What better way to spend an afternoon than at tea, especially when it’s for a special celebration! One of my favourite things to do in Ottawa is afternoon tea at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel and I was lucky enough to go again last week to celebrate my graduation from my Masters at Carleton University. Zoe’s Lounge at the Chateau Laurier was recently refurbished and as much as I love the old world feel of the hotel and lounge the new modern inspired lounge is really nice now and feels much brighter. The tea menu was also recently updated so we got to try a whole new menu!

Afternoon tea is really the best because it combines so many of my favourite things; tea, treats, looking fancy and pretending to be the Queen.

The new china settings in Zoe’s Lounge really tie in nicely with the new cool modern vibe.

They have also updated the tea menu with a bunch of new teas and replaced the old tea carts with this fancy new wooden menu. As much as I loved the traditional tea cart this menu is pretty cool. I went for the Pomegranate Rosehip tea which has a subtle fruity flavour.

The new menu was very summer inspired. Of all the times I’ve been for tea the sandwiches were my favourite this time with an artichoke salad on baguette, niçoise on melba, peach & prosciutto on focaccia (I got two of these since I don’t eat fish), turkey slider with apple & brie, and smoked duck with fig & aioli. Of course tea isn’t complete without delicious scones with house strawberry jam and Devon cream.

Now for me the main event is always the desserts and look how pretty they are! As pretty as they look though I was slightly disappointed this time. The lavender & lime shortbread cookie and milk chocolate & hazelnut macaron were delicious, as was the whipped lemon meringue tartlet, although a little too sweet for my taste. The elderflower & strawberry yogurt moose and the sweet pea & raspberry Victorian sponge cake were good but a little weird though.

The service at Zoe’s Lounge was impeccable and they were even nice enough to give me a little extra treat to celebrate my graduation! If you’re making a reservation for a special occasion make sure you tell them what it’s for so you can be surprised with this nice plate.

Although the portions are small it is actually a lot of food and we were all stuffed, or as my Grandma would say, “we had an elegant sufficiency” (much classier for tea). Time to walk off all those treats!

Dress from Aritzia (similar style here)

 

Thanks for reading! And be sure to come back for more Ottawa adventures!