Tag: Surrey BC

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Tea Experience: Enchanted Cake Studio & Tea Salon

Enchanted Cake Studio & Tea Salon
Surrey, BC
High Tea – $26.99 each

Enchanted Cake Studio & Tea Salon is in a hidden area, near a car dealership, a hotel, and the perpetually busy Langley Bypass. The store front is almost unassuming, not giving anything away of what magic lies within, but venture in I did! The inside features all white tables, white chairs, walls, and high ceilings. Giant paper flowers adorned the walls and made the place look fun. I went on a Saturday and it was busy! There were reservations for every single table the day that I went, so I would highly recommend making a reservation so you’re not disappointed.

The place settings were beautiful. We each had a cup and saucer, as well as a plate for food. There wasn’t a physical menu for the afternoon tea food items, but there was one for the tea choices. I opted for the Organic White Peony & Jasmine blend. The nice thing about Enchanted Cake Studio & Tea Salon is that each guest receives their own teapot – both of the ones that arrived at our table were white with gold polka dots.

Organic White Peony & Jasmine had a very pleasant flavour. There was the sweetness and floral notes from the jasmine, that went really well with the white tea base, which had its own floral notes to it as well.

The food arrived on a three-tier stand – sandwiches at the bottom, followed by scones and phyllo cups, and ending off with desserts at the very top.

The sandwiches we received were: curried egg salad on croissant, cucumber on herb cream sandwich, chicken salad sandwich, smoke salmon with cream cheese on pumpernickel, and a caramelized onion pinwheel. My favourites from the sandwich tier included the curried egg salad on croissant (such a great amount of flavour!) and the smoked salmon with cream cheese on pumpernickel (for the great flavour combination).

The second tier consisted of cream scones, paired with jam and what Enchanted Cake Studio & Tea Salon calls their Enchanted Devonshire cream, along with Spanakopita phyllo cups. I loved the sugary crust to the scones – I like ’em sweet when I’m slathering on the jam and cream. I found the scones to be delicious – nice and flakey and worked well with the jam and cream! I really liked the presentation of the jam and cream as well, the use of small clear glasses worked well.

Last, but certainly not least, was my favourite tier (always!): desserts. Enchanted Cake Studio & Tea Salon explains that they often rotate through desserts. When I went, it was the brownie, lemon tart with blackberry, and custard tart with blueberry. The brownie was rich and fudgey, just the way I like it. The lemon tart had a nice balance between the sweet and tart, and the shell was buttery. The blueberry custard tart was so good, I just wish it was bigger! My favourite was definitely the lemon tart with blackberry – they did a great job balancing the flavours.

Enchanted Cake Studio & Tea Salon does a lovely job on their afternoon tea service. The best way I would describe it is as a modern take on afternoon tea – with the white minimalism, the blend of modern and classic food items, while pairing with beautiful tea cups and saucers. I really enjoyed the food and tea – I quite liked the tea that I had picked (Organic White Peony & Jasmine). I think if I go back, I’ll try the Organic Cream of Earl Grey (which is my usual afternoon tea choice, but I wanted to try something new) just for a more classic tea choice.

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Tea Experience: Honeybee Centre

Honeybee Centre
Surrey, BC
Fry’s Corner Beestro
Afternoon Tea $20 for Adults, $12 for Children

I went to the Honeybee Centre a few weeks ago with a friend for their afternoon tea. I think the last time I ventured into the Honeybee Centre was probably for some sort of field trip in elementary school to learn about bees and pollination. If you’ve never been to the Honeybee Centre, there are tours offered for school and seniors groups, a shop to buy all things honey, and their Beestro – where you can have afternoon tea or a more practical meal.

Each table included a honey bear for all your honey sweetening needs – I quite liked that touch. The servers were friendly and enthusiastic whenever they stopped by the table. While I was there for tea, there was a very large (read: 3 large tables worth of people) party that was loud and did manage to take up a lot of the servers’ attention, as one might expected. There’s also an outdoor patio if you want to eat outside.

I usually opt for a black tea with afternoon tea, but because it was such a hot day when we visited, I wasn’t really feeling it. For my tea choice, I had Nana’s Fruit Garden, which is described as a “bright, flavourful fruit tea with berries, apples, and hibiscus” while my friend had the Blossom Organic Green Tea. Our teas came in French presses. Nana’s Fruit Garden steeps to a deep red. It has a lovely fruity sweetness to it, I could taste both apples and berries in it, and it had a touch of tartness from the hibiscus. Nothing a little bit of honey couldn’t fix!

 

The afternoon tea goodies were placed on a two-tier stand. The bottom tier contained all the sandwiches. There was the chicken, brie and red pepper jelly panini (2 pieces per person), egg salad roll, and the artichoke ciabatta. I wasn’t blown away by the egg salad roll or artichoke ciabatta, but I loved the chicken, brie, and red pepper jelly sandwich. It was a delicious flavour combination.

Chicken, brie, and red pepper jelly panini.

The honeycomb scone was paired with a devonshire cream, which also had honey in the small bowl. The devonshire cream wasn’t as thick as I’ve experienced it before in other places, but it was tasty. The scone was really tasty, it definitely had a nice sweetness to it.

Honeybee cupcake.

The sweets included French macaron (we received a strawberry macaron and what tasted like vanilla bean), honeybee cupcake, and salted honey tart. The salted honey tart had an alright tart shell, but the salted honey filling was divine. I’m not sure what they put in there besides salt and honey, but it made my mouth so happy to be here. The cupcake was moist with a sweet frosting on top, and it had a great honey flavour. My friend and I wound up getting a knife to cut the macarons in half so we could each experience both flavours. My favourite was the strawberry, it had a very nice brightness to the berry flavour.

French macarons.

After the tea, we took some photos of the blossom trees, and shopped the gift shop – I picked up some honey and bee pollen (to help with my seasonal allergies!). There’s some beautiful blossom trees right out front, and I saw a lot of honey bees flying around!

I had a really fun time with afternoon tea at the Beestro at the Honeybee Centre. The service was great and I really enjoyed the food. I think next time I go, I’d opt for a more traditional black tea with the afternoon tea service. It’s a fun location, definitely kid friendly if you opt to take any children with you. There’s honey facts everywhere, so you might even learn a little something.