me, but unfortunately not only was the one she replaced it with about a third smaller than the burnt one, but it was also slightly undercooked in the middle.

Rooibos tea latte with cinnamon and nutmeg

Antony went and had a drink made at the coffee bar, a rooibos tea latte with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Say that three times fast!  I’ve never had a rooibos tea before so I had try it out.  It has a sort of familiar taste, like that of a combination of mint tea and chai tea.  But the chai taste could have been coming from the added cinnamon.

Their special that day was paste with salad and a selection of vegetables, so I tried to order that, but unfortunately they were out of it.  Well I guess it was just after 10pm and the place closes in a mere 2 hours.  So the chef instead offered me the pasta with ground beef instead.  The dish was prepared right in front of me and fresh vegetables were taken from the bowls in front of him and used in his concoction.  Overall, the dish was pretty good.  The paste was nice and al dente, and the tomato sauce they used was nice and rich.  You can also sprinkle as little or as much Parmesan cheese onto it as you like from the giant cheese cut bowl next to the counter.

Pasta with ground beef

Antony decided he wanted sea food that night so he went and ordered the talapia fillet with a serving of market rice.  The talapia was way too fishy for my tastes.  I thought I was finally starting to get used to the fishy taste of fish these days, but the talapia tasted a lot stronger than seaweed wrap.  Antony thoroughly enjoyed his fish though.  The rice wasn’t too bad either, a nice medley of vegetables and spices, but it did seem a bit on the salty side.

Talapia

For dessert we had, which can only be explained as, sponge cake with fruit on top of it.  it was unlabeled at the dessert counter so I just sort of pointed at it as it was the dessert that had the most abundance of fruit on top of it.  It wasn’t too bad but it was also nothing special.  It was served with a side dropping of vanilla cream sauce in case you wanted to dip your fork into it.

Overall, I feel Richtree is a tad on the expensive side, and you really have to be careful of what you order as there are a few common restaurant dishes which cost a bit more there than you would expect.  Also, the fact that you’re given a card system and have to jump from station to station to get your food, you can easily lose track of the rising cost of your order.  I would recommend Richtree for late night eating, and I have been back there a few times myself, but personally, I think we all go there more for the experience than the food.  Not that the food is bad, but the unique market like confined experience trumps the food in most cases.

Average Price: $8 – $16 per entree
Hours: Sun-Thur 7:00am – Midnight, Fri-Sat 7:00am – 2:00am
Address: 42 Yonge St.
Phone: 416-366-8986
TTC Directions: Get off at King station, walk to Yonge street.  Walk south on Yonge on the west side for about half a block and enter into Brookfield Place.

Le Pain Quiotidien at the corner of Yonge and Yorkville

Bread, bread, and more bread.  Bread means carbs.  Too many carbs are bad. Incase you haven’t noticed, I’m sort of going on a bit of a health kick lately so I was actually a little reluctant to go to a place known as “the daily bread”.  Fortunately, as noted a few times by Antony, there aren’t too many unhealthy selections at Le Pain Quotidien.  Infact over 90% of the menu, not counting the desserts, are actually healthy choices full of grains, fruits, and many other organic ingredients.  I’ve been told that they use local ingredients too though I don’t see anything on their website which confirms it.

the joint's quite hopping on a sunday afternoon

For our mid autumn brunch, Sara, Antony, and myself decided to head to LPQ (now I’ll say LPQ because an acronym looks better than Le Pain) up in the Yorkville area which is located a hop, skip, and jump from the subway Bloor subway entrance.  The place was bustling with patrons and staff, eagerly serving the Sunday brunch crowd.  It had a very nice rustic and cozy feel to the place, with wooden tables, and a wood-colour stained cement walls.  The restaurant also sported a bunch of chalk boards listing the specials up on a couple of walls, giving it a very french cafe feel.  They also had this one wall in the back area of the restaurant that had these giant metal items hanging on it which I could only describe as.. bicycle seats?

the awesome tea setup/the cold coffee and sorta hard but yummy croissant

For starters, Antony ordered a tea and Sara ordered a coffee, while I just stuck with coffee.  Antony noted that the tea setup was wonderfully done and came with traditional style french teacups.  Yes, he’s pompous about his tea and even what type of pot the hot water comes in.  On the other side of the table, Sara’s issue was that her coffee came in a pot which cools down too quickly, and would’ve preferred to have had the diner system, where waitresses come by every 10 minutes to refill your cup with hot coffee.  She also said her coffee was overly roasted.  We can thank Starbucks for this trend as they’ve trained everyone’s taste buds to prefer overly roasted coffee.

For our entrees, I went with the Rustic Tuna Sandwich which comes with bacon bits, cheese, and green onions.  Probably not the healthiest choice, but definitely sounded tasty.  Their soup of the day was butternut squash so, knowing my love for that soup, I had to order a small cup of it.  Sara went with an almond croissant to start, and a quiche lorraine as her entree.  Antony with a bowl of handcut oatmeal and berries served with non fat milk, and a fruit salad bowl on the side.

butternut squash soup

First let’s start with the butternut squash soup which came with a squirt of pesto oil on the top (thanks goes to Sara for identifying it for me).  Even though it’s a cream based one colour soup, you could easily taste an array of different types of vegetables within it’s creamy yet textured goodness.  But I’ll be honest, my first initial taste was a little disappointing.  This is mainly due to the fact that the last two butternut squash soups that I’ve tried have been loaded with brown sugar and gave it an excellent sweet taste.  LPQ’s soup didn’t really contain much sugar at all.  But after a few more spoonfuls of the soup, everyone agreed that it was awesome.

rustic tuna

As you can see in the photo, the rustic tuna sandwich is presented open faced with a few slices of tomatoes.  The collection of ingredients sitting on the nicely toasted and crunchy bread was quite good.  The tuna was nice and flaky and didn’t have much mayonnaise on it, which is a good thing.  The addition of bacon, green onions, and bit sof cheese added a nice touch and helped to dissipate the fishy taste which is usually present with tuna.  The downfall about this sandwich is that it was sort of difficult to eat.  It wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to pick up with your fork if you’re going to cut it and eat it, and it also wasn’t much fun to pick up with your fingers as the bread would absorb some of the moisture and collapse from your fingers.

Sarah’s almond croissant was a little on the hard side, but this could be due to the fact it was sitting in the dessert bar all morning before being consumed.  It did appear to contain a lot of butter, but what croissant doesn’t?  I didn’t try any of it but her and Antony both seemed to enjoy it.

the quiche lorraine

The quiche lorraine came along side a slice of bread, and a mesclun salad.  I had a bite of Sara’s quiche and it was nice and fluffy in the middle with an excellent flaky crust.  The mesclun salad is a nice healthy alternative to the usual garden salad, but in my own experience, it sort of churns my stomach after eating.  Maybe it’s due to the fact that I don’t eat enough organic greens, or it could be all in my head that I feel like I’m eating a houseplant rather than a salad.

the oatmeal.. looks smaller than it actually was

Antony’s oatmeal came with a nice assortment of blackberries and raspberries on the top.  But rather than add sugar in his oatmeal, he decided to start throwing in his fruit salad which contained the same berries but also had melon pieces and strawberries.  It was a pretty large bowl of oatmeal though, which he couldn’t completely finish.  Without the fruit added, the oatmeal tasted no different than the microwave oatmeal you’d buy at Loblaws, so I saw nothing special in calling it.  But I guess whether it’s handcut or not, it’s still going to taste the same.

Overall we had no complaints about our experience aside from the staff not coming to check on us as much as we’d like.  But this was a Sunday afternoon and the place was packed.  Not to mention that the table we were sat at was kind of in the corner and not completely accessible without playing hopscotch over the other patrons to get to us.  The price was a little up there though (just shy of $11 for my sandwich, and Sara’s quiche coming in at $12) but given the area it was pretty reasonable.  There are cheaper choices on the menu though, but we went with our stomachs, not our wallets.  I definitely look forward to returning to LPQ again in the future, and I recommend if you do go with a few friends, don’t hesitate to try the Organic Baker’s basket if it’s your first time checking the place out.  It’s well worth it and gives you a nice assortment of their different types of breads and spreads to try out.

Average Price: $6 – $12 per entree
Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30am – 7:30pm, Sat 8:00am – 7:30pm, Sun 8:00am – 6:00pm
Address: 10 Yorkville Ave (not 18 as listed on Urbanspoon)
Phone: 416-926-7555
TTC Directions: Get off at Yonge/Bloor station and exit out into Yonge street.  Walk two blocks north on the west side of Yonge until you reach Yorkville Ave.

This is a slightly different edition of Food injustice today as I’ve been given permission to share this story from another food blogger.  It comes from the author over at I go eat.  The author and his friends went out for bubble tea and desserts at Go For Tea, a tea cafe type joint up near Ellesmere Rd and Midland Ave.  When they first called to arrange reservations, they were told that they’d be slapped with a $6.99 reservation fee due to the long weekend.  Wait, reservation fee?  Are they getting a mortgage or going out to eat?

And that’s just the icing on the cake.  Upon asking for a refill of his chrysanthemum tea, Mr. I go eat noticed that there was a snail inside the cup.  Upon which he called to the waitress’ attention:

I show her and instead of an apology she simply said: “ Oh that’s so cute”

Although it’s not uncommon for snails to be perched and sliming their way across chrysanthemum leaves, it is pretty bad that it managed to make it’s way into the tea, leaving me to believe that they probably didn’t wash the flower enough before placing it in the tea cup.

In my own personal experience, every time I go to a tea shop out in the Scarborough area for bubble tea, I’m usually greeted with waitresses who care more about their makeup than my patronage.

To read how this food injustice ended, head on over to I go eat’s blog for the rest of the story.

Inside Coffee Culture

Local coffee chains are sort of given a bad reputation.  I’m not talking about Tim Hortons, but looking more towards Coffee Time and Urbana (Urban Chic, Urban Cool, Urban You… need I say more?).  So when I first heard about Coffee Culture, a new chain which started in back in 2006 in Woodstock, I just dismissed it like everyone else.  Then I was told “they’ve got free wi-fi and lots of plugs!” but so does every other ma and pa cafe.  Then I was told “they’ve actually got good cheap food too!” and with that I was sold.  On a side note, their US website completely leaves out the fact that they’re Canadian!  Of course, it’s not that hard to find out where they originated from, but just odd that they left it out.

Coffee Culture sits near the intersection of College and Bathurst, right at the edge of Little Italy.  It’s a busy little cafe and has an overall great ambiance, much like that of a European cafe.  The floating LCD TVs piping CP24 give you somewhere to stare off to when your date-from-hell turns to ice.  Now that I think about it, wouldn’t Starbucks be that much better (and local) if they too hung televisions from the ceiling and aired CP24?  I guess not.  Like Mama always said, “Television rots your brain!”, it also kills conversation.  Thankfully, at least on the day I went, the TVs lacked any sort of volume and were more there for the visual aspect.

Mmmm Butternut Squash soup

Now onto the food.  They had a special going on that day – for just shy of $7 you get a soup, any sandwich of your choice, and a bottled water.  I choose the minestrone soup while Antony had the butternut squash.  We both went with the roast beef and cheddar sandwiches.  The sandwiches themselves were great, grilled with a panini press.  I’m starting to learn that the most plain sandwiches become the best sandwiches in the world once they’re shoved in a panini press.  I absolutely love how they get these nice crisp ridges in the bread.  Bread aside (I’ve got to get me a panini press.  Hey, my birthday is coming up soon too), the roast beef and cheddar was nicely done, garnished with a slice of lettuce and tomatoes.  There wasn’t anything special about the roastbeef though.  It was just your standard cold-cut meat, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t taste great.

Roast Beef and Cheddar Sandwich and Minestrone Soup

The soups were surprisingly good.  I have to say, I’ve never had butternut squash as good as the one these guys serve.  I’m not sure if they actually make it there themselves, or if it’s prepackaged, but whatever it is – it’s awesome!  There’s a hint of cinnamon in it too, so it gives your tongue a happy.  I’m planning to return there soon just to get some more butternut squash soup pending they are serving it that day.  The minestrone was also incredibly good and had tons of vegetables in it.  The broth was great too, not too salty and not too water-y.  I would also recommend it too!

Hooray for places that open late!

Oh and did I mention this place also has free wi-fi, and a decent amount of plugs?  Not to mention the front booth tables are really comfy.  They made my 5 hour study session quite comfortable.  I also had a piece of strawberry mouse cake, which was fricken huge!  Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of it.  It wasn’t the best mousse cake I’ve had, but it was also far from bad.  I highly recommend this place if you’re ever in the area, and it’s also a great place to study at too if you’re looking for an alternative from Golden Griddle, which I’ve noticed is getting a lot students now.  Coffee Culture is open until midnight (or 1am on weekends).  It doesn’t quite qualify for the late night study places, but it’s not a bad alternative.

Average Price: $4 – $8 per entree
Hours: Sun-Wed 6:30am – Midnight, Thurs – Sat 6:30am – 1:00am
Address: 409 College St
Phone: 416-868-9078?
TTC Directions: Hop on the College streetcar and head towards Bathurst.  Hop off at Bathurst and College and walk half a block east on the south side of College.

With only a handful of locations, all based in Toronto, the franchise isn’t exactly in your face unlike the bigger guys such as Tim Hortons, and most locations are tucked in small street corners or within malls.  According to their website [Psst, your Joomla favicon tag is sticking out!], the name has been around since 1981.

Having one right nearby where we work, Ashley and I decided to finally try it out.  I’ll admit that they do have a nice patio, but we didn’t bother sitting outside with the weather being a bit breeze.

Pasta Salad

Ashley ordered a simple pasta salad (if you’re wondering why there’s no tomatoes, it’s because she requested to leave them out) which she described as excellent, and not too tangy.  I, myself, went with a bit of comfort food, grilled cheese and a fruit salad.

Fruit Salad and a Panini Pressed Grilled Cheese

I wasn’t expecting much to come out of this grilled cheese, as it’s a simple sandwich to begin with.  Two slices of bread and some cheese, possibly butter the sides and pan fry it til crisp.  Well at Croissant Tree, they don’t pan fry, or butter it.  They just shove it in a panini press, and wait for it to toast.  Not that I don’t mind, as the less butter and frying, the better.  But this is a grilled cheese.

My fruit salad was good.  The fruit was really fresh and it did contain the usual coctail of fruits:  melons, grapes, kiwis.  What it lacked were berries, and there was hardly any kiwi in the salad.

The lone kiwi in my salad

Overall, it was a decent quick lunch for under $10 without any frills.  The upside is that the location we went to near Church and Bloor has a nice patio, which will be perfect once the warm weather rolls around and stays.

Average Price: $4-$5 per sandwich, $8 for a combo with a salad