Did you know you can get high tea on the West End?
Sula Davie, recognized as the Best Indian Restaurant in Vancouver by the Georgia Straight’s Golden Plates Awards in 2025, is getting creative. Not only are the offering the burrow’s first tea service, but making it the first mango one as well.
Back by popular demand the Sula Mango Afternoon Tea has returned for the 2025 summer season. However, it has already sold out. So although this post may tempt you, you won’t be able to indulge in it this year.
This tea service with timed seatings is held on select Sundays during summer. It is $39 per person, and includes gratuity, but taxes are extra. Given how in high demand they are, tickets are non-refundable, but if need be, can be exchanged for a Sula gift card. All ticket holders are also entered to win a $50 Sula Gift Card. Future dates for the Sula Mango Afternoon Tea includes August 9th, September 7th, and October 4th, 2025.
Their selection is broken down by creamy or regular steeped. Teas from China and South Africa. Familiar brews like Lavender Chai and blends like Black Cream with Ceylon & Yunnan tea leaves. They also have specialty cold brews and spiked tea cocktails for extra.
I cannot say no to a chai so went with their Sula Spicy Masala Chai. However, on a hotter day, with minimal air conditioning it might be a tough sell with its bolder ginger spice and back of the throat tickle. I liked the cosmetics of the mug used, but found it heavy and hard to get my lips around its curved rim.
My guest got the Clarified Mango Lassi with Vodka and Cardamom-infused Clarified Mango Milk Punch and she said it fit the bill.
Our tea tower came with a collection of sauces and dips to use as we saw fit, with the following. There was a mint chutney, a mango salsa, and a creme fresh speckled maroon with beet root powder.
As is the case with other tea services this too is a mix of sweet and savoury components. So much that it doesn’t all fit on their miniature tea tower. I was concerned that the tea tower and its smaller servings, intended for one bites, would not be enough food. However I got full fast. Most of which are pre-made, but you choose your tea in the moment.
Served in a separate cup, the Mango & Avocado Chaat Cups feels like a fruit and vegetable salad. However, with the avocado already browning it looked less appealing. I would have liked it fresh for a bright green or not at all. As is, the cup seemed incomplete. I ended up picking out and eating the mangos as is, then using the rest in the mini slider below. The green mango had savoury notes, whereas the sweet of the red pepper felt out of place.
The Samosa Pinwheels were a clever take on the traditional triangle, but more like a wheel than a pinwheel. Plain on its own, intended to pair with the Mint & Mango Chutney for some sweet, salty, and tangy notes.
The Raw Mango & Tandoori Mushroom Slider was a popular one, listening to the room. Served chilled, I would have liked it toasted and warm for a more gooey texture, to meld sauce and bun. There was so much flavour in the filling that it overthrew the bun. I wanted some vegetables to temper some of the spices, so found our cup salad helpful here and the avocado and red pepper crucial for freshness.
The Spiced Mango Sev Puri was a crispy shell filled with spicy fruit. I found this an unexpected and exciting bite.
For pastries there was a Mango Passionfruit Cake that was on the sweeter side. It was more heavy cream than sponge cake, with the tart raspberry and tart passionfruit coalescing.
The Mini Mango Tart had a surprisingly buttery and crumbly shell. This was tasty like a cookie, whereas I was expecting it to be made ahead of time and be stale as a result. This was my favourite element of the tower.
The Mango Roundel Cake was also lovely. A gentle mango fruity sweetness, but melty from the heat.
And a tea service isn’t completed without scones. Two each, one plain and one with raisin. Both harder in exterior with a dry crumbly texture. The available spreads made for interesting flavour combinations, but I would have liked the traditional butter and clotted cream as uncomplicated ones that did not outshine the flavour of the scone. We had it with the mango salsa and creme fresh, but it landed too savoury as a result. When in actuality, I wanted sweetness for this instead.
In conclusion, this was a great idea and amazing value for what you pay. I just would have liked it more refined and would be willing to pay more for it. The restaurant is already known for its elevated appeal and menu, however the look and feel of this did not speak to that. This felt cumbersome and on the casual dining side. Finer details and additional bespoke elements befitting of this award winning brand would have been lovely. If I looked at it out of the setting, I wouldn’t immediately think Sula. Little touches like a pastry cutout on the pin wheel for some pizazz. The mushroom burger to be made into a tea sandwich or crostini instead, and for the cakes to be chilled to hold their shape and consistency.
Excited to see what newness Sula brings for the next season.
Sula Indian Restaurant, Davie Street
1708 Davie St, Vancouver, BC V6G 2K7
(778) 653-5433
sulaindianrestaurant.com
