Just a quick report of the afternoon tea I treated myself to for my birthday (uhh 1 week afterwards because that was the only time I thought I could get off) on April 1st. I researched all of the afternoon/high tea places in the area and I finally decided on this location I have never been to due to it being a 20 minute drive on the highway from my house. Lavendou restaurant has been a tea staple in the area for decades and while it is never on the list of “fanciest” places in the metroplex, the fact that it hasn’t closed down like all of the other tea locations I’ve been to despite its affordable prices meant that it had to be good. Plus, I am always interested in trying out different French cuisine.
The afternoon tea (also called high tea in America) required a 24 hour advance notice, and is only offered during the lunch hour of 11:30 to 1pm during their work days, which is Tuesday through Saturday. It costs $28 per person which is a bargain for a full tea course especially in the wealthy side of town (only a few years ago it was $22.95), and you can also order other drinks on the side besides the one hot tea and glass of water. The menu seems to be the same each time except for the desserts which are prepared by the patissier each day.
As you can see here, I got a mimosa ($10) with my meal. The desserts seem to be a raspberry lemon curd cake, a tiramisu cake, and a blueberry spice cake. I did appreciate the staunch sandwich offerings, the white bread slices were large, though the filling was minimal although still flavorful. The mini tea scone balls were warm and fresh but obviously not the large triangle scone expected, while the large triangle tea bread was spread with cream cheese and looked like it should be ginger bread but was not, it was like a sweet brown bread. There was strawberry jam and cream for the scones but way more than needed for the single serving I got. I could not eat everything, so I took the raspberry and blueberry cake and one scone home to eat for breakfast later. I would say the dessert tier was not super creative and you would think you’d get a macaron at a French restaurant, but for the price, it was sufficient. The photo on the website showed a chocolate cake and a mini creme brulee which I would have liked, as their dessert creme brulee had lavender, the namesake.
[dress: Bodyline; headband, bracelet: offbrand; socks: Metamorphose Temps de Filles; shoes: Secret/Sosic shop; jacket (pictured below): Zara; earrings: Iconografi; ring: BisouLovely, Liz Lisa, offbrand]
Now for a mini review of all of the other tea places I’ve been to in the Dallas Fort Worth area since 2014. As mentioned, some of these places have closed or the events no longer run, since it has been 12 years since I got back into lolita.
1. Chocolate Angel – one of the first dedicated tea places I’ve been to. Whimsical setting, low prices, great value.
2. the French Room at the Adolphus Hotel – extremely fancy hotel tea at a beautiful downtown venue with alcohol or cider on the side (coord #3 here)
3. Chocolate Secrets – another small boutique tea place, but did I actually go or did I dream the chocolates? I can’t remember…
4. Dallas Arboretum Restaurant Degoyler – the tea takes place in a small restaurant surrounded by lovely gardens near White Rock Lake, perfect views (coord here)
5. Bangkok at Beltline – amazing Thai inspired tea service with 3 different teas, extremely unique with different Asian foods each time (coord here)
6. Heirloom Haul – not sure if they still have tea tbh, don’t remember much about it but I’ve definitely been there years ago (coord here maybe?)
7. Potpourri Boulangerie – surely I went to this tea place, it’s a local classic, but I also can’t remember. I have early onset Alzheimer’s apparently!
8. March Mad Hatter tea in downtown Farmers Branch – I went with friends once because it was Alice in Wonderland themed! Pretty decent despite the large turnout. (coord here)
9. Christmas Tea at the Alexander Mansion – I’ve been to this Women’s Forum event twice, very worth it if you can make the reservation, there was a holiday market last time (coord here and here)
There are actually several more places besides these 9 locations in the city, but as they were extremely expensive hotel services downtown or that only serve parties of two or more, I never felt the urge to convince my friends to go, what if it sucked? Anyway, hope that was interesting! I personally found it enlightening how much I forgot in my old age, I guess I have dementia in my 40s now. Oh well. I don’t want to remember this hell universe anyway.