Afternoon Tea - Windsor Arms Hotel

Afternoon tea is a special indulgence that usually leaves me stuffed and quite happy.  These days, it's been hard to go for afternoon tea but in June, I had the day off work and we went to indulge. In Toronto, there are very few places that actually hold afternoon tea on a weekday as most hotels and other establishments only offer it on weekends.  Windsor Arms Hotel offers it daily, at various times and even a twilight afternoon tea (5:30 or 6pm)!  I had read good things in the past and was eager to try their afternoon tea.

Sadly, it was a bit of a let-down.

The room was nice but the table was quite small.  I ordered the Windsor Arms Private Breakfast Blend which is a mix of Ceylon, Nilgiri, and Assam tea leaves.  The tea was pleasant and the big pot lasted throughout our stay.  The tea strainer was a little disappointing, it didn't strain all the tea leaves so both of us had tea leaves in our tea.  Not a huge deal as in Chinese restaurants you can get tea leaves in your cup depending on the tea you order...but this is not a Chinese restaurant.

The tower...

The scones were probably the best part and were quite large...a little disproportionate to the other items.  烤餅是最好的部分也很大...可是比例別的食物就覺得太大了.

The sandwiches - the rolled sandwiches were unfortunately mushy.

Petite fours...

Clockwise from top left: pistachio cake, lemon meringue tart, (tasted like) caramel cream filled chocolate cup,
and a coffee and chocolate layer cake

The best petite four offered was the lemon meringue tart.  I am starting to wonder if weekday offerings are sub-par to their weekend service.

The space...

All in all, I'm glad I tried their afternoon tea as the scones were quite good and it's a place I've been wanting to try, but I really think they need to revamp their menu a bit. Looking back at other reviewers, the sandwiches looked much fresher and well made.  The desserts could also use a bit more creativity and for the price charged, the quality was just not there.  

Windsor Arms Hotel

18 St. Thomas St.

Toronto, ON M5S 3E7

416-971-9666

http://www.windsorarmshotel.com/tearoom/

Why the occasional duplicate sentence written in Chinese?  

One of my goals starting in 2016 is to improve my Chinese language skills so this is one way I'm going about it.  
Please comment if you noticed I've totally messed up!  Thanks!

Carmen - enjoying a Spanish feast

A while ago some friends and I got together for some Spanish tapas at Carmen and I've been meaning to post but... life has been a bit stressful and I haven't had the energy to write.  Things are still stressful, but I missed blogging so here is my first food post in a long while.

A number of my friends had gone on a Mediterranean tour starting in Barcelona so they were hoping to re-live a little bit of their wonderful trip.  I was tagging along, cause, well...I can't say no to good food!  

We had an early dinner reservation and started out with a number of tapas...

Ceviche with coconut...it was more coconut than fish unfortunately.

Serrano ham and manchego cheese croquettes...

Dates wrapped in bacon...sooooo good!  (Sorry that this pic is so dark but it's a trade off for the candle-lit atmosphere.)

And my favourite tapas of the night, grilled octopus with chorizo...everything about it was very good from the texture to the taste.  Loved the bread!

Then, since we could see the kitchen from our table, my friends noticed some grilled shrimp and added that before our paellas.  We ended up getting 3 orders so each of us could have two!

The paellas (2 to share) arrived at the end of our tapas feast (pictured at top) which was the classic Paella Del Carmen and it was very flavourful!  The seafood was cooked nicely and not overcooked. The rice has to be done well, not burnt and with enough seasoning to be a good paella and it was!  My only complaint was it would have been nice to have a little more rice for the price.

Expect to spend about $50 a person if you are going to get tapas and a paella.

Overall, flavour dishes and great service.

Carmen
922 Queen Street W.
Toronto, ON M5T 2L9
T: 416-535-0404
http://carmensayz.com/

July - I'm Dreaming of...

After weeks (or maybe even months) of not baking, a strawberry pastry cream tart was my reintroduction to a whisk.

Hello.

It's been a while...

Life has gotten busier and a lot is changing...change is usually good though.

Just wanted to pop in and say I'm still here and have some food reviews I've been meaning to post but I'm hoping to get to them sometime in July.

I haven't been checking out my usual blogs as much, but I recently checked them out again and just want to say I'm still loving them!  Despite not being able to travel for a while, I still love reading about one of my favorite places to visit - Taiwan.

Here are 2 bloggers from Taiwan that I'm I fan of...

Curating Cuteness - film photography, love her points of view and vintage finds
Partie du Champagne - travel and photography, she recently posted on her trip to Africa (English version is not as updated but there is a link to see only English posts)

and just because, here is a summary post by Sugared & Spiced on her two-day trip to Tainan, Taiwan.

The month is almost half over so...what have I been dreaming of?  

July - I'm Dreaming of...

Simple things.  

- a clear kitchen table 

(maybe with exception for a tea pot and cups)

- fruit slushies/smoothies
(loved the papaya one I had a Pho Viet Express at Bathurst & Steeles)

- watching a movie again 

(a few weeks ago I was struck with what seemed like carpal tunnel in both my hands/wrists and my forearms were numb so I couldn't do very much...so I watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and it was great despite the circumstances)