I've had plenty of Cream Teas (which involve piling as much clotted cream and jam on to a fragile scone as possible). I've had Scottish High Tea which involves a lot of meat before the tea and bread and is effectively a dinner-time meal. But Afternoon tea with tea cups and petit-fours and pinky fingers crooked out is something that is a special event, not a household thing.
Now, in the space of six months, I've had two Afternoon Teas in Canada. The expensive, but incredibly practiced one at the Empress, and the lower budget version at the James Bay Tea House. These are two different ends of the experience. The first is all formal, in gorgeous surroundings and everything has to be just-so. And the price point reflects it.
The James Bay Tea House is in a wooden heritage house (or at least looks like it from the outside). Inside, the tables have white cotton tablecloths, and a pile of condiments in the middle. The walls are adorned with a variety of china plates and pictures of the Queen, Winston Churchill, and Kate Middleton and her baby. With a pair Union Flags to set things off to show this is meant to be BRITISH and PROUD. If you look at older pictures of the insides, the walls used to be crammed with double the amount of Royal memorabilia, the pillars covered in horse brasses, and high shelves with commemorative tea sets. All a bit much, and I'm glad they've toned it down.
Myself, with the lovely Brunette of my Acquaintance and a friend of ours, visited on a quieter afternoon for a natter and a catch up. I've been told to be nice about the Tea Room. The Brunette enjoyed herself and thought it was a very lovely place. Our friend also enjoyed the Afternoon Tea we got served.
I'll relay what I thought as we go through. We got two smaller afternoon teas along with a veggie burger for the Brunette. It was served with hash browns. They were cubed, parboiled and sauteed potatoes for those on Hash Brown Watch. Rich, red skinned ones, perfect for that sort of treatment.
The tea room had run out of clotted cream. So we had extra butter to go with our jam. Not quite the same thing, and a shame, as the scones and crumpet served on the lower deck of the triple layer of food were excellent. The scones were moist and crumbly with a good helping of dried fruit inside. The crust was crunchy, but not crisp. The second layer had some more scones, which I think were of a slightly different provenance. They did the trick too.
On the top, we had three small petit fours: a butter tart, a square of Nanaimo bar and something lemony. The butter tart was fantastic. Buttery, rich and sweet. I don't like Nanaimo Bars. The coconut base doesn't do it for me. This didn't have much of a desiccated coconut flavour at all, so I enjoyed it.
The teapots had little-knitted cosies on them. This didn't help me much when mine had a bad case of spout dribble. I'm afraid the table cloth was left a lot wetter than when I sat down. The brew was good and strong. Not Red Rose, as far as I could tell. I'd drink it again, for sure. We got a nice china tea cup and saucer to drink out of. I could crook out my little finger if I wanted. I managed to drink using the handle, rather than a paw wrapped around it. The Brunette has been training me to be seen in polite society.
The service was okay... we had to call back for cutlery, and it was a little slower than I'd have expected for a quiet afternoon. But there was service, and we got everything we wanted with a smile and pleasant attitude, so not really a big deal.
Overall, this is a pleasant enough spot. It serves a decent set of food for a fair price. You don't get the silver service of the Empress, and the view is a crossroads on Menzies Street, not the Inner Harbour. But at 25% of the price, and a short, short work for the Empress, I'd send a visitor here if they want English style tea room without breaking the bank.
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