I heard Living Social had a deal ($36 for 2 people) for
their afternoon tea at the Fairmont YVR Airport location a while ago. Unfortunately, it
sold like hotcakes and by the time I tried to purchase one, it was all sold
out. :( Luckily, the Richmond Review had a similar coupon during the
same weekend so I quickly printed the coupon out and made a reservation on the week of Valentines day.
The interior is very modern yet comfy and we saw many people
enjoying the high tea experience using the coupon. The service was impeccable
from start to finish and both Meta Knight and I were very pleased with our
server.
I’ve tried the high tea experience at Fairmont Vancouver in
downtown and I really liked their selection of teas. Unfortunately, this
location had a different tea selection and none of them sparked much interest
for me.
While we were waiting for our teas, we noticed the little
pots of honey at our table! Yay, I love honey!
After much deliberation, I finally chose the Berry Berry which is described as “a rich
burgundy infusion [that] fills the palate with deep berry notes”. It tasted very
fruity and slightly tart.
Meta Knight went with their signature blend which was the Fairmont Vancouver Airport “Jetsetter” and it's essentially a low caffeinated tea that has been specifically designed to aid in
the recovery from jetlag. He really liked his tea and hated mine. I loved mine and didn’t like his :P. I thought his tea
tasted too strong and malty, but that’s just me.
The server gave us a nifty little tea timer which
helped us know exactly how long to steep the tea in accordance with how strong
you want the flavour to be.
To start off, we were given a small portion of fresh BC
berries with mint and basil that has been marinated in the Berry Berry tea. I
really liked it as it was refreshing. Meta Knight thought it was meh.
It came in a three tier presentation and at first glance, the portion looked very small. However, near the end we were very full and
satisfied (we drank a LOT of tea).
The bottom tier contained sandwiches. On the left is the Egg Salad Croissant and the right is
the Curried Chicken and Mango on
Baguette. The croissant was our favourite whereas the curried chicken was
our least favourite. The curry was too grainy and tasted funny.
The left is the Smoked
Salmon on Rye with Cucumber and Fresh
Horseradish and the right is the Aged
Cheddar and Apple with Fresh Basil Sandwich. Both were very delicious. The
apple slices in the cheddar and apple sandwich were a bit too thin for me to
taste the crunch and refreshing sweetness that I was expecting.
The SCONES... the DEVONSHIRE CREAM... oops I think I just
drooled a bit. These Freshly Baked
Cranberry and Lemon Scones were heavenly and it came with Devonshire cream as well as strawberry jam. I just realized that I forgot to take a
picture of the jam and Devonshire cream which sucks because I could go on and
on about how delicious they were when paired with these scones. Anyways, my
absolute favourite was the cream while Meta Knight’s obsession was the
strawberry jam. It worked out perfectly.
Devon cream was ALL MINE. :D
I remembered the desserts at the Fairmont Vancouver location
was not amazing and it is the same case here. The Lemon Tart and the Vanilla
Cream Puffs were alright and quite ordinary. I actually like the Costco
cream puffs more than the ones here.
The FVA Honey
Cheesecake as well as the Chocolate
Hazelnut Tart were only so-so as well. The hazelnut tart was good but a tad
too rich for me.
The dessert tier was the least impressive but by no means
was it bad. It just didn’t give me the ”oh my god, SOOO GOOD!” reaction.
Overall, it was a fantastic high tea experience and is a great deal if you have the coupon. I'm not sure if I would come back for its regular price high tea as it would come up to about $90 for the both of us (including tax and tips and everything) which is quite expensive. But for the 50% off price, I would definitely recommend checking this Fairmont location out.
Service Rating: 4.5/5
Food Rating: 4/5
Price: $$$$
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Happy Eating!
AHHHH *squeals in delight* Glad you enjoyed it as well! I agree... I have never had excellent dessert at any afternoon tea place, but I thought the dessert here was way better than Hotel Vancouver.
ReplyDeleteOh I forgot to ask, was the bread in the sandwich dry? Or was it ok for you?
ReplyDeleteoh I didn't write about it but YES, I did think the bread was a bit dry! At least... it was enough for me to point it out when we were eating. Was your bread dry too?
DeleteYea... that was the only problem I had though. Everything else was spectacular :) Omg can't wait to go again!
DeleteI really enjoyed reading this tea experience and all your other ones hahaha
ReplyDeleteHave you tried Adorabelle in Richmond? They're quite new and have the most delicious creamy earl grey!
Why thank you Sukipooki! I have not yet tried Adorabelle but have been meaning to in the past couple of years :P I also want to go back to Meloty. That place was great.
ReplyDelete