Today I went to the Adolphus Hotel to have tea in their GORGEOUS French Room. Located in the back of the second story of the Hotel, the French Room has several place settings and gorgeous gold ceilings. The two chandeliers that hang from the top of the room are elegantly colored in, what I can only describe as, unicorn colors.
Out the windows was a beautiful view of the AT&T district, and because there were so many windows, the sun shone in beautifully. It made everything almost glowing on the inside, which was the best atmosphere for an afternoon tea.
First, a Brut Rose is served to welcome you to the table. At this point, you have an option to enjoy the caviar service that day. An added $95 to your meal, you definitely have to want to splurge that day. The ladies next to me (who seemed to be doing some instagram ops) order the caviar service and it came with egg white, egg yolk, buckwheat blini and creme fraiche, served with a pearl spoon. Apparently, the combination they enjoyed the most was the simple buckwheat blini, creme fraiche and caviar.
Next, the first tea course is served. The tea I enjoyed was Huang Shan Mao Feng green tea from Anhui, China. It was very light and easy to enjoy without cream or sugar, which is the recommended way to drink it.
With the first tea came the finger sandwiches with a selection of 5 different types of sandwich.
Cucumber cress and herbed cream cheese
Egg salad facon japonais
Roasted celery root and apple salad with Texas pecans
Salmon rillettes with roe and cornichons on pumpernickel
Southern chicken salad vol au vent
I was so excited I put the sandwiches on my plate and almost ate them before I took my picture! Everything tasted amazingly, my favorite being the light chicken salad inside the puff pastry.
Next, sweet scones are served and a dessert course. The scones are raspberry pistachio and lavender. They are served with the seasonal preserves at the bottom (which were raspberry and orange) and the english double cream. I honestly enjoyed eating the scones just with the clotted cream, but the preserves were very well flavored while not being too sweet.
The desserts (named clockwise from the image above) were passion-coconut chocolate cream tart, caramelized green apple upside-down cake with dulce cremeaux, white chocolate key lime tart, dark chocolate brownie with chocolate caramel ganache, and pear and almond financier.
The second tea served with the sweet course was Risheehat Super Premium Darjeeling, a black tea from India. This, again, was suggested not to need the sugar or cream, but I decided to add some to mine.
Overall, the experience was extremely enjoyable - even going alone like I did! The staff was very professional, friendly, and well-educated on all the items they were serving. Everything tasted delicious and there was so much care taken to the way everything was set up. I would highly recommend high tea at the Adolphus for anyone who is interested in trying an experience like this, or is a seasoned tea aficionado.
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