I'm sitting at a Starbucks at the moment, sipping on a honey citrus mint tea made with lemonade. The forest fires to the West have brought winds of smoke and it's been a month and half and I'm still sore. Doctor's order, drink lots of tea, yay!
I just came back from the
Dove's Nest in Calgary and I am happy to say the Google reviews were not reflecting the service and quality I have seen today.
It's a family business in a nice little square between 14 Street SW and the 90th Ave SW. Not too far off the Heritage Park.
I have been there before, but that was a long time ago and I couldn't remember what my experience had been as I wasn't there alone and couldn't focus entirely on my experience of it.
So, long story short, my spouse and I agreed that we need time off for "me time", so I got this Sunday for myself, he gets tomorrow. After looking up places for Afternoon Tea menus, I found that my only option in Calgary during the summertime was the Dove's Nest, but High Tea (hey I'm not picky, most places will offer the same kind of selection for either). I look up reviews and I see mixed feelings.
Now, I've worked in customer service for YEARS. So I know that one person's interpretation and expectations of a given service can be worlds apart from someone else's - or what's reasonable. I find there is always that one entitled person who wants special treatment and might or might not even mention it to their server and just right out writes a bad review. That's not fair. So I went, hoping for the best.
After kicking my spouse free of my leg, I'm finally in the car and ready to go. Unfortunately, I know I won't make it for 3 pm, that's when they stop doing the High Tea. I thought, maybe if I mention my blog...? But I don't even need to do that.
It's a little past 3 o'clock and I ask nicely and they let me have my High Tea! I just have to mind that they close at 4pm today. Fair enough.
I'm asked if I have any dietary issues or preferences to which I say no, but spy a High Tea tray on a patron's table and tell her no chocolate cake if possible. I know it's weird, but I'm really not a fan of chocolate cakes. Too intense in flavour, I'd rather munch on a chocolate bar.
I'm offered to choose a cup from the cupboard. What a lovely idea! And such marvellous teacups! I take a pansy themed one.
Pansies are my favourite flowers. We got these, but even darker, growing in random spots in my backyard. I remember they used to only grow under the stairs of places I lived as a kid.
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| They're my special mysterious flowers. |
I'm a little stressed (I hope I didn't stress them too) because of personal reasons but soon relax in my chair. I look at the tea menu and notice they have a Darjeeling Castleton. I'm very partial to Castleton. So I ask which flush it is. The waitress, whom I am to assume is one of the daughters of the owner, is unsure. But she is nice and patient and I offer my experience of the tasting profiles of the 1st and 2nd flush and she confirms it's definitely the 2nd one. So far so good, I order it.
Soon, a hot metal pot of tea and milk are brought,
followed by a tray of cakes, a scone with raspberry jam and whipped cream, finger sandwiches and other savoury bites.
I remind them that I did not want chocolate cake and they quickly make the switch for me. Mistakes happen and frankly, I don't blame them as I'm probably the only person in a 10 km radius who dislike chocolate cakes. But for those who do like them, it looked very chocolaty with half an inch of chocolate icing or cream. I'm told it's a brownie square.
I get an extra lemon tart instead.
The waitress asks me if I want to know what's on my tray and I tell her I do. She even wrote me a list, because there's no way I could remember all of those.
Let's start with the sandwiches...
My favourite was the Ham and cheese sandwich. I expected that strong kraft cheese but no, it was better than that. It wasn't too strong and just fit perfectly with the ham salad. The ham part was delicious and had little bits of chopped baby pickles in it. The bread was a mix of white and brown and was very fluffy, it stuck a little bit in my palate. Aside from the last bit, it was really really good.
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| Ham & Cheese finger sandwich |
The Chicken Salad sandwich was the one that impressed me most because I really hate them. (It's the one on the bottom left in the tray) The mix of mayonnaise with chicken makes me nauseous, just the thought makes me nauseous. But not this one! First, they didn't use normal bread, but a cream puff shell instead. I tasted it and it was lightly sweet and puffy.
I think it's a great medium.
The chicken was not mashed, it had texture and celery bits and I'm not sure if it was the celery, but something in it made it taste so fresh. That's the kind of chicken salad sandwiches events should offer. Definitely not your store bought kind!
Then I attacked the Spinach & Swiss quiche (middle of the lower tray). It was still warm and it had a tasty flaky dough. The Swiss cheese was a great choice bringing out a light sharp note. The texture was consistent and for me, that's part of what makes a great quiche.
The Cucumber & Cream Cheese sandwich was not bad, but I felt something was missing (I also edited the picture of the upper part of the lower tray out by mistake because you should never edit when tired). It was creamy and there were enough cucumbers, and some spice sprinkled over the edge. I may be crazy, but I thought I read somewhere that it was a cucumber mint sandwich, so if that was dried mint, its effect was lost as the flavour cannot be released fast enough to impart its taste on the sandwich. I made a mental note and mentioned it to the waitress and lady at the front desk. I proposed fresh mint instead, thinking that it would really make this sandwich more impressive. They seemed interested in the idea, so I'm hoping to come back and see for myself if they make the change. I was offered to talk to the owner but she seemed busy organizing an event (Sounded like a wedding dinner) with customers. I think such comments are better done in private.
The Egg Salad pinwheel was also delicious (bottom right of the lower tray). In its center was a sliced pickle creating a nice dark green circle. The pinwheel was moist and creamy. And well, I'm really a fan of egg sandwiches; I've had many and some were outrageously disgusting - how can someone mess that up?? - but not this one. Truly a beautiful and delectable little pinwheel.
Then I tried the Cheese Teapot cracker. What a cute fitting design. You could tell by the look of the surface texture that this wasn't a crumbling cracker but a flaky one.
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| Teapot Cheese cracker on a piece of kale |
I finished with the Smoked Salmon Mousse tart. It was more creamy whipped. I must prefer the creaminess to the half-air half-product whipped version of mousse. To me, texture is everything. The creaminess was a balm on the tongue and the salmon was very tasty. I've had some smoked salmon mousse in the past and they're not all equal. Often they are even in taste as in, there's a lack of edge. This is a fish. FROM THE OCEAN. This fish tasted like it should; not fishy, just tasty with the right edge of salty ocean.
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| Smoked Salmon Mousse tart |
By then, I was getting full. That came as a surprise as I had only had a bowl of cereals an hour before (which was my breakfast, I got up late, I've been very tired and exhausted lately, plus it's my day off, I do what I want!).
While it isn't the best scone I've had (that one was at the Queen Elizabeth in Montreal, see the
2013 December 3rd entry), but still pretty damn good. I like a fluffy scone as opposed to a too tightly packed one. That scone was a lightly sweet fluff monster and came with a side of raspberry jam - a good choice - and whipped cream. I personally would have preferred Devonshire cream because the whipped cream was mostly air, definitely not enough for such a huge scone and Devonshire cream is more traditional. I think it fits better. Even the jam wasn't enough. I would double the amount or make a smaller scone.
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| A monster scone |
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| The monster's innards |
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| Whipped cream & Raspberry jam |
There are only 2 items left untouched and I'm definitely packing that scone to go.
I took a bite from the Pinkie square and I'm reminded of a pecan sugar pie - albeit not as sweet but very buttery. The top is layered with pink icing. This is a thick solid square that would definitely be filling, so I put the rest aside to enjoy home.
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| Pinkie square |
Lastly, the 2 Lemon tarts. I liked the lightness and crispiness of the cup holding what I fancy is homemade lemon custard topped with whipped cream. The texture is almost completely smooth, sweet and tart. I liked it better than the Pinkie square, but maybe my full stomach is partly to blame as the Lemon tarts were much lighter.
Finally, let's talk about the teas. Their list seemed promising with 92 teas to select from, and as much as I'd like to sample them all, I had to choose one. I'm a little traditional when it comes to tea accompanying savoury bites, so I purposely chose the Darjeeling Castleton. I was however tempted by the Keemun Panda #1. Keemun teas being jammy (currant - blackberries) and naturally sweeter.
They only had white sugar on the table, but when I asked, they brought me honey. I wished I had been told whether my tea was ready to drink when brought, but since I fathomed it hadn't been very long between my order and the teapot being on my table, I waited a few minutes and the tea was to my liking. Ideally, being able to remove the steeped leaves would ensure an even taste, as I've definitely noticed an increase in strength and astringency by the end of my affair.
Overall, I was very satisfied with my experience. It was very positive and the staff was friendly to me. I paid $34.60 for this High Tea which is not too bad. I mean, it IS Calgary where things aren't cheap to start with. And for the amount of homemade sandwiches and other savouries I got, it was a good deal.
So next time you're in Calgary, bring a friend or go alone, it's great, but bear in mind their opening hours so you're not disappointed and you have time to relax and enjoy!
