What: Sunday Tea
Where: 1917 Queen Street East (Beaches)
When: visited November 15, 2015
Why: Sample new Sunday Tea menu
Dufflet Rosenberg reminds me of my mom. She is a tiny dynamo baker in Toronto who has expanded her empire of tasty dessert delights. She now has her sight set on expanding her empire in new ways. I was invited to the exclusive location of the Dufflet bakery & cafe in the Beaches to try their new Sunday Tea Menu.
Dufflet started her first Bakery in 1975 and has been steadily building up locations, and offshoots of her business. The Beaches location was opened in 2007. I used to spend a lot of time in the Beaches years ago but way before this location opened so I haven't had a chance to visit this cafe until I visited it to check out their new special Sunday Tea.
I love spending a sunday afternoon having a relaxing Sunday Tea or Afternoon Tea or High Tea or whatever it's called depending on where you are and what time of day. Either way I really like the relaxing ritual of enjoying hot tea and fresh pastries and little sandwiches with friends or family.
I spent this gloriously gorgeous sunday afternoon with my friend who is originally from Ireland so she knows something about enjoying a cup of tea and was excited to be able to join me. Other than the fact that it was at the same time as the Santa Claus parade we couldn't have picked a better day for it. Both of us had scratchy cold throats so a comforting tea was in order for the day.I arrived at 2pm and had only driven by this location and never been inside so I was pleasantly surprised at how lovely the back cafe section of the bakery/cafe was. To indicate that the table was having the Tea service there were formal white table cloths so there was only 2 tables with the tablecloths, ours and one other table. Other people just ordered food and beverages from the regular lunch menu. I had a lovely reserved table right at the end where there was a glass full length door/window looking out to a tiny pretty courtyard with a supervising cat. The sun was flowing into the space and later on as the day got darker some beautiful warm hanging lighting gave the room a warm glow.
I was presented with a list of the Tea selection which were all Sloane Teas™. I chose the Green Tea and my friend chose the traditional Earl Grey Tea. We were given special hour glass timers to choose our steeping strength. I have never seen that before so I didn't know what it was. Very interesting.
We were then presented a 3 tier selection of Tea sandwiches, one kind with smoked salmon and the other cucumber with cream cheese. The next level was 2 kinds of scones, blueberry and black currant, they were still warm and so soft and creamy and perfect. The top layer was a selection of a few flavours of Macarons including coffee, pistachio and raspberry. Also a dacqoise and a chocolate cheesecake mini dessert. We pretty much ate everything on every level and enjoyed it all.
But it was a bit light on the savoury side since we didn't have lunch beforehand so we were still craving a bit more savoury so we ordered a Turkey, cranberry and brie pannini and a Leek and cheese phyllo pastry tart. We split them and shared them. The leek tart was warm just out of the oven and just the most delicious and light tart that I have had in a long time. The panini was grilled and I think the turkey must have been smoked because it tasted more like ham than it did turkey but the sandwich was good non the less.
We lingered in the cafe and caught up all afternoon and the sun was going down by the time we left. That's how relaxing it was there. This is the kind of place I have been craving in my neighbourhood which is filled with Asian cuisine and noisy bubble tea cafe's. I crave a chill good quality cafe that I want to meet friends in and enjoy a little quiet catch up time. I think this is what's missing in this city, a quiet place to think and talk. The Sunday Tea is only available at this Beaches location at the moment but if you go there and tell them how much you love it maybe they will add more of them.
After you enjoy your afternoon tea don't forget to pick up some cake and they have some new products that make great gifts especially with the Holidays coming up. If you are stuck on what to get someone they have a whole assortment of chocolate letters and some cute cards too. One stop shop.
I found the price quite reasonable as I have had afternoon tea in a few other spots that cost a lot more.
You can select from 2 different Selections,
- Buttery and Sweet for $19.95 per person/plus tax
- Savoury and Sweet which is what we sampled for $24.94 per person/plus tax.
Minimum 2 persons per reservation.
It is available from 1pm to 5pm on Sundays only at the Beaches location.
To Reserve call (416)-699-4900
For more info check out their website at http://www.dufflet.com/About
Check them out on Social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Beaches Location: 1917 Queen Street East. just east of Woodbine.
*Disclaimer: My meal was complimentary but all the opinions in this blog are my own.
