The Enchanted Rose Tea Parlour

Last Month, I had tea at a quaint tea room called The Enchanted Rose Tea Parlour in San Dimas, CA. Walking into this space, you'll see hats, boas, teapots, tea cups and of course tea tins fill the shelves that line up against the walls and pastels are definitely the color palette of choice.

For about $20, including tax and gratuity, we did the The Enchanted Tea. First off, we selected 4 different teas, 3 hot and 1 iced, to share. Once the teas started arriving, we also got our first course which was a little cup of fresh fruit.

Following the fruit came the blueberry scones along with cream and preserves. Those scones were absolutely wonderful. Soft, moist and cake-like, I savored every bite and I liked the fact that with every bite, I had a taste of blueberries.

For our third course, you had a choice of soup or salad and I opted for the salad which was a spring mix blend with apples and topped with a raspberry-Vidalia onion vinaigrette. I liked the tart-sweet flavors of the dressing, but felt like they drowned my salad with too much of it. Limp greens are not too apealing, so you may want to ask that they give you the dressing on the side.

Now out comes the sandwiches and each of us gets 4 and they were:
- chicken salad with almonds on a mini croissant

- ham and swiss cheese on 3 seed oat bread

- pineapple and pecans on Hawaiian bread

- carrots, celery and cheddar on wheat bread

All the sandwiches were quite tasty. The filings were just great. I especially liked the pineapple and pecans as well as the chicken salad with almonds. The one negative I will mention is that the bread for the last two sandwiches weren't as soft as they could have been. They were a little hard, almost as if they were toasted, but I don't think they were. Chocolate dipped strawberries also came out with the sandwiches.

I actually thought that the chocolate dipped strawberries were the dessert, but out came what the owner referred to as Fluff and in this case, Peach Fluff. It was a very light, airy and refreshing sweet treat, perfect for a hot day. The ingredients were fresh peaches mixed with angel food cake, cool whip and jello. This is definitely one of my new dessert favorites.

As the tea started winding down, we were eventually presented with the bill, but along with the bill came pink chocolate roses. They certainly didn't want us to leave hungry.

Overall, this is nice little tea parlour and to get everything we did just for $20, I'd say that this was definitely one of the more affordable teas I've ever been to and one hopefully, you'll check out yourself if you happen to be in the Eastside.

The Enchanted Tea Rose Parlour
120 W Bonita Ave Ste G
San Dimas, CA 91773
(909) 394-4588

Scarlet Tea Room

For those of you who have never been to the Scarlet Tea Room in Pasadena, I encourage you to make a visit. Just standing in front of the entrance, you already get a sense of something unique when you're faced with a red shimmery door. Once you enter, you're transported to an elegant space with a gold and cream color scheme and when you look up, you'll see beautiful crystal chandeliers.

Once you're seated, owner, Karen, comes out to tell you what to expect with the Scarlet Tea Ceremony. Her descriptions of the delectable treats to come really raised expectations and believe me, we weren't disappointed.

The Scarlet Tea Ceremony consists of five courses:

- signature sorbet
- fresh homemade curd with lemon curd, seasonal preserves and signature "Scarlet" cream
- assorted tea sandwiches (4 for each person)
- assorted mini desserts
- strawberries Romanoff
- choice of loose tea

We start off with a beautifully red or dare I say "scarlet" strawberry-orange sorbet, which had a nice hit of tartness and also a great consistency, not too icy, not too slushy. What a great way to cleanse your palate for what was to follow.

Along with the sorbet, tea service began and for our large group, we had three different teas to choose from. Unfortunately, I don't remember the names of the teas, but we had a black tea, a green tea and a decaffeinated herb-infused tea.

Soon we all ooohed and aahhhed as the tiers of scones and sandwiches started arriving at our tables. Everyone reached for the scones and what heavenly creatures they were. I liked that they still had a bit of the crumble factor; yet, the bread had some good moisture to it and wasn't as dry as a dessert. The lemon curd that came with the scones was so good, I could have inhaled it and the cream, oh that whipped cream, was light, fluffy, fresh and just so divine.

Once we made short work of our scones, we started digging into the sandwiches. There was quite a variety so not one person had the same exact four sandwiches. For my selection, I had the roasted red pepper and olive tapenade, egg salad, ham and cheese and proscuitto and roasted red pepper sandwiches. While I found the egg salad sandwich uninteresting, my other three choices had lots of great flavor. My favorite was the roasted red pepper and olive tapenade sandwich. Sometimes tapenade can be too salty, but this one was just right and complimented well with the sweetness of the roasted red peppers.

After our sandwiches, out came the tray of mini desserts. They all looked so colorful and delectable, it was hard to choose. After sampling the lemon sponge cake, the pistachio cake and one of the smaller candy coated cakes, nothing really wowed me. While all the cakes were moist, there was something missing. Up to that point, we experienced many different tastes, tart, savory, buttery, salty (a good kind), but the desserts seemed a little bland in comparison.

Finally, at the end of the tea ceremony, we were treated to the strawberries Romanoff, which is a dessert consisting of strawberries that were soaked in a citrus liquer mixed with whipped cream that was light, creamy and delicious- a perfect end to a wonderful tea.

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at Scarlet Tea Room from the service to the food to the ambiance and I would definitely make a return visit.

To see all the pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594481416119/

Scarlet Tea Room
18 W Green St
Pasadena, CA 91105
(626) 577-0051