After months of discussion, we were all available to try high tea at another place. It's a small exquisite shop in central Vancouver, and you might just miss it if you don't keep your eyes open. And with a name from one of my favourite fairytales, you know it has to be good. Shall we?
What a beautifully designed logo
May 21, 2015
After months of discussion, I finally got my high tea session with my cousin Shellby and our friend Brianne. We didn't know which place to pick, so I suggested Neverland Tea Salon. My friends have tried this place once, and it was the site of my sister's bridal shower (none of us attended).
I thought this would be a great opportunity to try out my mother's new camera. It's the Canon Powershot SX700 HS, and they were having a deal on the Shopping Channel. And what a better way to test it out other than on such a glorious day! Much as I love the banner, I can't get over the typography of the shop's name:
If I could only write like this now...
The reservation was set for 12:15, but we managed to get there about 15 minutes later. Luckily, the people at the place saved our table, and was surprised by how big our table turned out to be. It was basically three round tables side by side next to a couch surrounded with Alice-in-Wonderland-scened pillows. Did not take a photo of our setting, because I was too much infatuated with the whole place:
Swing from one chandelier to the next
Quotes, all over the place!
The quote by the closest wall we sat down
The mismatched furniture gives it a unique touch, makes you feel that the lost boys assembled the whole place. We were hungry at this point, and went with the featured high tea. They even offered half of a high tea set, which was what Shellby ordered. What became difficult was the tea selection, expanding three pages of the menu:
Black teas
Varie-teas
Since it was endless, I ordered one with champagne and then for the second round, I got a spiced chocolate tea (honestly can't remember the names anymore). And of course, no tea is complete without the essentials:
Sugar and honey
This is the first time that I've seen honey with the comb, and I was obsessing about it! I'm not usually a cream and sugar person, but then again Asian teas are drank just the way they are. So I experimented with the sugars and honey, and even requested for cream - hey, you might as well go all the way!
It took a little while before the food came out, but when it did, it was well worth the wait:
First, everyone must take photographs
This must be one of the most colourful arrangements I've seen with my high tea experiences, and it was absolutely smashing. With the bottom layer, there were cream cheese sandwiches with arugula, croissants with cucumber and cheese, rainbow tomato flat bread, and ham sandwiches. This is what it looked like:
Just want to eat the screen right now
The main attraction of this tier had to be the tomato flat bread, it was nothing that I've tasted, and actually a nice surprise from high tea. The other sandwiches are expected, but that was certainly something to appreciate.
Another interesting feature of the tiers were the fact that the second tier were the desserts. There were cranberry breads, chocolate cakes, raspberry cheesecakes, and coconut-cream mini pies. They may look miniature in size, but they pack a lot of flavour:
Desserts, my one weakness
Chocolate cake was really strong, I wasn't expecting that at all. I quite liked the mini pie, there is something about crumbly desserts that stand out compared to the rest (it's all about the crust).
And on top is the staple, the scones. Complimenting the scones were the strawberry preserves and the Devon cream. There was a lot of sugar on these scones, and it did feel a little excessive for the bread:
Nonetheless, it was still divine
With conversations about vacation plans, horses, and sports, there were no dull moments in our tea session. It was a great experience, especially since it was Brianne's first high tea. Here is a photo of these two lovely ladies:
Shellby and Brianne
As I was testing out the photo settings on the camera, there was an image with three photos stacked. So when I took the photo up above, it provided five other filtered photos, and some of them are quite nice. Here are two of them:
Sepia-daydream
Heads in the clouds
Those are not the actual names of the filters, it's simply just my imaginative captions. Unfortunately, tea time had come to an end, and we all went home, singing along to the likes of Britney, Iggy, Beyoncé, and a whole lot of Taylor Swift; the best car rides are the ones that double up as a karaoke session.
As we parted with Brianne, Shellby had to purchase some pizzas for her brother as he was having a few friends over later that day. While we waited for the pizzas to be made, we walked along to a garden shop:
Never paid attention to this shop
It amazes me to see how many plants were on display, and the range of vegetables, bushes, shrubs, and flowers they've got to offer. There were a few flowers that had caught my attention, including this white flower that had texture so smooth I wanted to run my face all over it:
Velvet touch
Still looks as soft in grayscale
In addition to filtered photos, the camera has a sense feature within their settings. I never really understood the fish eye, but professional cameras sell the lens on its own. With this Canon, it' built in it! To test it out, here is a photo of a potted plant:
Ever so lovely
And now for the fish eye:
Emphasized real nice
I actually like the effect on these flowers, it looks like they pop out of the picture. Regardless of the settings (which I'm still figuring out), this camera has just about anything you think of, including wireless transfers - it connects to wifi.
But enough of camera talk, we passed the time by adoring these nature beauties, and taking 'in the moment' photographs. First off, here is Shellby:
Stop and smell the florals
Look at those beauty
And here are mine:
Natural stance
Ooh, ah
What an incredible day, there was a lot of exploration, and the day was only half over. For some reason, felt a little tired after all of this eating and garden hopping... Good times can make you exhausted.
Didn't notice this until Shellby pointed this out at the salon: I didn't really notice much of a Neverland theme to the shop, so I felt confused with the Wonderland subtleties. But in the corner of the counter, there something creeping:
Can you see it?
If not, here is a closer look:
Peter Pan & Wendy
That made everything complete. Nonetheless satisfied, I must say I can't wait to have another tea time with these ladies!
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