Today were invited for an immersive experience to celebrate Fairmont Vancouver‘s latest high tea series.
Hidden behind their iconic bookcase is Garden Tea, themed with pastel flowers. Strings of wisteria hang from the ceiling, surrounded by tufts of artificial grass, paper butterflies, and art from their local in residence artist Lizz Miles. Previously from Vancouver, now based out of Nova Scotia. She took the trek out West to christen her themed art work that current graces the hotel’s tea in the window feature.
For those unfamiliar, this is the ability to enjoy afternoon high tea as living mannequins in Fairmont Vancouver’s window, right by their main entrance. You climb up and in from the side walk, and enjoy your meal as you normally would, but with a lot more foot traffic and spectators to take in.
The backdrop is Lizz’s art. Her style of whimsical flowers outlined in white, all of which are curated to be edible and used in steep teas. So it feels full circle having tea here.
After adequate admiration and inspiration, we would try our hand at making our own flower art, after a quick tutorial from Lizz.
Using water soluble paints, thin brushes, and cardboard canvas paper we were ready to create our own works of art. This activity would further built up our appetites for the meal head.
Shared in pairs, it was two to a tea tower that mimicked a three storied bird cage. In the typical fashion, a layer of scones at the tip top, a middle level of savoury bites, and the base of sweet treats to finish on. This teas service is available every Thursday to Sunday until Sept 21st, 2025.
As per their tradition they have both a speciality cocktail and tea menu to pair with it.
The cocktails include an earl grey-infused vodka lemon and cucumber. A spritz with gin, lemon, and sparkling wine. I went with the Dragon’s Bloom as the most original sounding that included empress gin, apple liqueur, and dragon fruit syrup. It was a juicy and fruity drink, more apple than florals from the gin.
For tea the table was drawn in by the name and description of the “Skin + Beauty” tea with notes of beets, carrots, and light turmeric. All promised to stimulate the taste buds with a finish of mild ginger. The pink hue was definitely show-stopping, making this more savoury than sweet tea memorable.
As for the tea tower, there was the Classic Buttermilk scone and a themed Lavender Honey scone. Both served with mascarpone tea cream and strawberry preserve. I preferred the simple classic, as I found the bits of lavender imbedded within the scone distracting like hard seeds within the crumbly finish.
Starting with the savoury bits, the Traditional Coronation Chicken was a nice introduction. A soft finger sandwich seasoned in curry and sweetened with sultanas. I liked the texture, but could have used a pickle to help break all the spice apart.
It definitely set the tone for all the other bold flavours to come. I questioned their relevance to tea time, expecting florals and more vegetable focused bites, to be more congruent with the theme. Everything felt like an outlier and not even cohesive to one another.
Similar to the curry chicken, the Classic Devilled Egg espelette would have been nice with a fresh element. Something in contrast to cut into the heavy mustard and yolk mix. A cornichons palate refresher to cleanse and clear before the next bite.
The Short Rib Tartelette with heirloom carrot and apple confit was like a dry stew, sitting in a hard and dry bowl of crust. I would have liked this as a softer beef with more gravy, sitting over a flaky pastry.
This and the Cod Branade didn’t really seem to fit the garden theme. The salty fish overbearing amongst the oven-dried baby heirloom tomato and capers, sitting in an endive boat. The capers furthered the over salting and the endive could only do so much to cut into the very strong fishy flavour. This is definitely not made to please everyone, but the select few who also like sardines.
My favourite bite and sadly the smallest was the Jalapeño Cornbread Madeleine with its sweet potato butter filling. This was the most unassuming. A nice one biter, and the perfect mouthful of sweet to savour.
For dessert I found the Lemon Curd Blueberry Almond Tea Cake the most balanced, and therefore the one I liked the most. Its lemon was bold and tart like the curd in a lemon meringue pie. Sweetened with berry gel and the ivory chocolate chard. Spongy and light this one paired well with our tea.
The Cherry Bakewell Cookie centred around its slightly tart gel centre with lemon glaze, toasted almonds, and an orchid petal. I preferred the latter most just as decoration, and less for its contradictory texture that felt misplaced.
The Lavender Lime Cheesecake was baked meringue and white chocolate deco. A classic soften cheesecake, where the green colour didn’t relate in any way to its taste.
The Strawberry Eton Mess was a cup of chopped strawberries and fluffed cream, garnished with an edible rice paper butterfly. Vanilla chantilly cream, meringue stick, and summer butterfly.
The feature of this level was the Bumblebee, that looked like a tiger to me, with its colour and stripes. Torched orange-scented brülée and caramelized puff pastry. I did like the crispy pasty base that paralleled the crisp of the brülée shell, but the flavour was fairly unremarkable.
In closing, another tea service to attend for the experience and setting, as one of the best decorated services.
Notch 8
900 W Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 2W6
(604) 662-1900
fairmont-hotel-vancouver.com
