Fashion Details:
As most of you know I’m a huge tea drinker. I prefer tea over coffee and green tea is my favorite. Drinking afternoon tea allows me to regroup and slow down. I usually do it in my home, but around the holidays I love to go have a formal tea. Therefore, this year we enjoyed afternoon tea in the Palm Court at the Drake Hotel in downtown Chicago.
Most Chicago hotels offer an afternoon tea, but the Drake is one of my favorites. It’s approachable, reasonably priced, and delicious! You’ll noticed I said approachable. What I mean is it’s not overly stuffy and a great place to try out your first tea. Even the clumsiness, unpolished person can do tea. Funny story about our actual tea and how clutsy I was during it.
As I sat there pouring my tea (it’s loose leaf, so you get a strainer) I went to remove my strainer and noticed that my strainer holder was missing. We searched the table and decided that it must have been accidentally removed from the table when we weren’t looking. Well one more table search and we discovered that I placed my strainer holder in my tea glass! I had to fish it out and spilled my tea all over the place. It was pretty funny!
The menu does change depending on the season. Since this was a holiday tea the featured teas had more holiday spices and fragrances. This years menu featured 15+ teas, ranging from mild to bold flavors. I selected the Holiday Green Tea which had rich flavors of citrus, rose, almonds and other spices. It tasted like Christmas in a cup.
While the tea is a highlight, I look forward to the main event…the food! I absolutely love tiny finger foods, I would eat them for every meal if I could. The main event features a three tiered tower of scones & loaves, tea sandwiches and festive pastries petit fours. The food was beautifully hand crafted and tasted delicious!
Scones & Loaves Menu
English Scones & Cranberry and Ginger Tea Cake accompanied by preserves, lemon curd, & English double devon cream
Tea Sandwiches Menu
Roasted Turkey with a cranberry chutney and brie.
Ham asparagus pinwheel.
Cucumber Sandwich with cream cheese, spiced tomato jam and baby heirloom tomato.
Smoked salmon sandwich with lemon cream cheese, watercress Roasted butternut squash.
Goat Cheese Quiche.
Festive Pastries Petit Fours
Assorted flavors of Macarons.
Petit Pumpkin Tart.
Hot Chocolate Mousse Cup.
Vanilla Cream Choux Swans.
While you can do tea anytime of the year, the Drake really dresses it up for the holidays. The holiday afternoon tea runs through January 23rd. Look at how beautiful the hotel looks for afternoon tea.
Of course I had to take a bathroom selfie, the bathroom has an old school glamorous feeling to it.
Look at the delicious treats we enjoyed at the Drake Hotel.
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