On top of dressing their castle for the season Fairmont Vancouver as two pop ups to get you in the festive mood. Hidden within Notch 8’s book shelf is a winter chalet decorated with snow shoes, ice skates, cow hide, and faux fur pelts. A cabin in the woods, apres ski.
Here they will be hosting their winter themed high tea with limited edition bites. Normally presented on the typical 3 tier tea tower, but we had it buffet style to be able to afford a faster service and simply try what we wanted.
Scones are a staple in any tea service. They have the classic buttermilk and a seasonal spiced gingerbread. Served with vanilla cream and strawberry preserve for spreading.
For savoury there was a Crab and Lobster Roll with lemon dill aioli, brioche bread, and alfalfa. This was a light bun with a mild creaminess and bold citrus, more garlicky sweet bread than seafood. This is the most filling of all the options.
The Winter Truffle & Wild Mushroom Tartlet was dense with duxelles, lemon mascarpone, and pickled shimeji. Earthy bites with tangy mushroom cream in a buttery two-bite crust.
The Festive Ham Pinwheel was my favourite, one bite that felt oddly familiar with the salt ham and flaky pastry. I didn’t know there was apple jam, dijon mustard aioli, and swiss cheese in the swirl before writing this review, didn’t get much flavour from any.
The Bressola reminded me of a margarita pizza with the Italian seasonings and basil arugula pesto. Similar to the pinwheel, I did not get, but wanted the pear & fig chutney and toasted cashew. The contrast of sweet and herbaceous would have been a unique one to explore.
The room was surprised by and approved of the Chestnut deviled eggs dyed yellow and pink from beet juice. A vegetarian bite with its own yolked whipped filling with sundried tomato and chives. It tasted as rich as a pate, but with the texture of a piped foam.
For sweet the Santa’s Hat was the crowd pleaser, a salted caramel profiterole with red meringue and white chocolate chard. As its name suggests, a whole Santa’s hat made from meringue, sitting atop of a crunchy shelled cream puff. A bite in to the puff had it bursting with a mildly sweet caramel filling.
Saint Nick’s Belt was just as whimsical. A spice-scented macaron with chestnut cream painted to look like Santa’s belly with black belt and gold buckle, plus a white chocolate platform to have it standing upright. Despite the mild nut flavour and heat of the spice, I still found this on the sweeter side.
The Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was precious with gold flake to mimic the constellations. A Scottish shortbread given a savoury tone with it’s star anise glaze. Tasty, but personally I prefer a more rich and buttery shortbread, so couldn’t help but to compare the two.
The Citrus Financier was a candied orange & lemon dense sponge cake topped with freeze-dried mandarin powder. This made for a nice palate refresher and a refreshing end. Excellent with tea.
And the richest of all the desserts was the White Forest Cheesecake with white chocolate, amarena cherries, and bitter chocolate. It reminded me of fruit cake thanks to the juicy persevere cherries, which were also the best part. I liked this combination of two classic desserts to make a unique one.
And to pair with your tea tower you can and should also order one of their seasonal teas. The Joie De Provence with bright berry notes, the Christmas Blend with cinnamon and clove, and the Alpen Mulled Wine with mountain fresh bordeaux berry notes.
They also have cocktail options. Not specially holiday themed, as you can get those at Kringle’s (their basement speakeasy). The ones we did have here better aligned with the cold cabin theme.
The Lavender Earl Grey Sour is empress gin, lemon, lavender earl grey syrup, and egg white. A citrus cocktail with sweetness from the foam. It’s tea notes matches with the would-be tea pairing.
Chai Mocha Martini with finlandia vodka, fresh espresso, kahlua, brown sugar cinnamon syrup, and chocolate shavings. This was as delicious as it reads, but more coffee and chocolate, and no chai.
This is a great spot for your next winter catch up with a friend. A fantastic setting for some delicious food and drinks, annd another well executed high tea from Vancouver’s only castle.
Notch 8
900 W Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 2W6
(604) 662-1900
fairmont-hotel-vancouver.com
