High Tea Time: Secret Garden Tea Company

Hello everyone!

Last week, I got to visit Secret Garden Tea Company in Kerrisdale. It's the first time I've been here and out of the 4 high tea services I've had, this tops my list.

The place is not big, but it isn't cramped either. Reservations are required and are at 3 time slots each day. The interior is mostly white, with cute dainty decorations. The chairs at each table were different. We got seated at the "main" tea room with the windows. I didn't notice the tables in the back until I went to pay.

Super pretty tea cup =w=

The tea service is a set menu which changes with each month but we get to pick our own tea. I chose the Avalon Blend which I previously tried at a friend's house. This is my favourite. I haven't had more delicious tea at previous tea houses (maybe I'm just bad at picking haha). I don't quite remember what was in the blend, but I do know there are rose petals and I love anything with rose.

3 tiers of endless deliciousness 

Service was nothing short of amazing. They came around to refill our teapots once in awhile and asked how the food was or how we were doing.

the bottom tier

The savouries featured Silican tuna and avocado on mini croissant, mini calzone sandwiches, and egg salad pinwheels. Hands down, the tuna croissants were the best thing. The croissant had the right amount of crunch and tuna. The calzones were really yummy too. There was more than I expected. We each got 2 of each, and 3 of the pinwheels.

middle tier

Middle tier had scones and berry tea loaf slices with rasberry jam and devonshire cream. I will almost always pick devonshire over any jam. It's just the best. The tea loaves were sour and super refreshing after the savoury food. Scones weren't too dry and it had sugar crystals at the top to add sweetness without being overbearing.

top tier

Finally, dessert! The outer triangular pieces are salted caramel pecan pies. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was pretty heavy. I neither dislike or like it. The yellow ones are lemon curd tarts. Super sour! Took us awhile to finish, we had to constantly sip our tea. Last but definitely not least, the white chocoalte lime mousse with coconut cream on poppy seed shortbread. The green icing made it look really sweet but it was surprisingly light. Great way to finish off. 

I hear there is a garden seating outside for larger parties? I've seen pictures but never seen it for myself in person. 

outfit~ 

flower braid uwu

I wore basically all Taobao stuff. Didn't really feel like wearing lolita that day. Like my hair? :3

Would I come back? Definitely. Secret Garden is now my favourite tea house! Service is great. Food is great. Atmosphere is great. I literally have nothing to complain about except that seating time is limited to 2h. I was bummed I had to leave so soon!

You guys should tell me about their other menu items for the other months when you visit! And tell me what tea you guys like. I never know what to pick ^^"

Until next time, toodles!

JAN

High Tea Time: La petite cuillere

Hope everyone's having a good summer as school is coming (too) quickly =A=

This will be a rather short review since I never intended to do one for this location when I went. Today's tea house is La petite cuillere, a hidden gem I was told. I did not get any photos of the interior but the style is very different from Fur Elise. La petite culliere's colours are much more earthly. It makes for a more inviting and casual environment while still maintaining class.

The high tea menu has 3 choices and seeing as there were 3 of us, we got one of each. The tea pots come with little jackets, one cup of sugar cubes and some cream. Everything felt fresh and the savoury ones were still warm. The devonshire cream was amazing, it hardly lasted us.

Would I go back? Maybe. But it's all due to personal taste. I much prefer the mousse and the presentation of Fur Elise. 

I didn't get to wear lolita that day, but here's my outfit:

No brand :P the bow is fake.

o3o 

JAN

High Tea Time: Patisserie Fur Elise

Hello everyone!

I'm gonna change it up a bit and do some food reviews! I want to try every high tea service here, and so this will be something like a checklist.

(I visited Fur Elise in 2013, so the information may not be up to date and I don't know if they have made any changes as of late.)

The interior was amazing o3o

This place actually took me awhile to find because I wasn't expecting a house. This tea house is not just part of a commercial building, it's a Victorian-esque house renovated into what it is now. I believe the owners are Taiwanese? The first floor is like a patisserie shop, the top floor is where the tea service takes place.

The tea sets!

Sweets on top, savouries on the bottom.

I don't have a picture, but we also received an appitizer. It was a pudding with blueberry sauce (I believe) and a piece of gold foil on top. The tea was...not amazing. I was a bit disappointed with it. I'm not the most knowledgable with tea, but I remember it tasting like tea I get from dimsum? Maybe I just made a bad choice ^^" 

bottom tier

top tier

The size of the savory selection was a bit big. Trying to eat it daintily was quite a challenge. I don't quite remember what the brown desserts were, but they weren't my favourite. The green squares are green tea mousse with red bead. The pink ones, strawberry. the white ones in the back were the same as the appitizer so I'm not too sure what it was. The macarons were awesome, strawberry and lemon.

Couldn't find an outfit photo where I looked decent...

I wore Chess Story's Mariage d'amour JSK with a Mystery Garden blouse. The "headband" is actually a F21 necklace I fastened onto a plain headband haha- Shoes are from Taobao. Bracelets were giveaway prizes from a local online shop (not sure if you can see them).

Would I go back? Yes. But the price is off putting. So far, this has been one of the more expensive places. Still, I'd totally comeback for the whole atmosphere. 

Thanks for reading!

JAN

~*♥Here's a bonus photo of my dear bestie♥*~

She wears Meta's Room print way better than me.

Small TB Package

Hello everyone,

It seems like all I do is talk about is Taobao...^^"

But I found a new Taobao shopping service and decided to try it out. I used TaobaoMode this time. They only charge 8% service charge versus the usual 10% most services charge. They have a shopping cart system where you just copy and paste the item link. Sort of like Taobaonow but prices show up as USD instead (so much easier to read without doing mental math).

Once you place your order, they keep track of the dates of when you pay, when things arrive...etc. It's super organized. I actually placed an order and left it for awhile because they said they need to adjust prices (if needed). I got a support e-mail from them, turns out I needed to actually tell them to do it lol. They adjusted the price for me and it got a little cheaper!

So here's the package~

super small package xD

extra protection!

I was suprised they wrapped it in foam! Loli Loli Paradise does that but only because she uses envelopes. Very pleasant surprise!

I bought 2 pencil skirts and a black blazer because I don't own any professional clothes ^^"

Skirts- they're quite thin, so more suitable for the summer. Super stretchy for a form-fitting look!

Blazer- The sleeves are a bit short so I rolled them up. Otherwise, its quite nice. The shoulders are padded. Waist is form-fitting :D

That's it! This ends my short review!

Thanks for reading!

JAN