But every so often, a girl just needs a fancy afternoon out with friends and finger sandwiches (not to mention scones with strawberries and clotted cream!). And one of my favorite places to go for such fancy afternoons is Pasadena, home to three establishments offering great, yet distinctly different afternoon teas.
This past week, one of my oldest, dearest friends came to visit from Portland with her 7-going-on-30-year-old daughter, who I adore. So we decided to go out for ladies afternoon tea at Pasadena's Chado Tea Room, which is located in Old Town. (So not only can you have tea, but you can go shopping afterwards at fabulous places like two of my fave stores -- Pottery Barn and The Container Store -- that are only a block away, and decked out for the holidays :)
Chado is one of the first places I ever had afternoon tea and it's a great starter place for people who fear a tea experience that's too fancy -- like those with young daughters.... or guys. (My mom and I have taken my dad here and he survived!) Part of the reason it's great is it offers things on the menu other than the traditional afternoon tea. Chado also doesn't bring your tea in delicate china teacups. In fact, Chado specializes in tea leaves. They have a whole wall of canisters packed with loose leaf tea, blooming teas and their own special blends. It is essentially the equivalent of a great, non-commercialized coffee house, but with tea. And when you order the "afternoon tea" you receive a 10+ page tea menu to peruse and order your individual pot of tea from.
I always get a black tea, since that's my fave. This week, I chose "Reena's Chai," which comes steeped with milk and sugar. It wasn't the best tea I've ever had there, but it was good. As for the food, it was delish! Each person gets four finger sandwiches -- a great open-faced smoked salmon, chicken with cranberry sauce, egg, and a watercress and goat cheese.
Then there are the scones... I love scones! I shouldn't but I do. They come with strawberries and cream. How could I not?
And finally, cookies and cake. All super yummy deliciousness! And only $18 a person, which is pretty cheap for a dining experience that lasts 1-2 hours and stuffs you before you're finished.
Another historic Pasadena place for afternoon tea is the Tiffin inside The Langham Hotel, which used to be The Huntington... which used to be The Ritz Carlton, and is still a tea-time fave of the famous Red Hat Society, who I actually saw here once for tea about 10 years ago, back when it was the Ritz.
Being a fancy hotel, the afternoon tea here is more fancy than Chado's. So three of my friends who love fancy things + tea and I went here back in September on a Saturday I dubbed "Being Cultured and Stuff Saturday." (Before tea, we experienced culture dating back to the 14th century at the "You see it on TV every New Year's Day as the Rose Parade floats by it, but have you ever bothered to go inside?" Norton Simon Museum, which has an amazing collection including more Degas "Dancers" than you can point a toe-shoe at and Claude Monet's beautiful "The Artist's Garden." Highly recommend this museum... well at least the side to the left of the main entrance. I could do without all the older, religious art to the right.)
Anyhoo, back to fancy tea! One example of why The Langham is fancy: You don't pour your own tea here; the waiter/waitress does it for you, always making sure your tea pot (that doesn't even rest on your table) is full of the flavor you ordered. However, there are fewer tea choices here than at Chado. But, what they lack in tea choices they make up for in food! While I can't remember exactly how many sandwich options there are, the dessert choices are out of control! We couldn't even get close to finishing them all. The scones on the bottom of the three-tiered dessert tower were delish. And the custard filling these gold-tipped cones on the top-tier were an amazingly-wonderful surprise.
Then there was the middle tier, which came loaded with two of my favorite things -- cupcakes and creme brulee'. Sadly, the cupcakes were chocolate with a not-good fruit filling. And the mini-creme brulee' cups were just okay (they did have the brulee' though, so bonus points for that ;) But it didn't matter. There was so much food, we were stuffed by that point... and did I mention how amazing the cones on the top tier were? (Traditional Tiffin Afternoon Tea is $39/person.)
Finally, if you love fancy British things and personalized service, then Rose Tree Cottage is the tea establishment for you! I went to Rose Tree with two friends for afternoon tea on New Year's Eve's eve almost a year ago and loved everything about the experience.
Rose Tree is located in a beautiful old house in Pasadena and, while a bit crowded at the entrance, has a lovely old English feel once you are seated in the tea room. There are three seatings for afternoon tea (1pm, 2:30pm and 4pm) and Edmund and Mary Fry, the owners, greet guests at the door and are extremely friendly. Edmund seats everyone personally, and helps you open your holiday popper (an English tradition). The service is excellent... I was asked if I take milk in my tea once, and then everyone who came back to refill my beautiful china tea cup throughout the afternoon knew how I liked it.
Afternoon tea starts with a delish non-alcoholic, fruity wine prior to the English tea being served and the food coming out. All of the finger sandwiches were yummy (I couldn't pick a favorite) and the scones with cream + a house preserve were AMAZING! (Note, you can purchase these in the gift shop and take some home too!) I'd show you photos, but Rose Tree has a strict no cell phones policy, which adds to the old English, relaxing and extremely enjoyable environment. I will definitely be going back there for tea and bringing my mom, as I promised Edmund... she's gonna love it :)
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