Mother's Day High Tea

Happy One-Week-Belated Mother’s Day!, for all those mothers (including mine) reading our blog. Last Sunday, I took my mom out to Yorkville for Mother’s Day in the afternoon. We went to Avenue Road to pick out flowers and Four Seasons hotel for high tea.

Originally, I was going to order flowers for my mother but since we were going to Yorkville anyways, picking out flowers from the flower market at Avenue Road was a much better choice; and you’ll see why:

Along Avenue Road, there are a bunch of “flower market” stores /combined convenience stores that sell fresh flowers for much less than what you would get them for at your typical floral shop. They will wrap your flowers for no extra charge and you’ll end up getting a better bouquet for a better price.


 

Lovely roses outside the store...

Lots of Roses! Here are 6 roses in a bouquet for $6.99!

Inside Yang's, they have a selection of beautiful Orchids -- my favourite flower! (Angela's too!)

Here's an example of a handpicked bouquet that will costs approx less than $30

Inside Yang's...

The place that I bought my flowers from was Yang’s Flower Market. There are many more flower stores along that street, and everything is around the same price. So, if you’re around the area and you want to buy flowers at a reasonable price for yourself or for someone else, this is the place to go. Not to mention that Yorkville has a lot of good restaurants and shops to explore as well.

Yang's Flower Market

For our afternoon tea, we went to the Four Seasons hotel. A typical tea set costs $38.00 per person. It includes a selection of sandwiches, pastries, freshly baked raisin or plain scones, and your choice of tea. Depending on the season, you will find that you’ll be able to try a different selection of sandwiches and pastries.

Here’s what my tea set looked like:

On the top we have,

·         Chestnut Cake with Cognac cream

·         Hazelnut Financier

·         Four Seasons Tea Infused Chocolate Tart

·         Toasted Coconut Shortbread Cookie

Then there are the freshly baked raisin & plain scones (which do come with different jams, lemon curd, and Devonshire Cream).

And finally these sandwiches on the bottom shelf:

·         House Smoked Salmon & Lemon Dill Butter

·         Maple Raosted Ham & Aged Cheddar

·         Spiced Roasted Pumpkin & Green Apple

·         Roasted Portobello and Asiago Cheese

·         Chicken Pastrami and Sundried Cranberry Relish

They serve all your normal standard teas (earl grey/English breakfast/orange pekoe) as well as their own special blends.

This one is the Mountain Berry tea. It features a sip of Saskatoon berry pie filled with currants, raisins & blue berries. It’s a very sweet tea that is fruit based – something you probably wouldn’t need to add sugar to unless you’re me (sweet tooth).

At Four Seasons, The scones are delicious. They are freshly baked and served warm. The sandwiches, on the other hand were unique. They always have one or two standard ones that they always have on their menu and the rest are seasonal selections that will change during different times of the year. My favourite two from this selection are the Maple Roasted Ham sandwich, and the Chicken Pastrami /Cranberry Relish Sandwich – which had a very tangy citrus taste to it.

The desserts, although presented well, didn’t taste as good as they looked.

Oh and here's what the Four Seasons Lobby looks like. 

Pretty? =P

~~~~~

If you’re interested in high tea, there are several other places aside from Four Seasons.

Some other well-known high tea places are:

Windsor Arms Hotel Tea Room
18 St. Thomas Street, Toronto ON

·         They are very expensive compared to the other tea rooms in Toronto and are usually fully booked during holidays. I tried to book them a month in advance for Mother’s Day and they were fully booked for Mother’s Day weekend.

Moroco Chocolat
99 Yorkville Avenue, Toronto ON

·         Well known for their chocolate desserts and macaroons, they also serve afternoon tea during the day and feature a selection of chocolate desserts, sandwiches, and a wide selection of tea. When ordering tea, they will bring out a whole stand of tea leaves in containers for you to smell and choose from.

Fairmont Royal York

100 Front Street West, Toronto ON

·         Located on Front Street, it is the most convenient high tea place to go to. It is right across from Union Station (no need to go all the way to Yorkville!)

                                                                                                                  

The Team Room at Robinson-Bray House

223 Queen St. South, Mississauga (Streetsville) ON

·         If you are in Mississauga, this is the tea room to go to! Located in the quaint and beautiful village of Streetsville, this tea room is located in a historical red-brick building that was built in 1885. Although quite small, it features 40 different teas and costs at most $18.25 per person (or if you go with the basic tea set $14.75 per person), which is quite inexpensive compared to all the other tea rooms.

That's it for now! Leave us some comments below!


- Callie