The Chesterfield Palm Beach

Our Tea at the Chesterfield was enjoyable, starting with the trip there. Just crossing the bridge over the Intracoastal onto the island of Palm Beach felt like a vacation. We immediately started chatting about how lucky we feel to live in this paradise of warm breezes, blue sky's, and palm trees. The picturesque village didn't disappoint, with its lovely old-Florida charm and tree lined streets. We thought we’d have difficulty finding parking, but we were actually able to find street parking just down from the hotel- and for free!

We wandered into the historic hotel through a garden seating area and entered the large, airy lobby. There we were greeted by a concierge who called someone down to receive us and walk us to our table. We were seated in the Library, which looked exactly how you might imagine a small library in an Old Florida mansion to look. When we entered, we were the only guests in the room, and that gave us some time to inspect our surroundings. The walls were lined with antique books, the room full of large, over-stuffed leather chairs, and pictures of old hunting scenes adorned the walls. I couldn't resist picking up some of the books and thumbing through the pages. There was even a large magazine selection. The environment was surprisingly unpretentious.

Once we were comfortably seated, our waitress provided us with menus and descriptions of some of the items. We both ordered the High Tea for $28, and I started with the White Tea and Michele had the Decaf. English Breakfast. They brought out our beautiful tiered tray in short order. It was full of the usual selection of finger sandwiches: cucumber, tomato and cheese, chicken, as well as salmon. When the waitress brought our tray, she told us that the scones were baking and would be out in exactly 17 minutes. They would be served hot and fresh out of the oven! We had to be careful not to eat too much after that news. When the scones were brought out they were wonderful, definitely the highlight of our visit. They were warm, soft, fragrant, and delicious! After indulging in so much clotted cream and jam, we almost didn't need desert… but we didn't let that stop us! The desert tray was filled with brownies, pastries, and a fruit tart. All were equally cute and tasty. We were in no hurry to leave, but alas, we were all done. On our way out we asked for the mandatory photo opp, and before heading home, we took a stroll around the block. The Afternoon Tea at The Chesterfield Palm Beach made a delightful outing.

rating  ---

Oscar’s Tea Room and Gift Shop in Wilton Manors, 12/6/14

Oscar’s Tea Room and Gift Shop in Wilton Manors, 12/6/14

Oscar’s Tea Room impressed from the very first phone call. After mentioning that I was booking fairly far in advance, the gentleman replied, “And a good thing too, we are already quite busy that day luv.” I think he called me darling three times in that conversation alone. I was already in love.

On the day of our seating, we drove by, missing the Tea Room the first time that we passed it, but after a U-turn, we successfully located it right by the railroad tracks. The exterior was marked with two Buckingham Palace Toy Soldiers that were almost as tall as I am. There was a quaint seating area out front. The interior was done in reds and golds. The owners seated and attended to us throughout our visit

We were by turn, “Darling,” “Luv,” or “Girls.” Kevin suggested we start with a traditional black tea and move onto a fruity one later, and we took his advice. While they put in our order for “High Tea,” Michelle and I milled around the room admiring the trappings such as the salt and pepper shakers in the shape of the Queen and her Palace Guard, the welcome message on each table, comfy sofas, and huge crystal chandeliers. There were lots of treasures for sale too, like teapots with the Queen’s picture or in the shape of Big Ben.

Soon, Craig brought out a 3-tiered tray filled with delicacies.  He described each item in detail and shared with us that everything here was homemade and based on a traditional English Tea. 

The tray included two different flavors of warm scones. In typical scone fashion, they were a tad dry but delish when embellished with clotted cream and strawberry jam. We sampled finger sandwiches: cucumber, tuna, chicken, and egg salad. There were mini quiches and also a bowl each of potato salad and coleslaw. The quantity and size of items looked a bit small, but we were surprised that we soon started to fill up, so we decided to take some of our treats home in order to save room for dessert. At one point during our lunch, Kevin randomly broke into song. At another point, when a train was whistling by, Craig announced loudly, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Oriental Express is passing us by now. The Queen will be passing shortly.”

 Kevin made recommendations for tea to go with our dessert. When Michelle inquired if cream would go with the tea selection, he paused and said, “I wouldn’t.” We could see he was struggling to add the expected, “But you can if you’d like.” He wasn’t able to bring himself to, though, so instead repeated, “… I wouldn’t,” in his adorable way. The desserts were lovely and included a dense cake bite with a cream center, fruit, mincemeat pie (which wasn’t our favorite, but we were happy to try it), and a chocolate tart. We enjoyed two more pots of tea: Christmas tea and Orange & Cinnamon. We drank so much tea, I found I had to explore their restroom, which was an experience in and of itself. It had a life size image of one of the royalty on the back of the door, framed pictures of the royal family all over the walls, and two mirrors that created the endless repeating mirror look. Many of the pictures had captions beneath them, written out in someone’s dainty script. 

Throughout our visit, I couldn’t get enough of hearing them say, “That’s fabulous Darling,” or “No problem, Luv.”  All in all, we were quite charmed by the entire experience and looking forward to going back!

rating  ---

TEALICIOUS-- DELRAY BEACH

Add caption

Tealicious is located in an abandoned shopping plaza in West Delray. Alright, it’s not actually abandoned, but it does look as if it is when you’re driving through. The tea room is tucked into a corner. One perk of this is that there’s plenty of parking. After you walk through the entrance, though, you’re greeted with a bright, airy atmosphere full of the usual charming decorations. The tables are set with dainty china teacups and saucers. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and paintings and knick knacks adorn the walls.

Only one other table in the restaurant had customers when we arrived, so the place was quiet, and we received a lot of attention. The first things we noticed was that the turquoise napkins matched the little ribbon tied to the corner of the menus, and that fresh cut flowers were on every table. We ordered their special “High Tea” the “Abigale Rose.” At $30 per person, it was a bit pricier than other places we’d visited. We looked around while we waited for our tea to steep. The décor was pleasant but not extraordinary. There were no hats or scarves for playing with, as we’d occasionally found in other locales. A large mural decorated one wall, and while it did evoke a relaxing, tropical picture, it didn’t quite fit with our image of an “English Country Tea.”

The first course was soup. Veggie was the only soup option available, and we commented to ourselves that we aren’t huge soup fans and veggie wouldn’t be our first choice. Yet, when we tasted the soup, we were impressed because each bite seemed better than the last. It was full of fresh veggies that had a nice crisp feel, and Michelle noted that it had a good, full flavor without being overly spicy. It definitely seemed homemade.

 

When our tiered tray arrived, it was full of a wide variety of delicacies. Some of the offerings were unusual. There was a stuffed mushroom, a zucchini frittata, spanakopita, and a couple of mini quiches along with the more typical finger sandwiches. When we began tasting them, we could see where the shop got its name. I needed a thesaurus to find another word for “delicious.” The stuffed mushroom was delicious! The frittata was delicious! The Quiche was delicious! We had to pace ourselves to keep from getting overly stuffed. The scone had a cinnamon, spicy flavor, which was, of course, delicious!

The dessert selection was a little more sparse than some we’ve seen. It had primarily two selections: a pumpkin bar and a round chocolate ball. Both were wonderful. The scones and a brie and pear sandwich rounded out the dessert tray.

We lingered over our remaining tea and conversation, but began to feel that they may be getting ready to close. We inquired and were told, yes, they closed at 3pm. So we began wrapping up, though I did notice that it was only 2:30pm. They graciously took our picture and let us wander around some more before we left. 

In the future, we may have to start giving separate teacups for food and for atmosphere as well as for overall experience, because this place would get full “stars” for the food. Yet, the ambiance, location, and price made the complete experience not quite on par with some of the other tea houses. Still, it was a lovely afternoon and a wonderful ladies luncheon!

rating  ---