When I was in Ottawa last week, we tried the afternoon tea at Chateau Laurier. The Fairmont Chateau Laurier is a beautiful historic hotel beside Parliament Hill, overlooking the Rideau Canal. Their tea is served every day of the week inside Zoé's Lounge; a relaxing and intimate lounge named after Sir Wilfred Laurier's wife, Zoé.
The front area of the lounge was filled with cozy armchairs and couches, great for a cocktail or light meal. We were seated at the back area which faced Rideau Street. It was nice and bright there, with a lot of sunshine pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows to create the perfect atmosphere for afternoon tea.
They had three different types of tea to choose from. The Traditional Tea, Canadian Tea and one for young children - the Little Prince and Princess Tea. We went for the Canadian Tea, as the finger sandwiches sounded more unique (open-faced sandwiches remind me of "Smorrebrod" from Denmark) and I couldn't resist ice wine marinated strawberries!
We started with the Ice Wine Marinated Fresh Strawberries, which were delicious. Afternoon teas don't usually come with anything extra in the beginning, but I thought this was a great idea to whet the appetite. Sort of like an amuse-bouche for tea.
After the strawberries, we ordered the tea. I had a difficult time choosing which one I wanted (as always), but in the end I went with the Ice Wine tea: deliciously fresh and piquant white grape flavour with hints of exotic fruit.
The server then came over with the tea cart to pour it in front of us.
Then out came all the sandwiches, scones and sweet pastries. I liked how they separated it so we each got our own stand.
The sandwiches - my favourite part! My favourite was the Curried Chicken Salad (toasted baguette, fresh scallions), which I didn't expect to like so much as I don't like curry. It was delicious though. The Atlantic Smoked Salmon one was also really good (toasted 7 grain baguette, dill cream cheese & citrus marmalade). I love smoked salmon. It tasted slightly sweet..like they added a bit of maple syrup to it. There was also the Roasted Sterling Silver Striploin (toasted whole-wheat baguette, grainy mustard horseradish aioli, candied onion relish). This one wasn't bad but the meat was a little dry. & Finally the English Cucumber (truffle scented Clarmell Farms goats cheese and baby watercress). I didn't like the cheese in this one.
The scones. They ran out of Sundried Blueberry Scones and gave us cranberry ones instead. I was quite disappointed as I LOVE blueberry scones, but the ones we got were really good too. I finished them both. Usually I can't because they're quite filling, but these ones were nice and light.
By the time we got to the pastries tier I was really full so I only managed a taste of each.
The cake at the back was my favourite.
If you are in Ottawa, I definitely recommend this tea! It is served Monday to Friday from 2-5pm, and Saturday to Sunday from 12-5pm. To reserve, call 1-613-241-1414
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