Last year, Lynette and I had a memorable afternoon tea experience at the Gatsby Mansion – unfortunately, memorable only in how bad it was. However, after seeing several very positive reviews about their new menu and new chef, we decided to give the Gatsby another chance. I am very happy to report that the difference between this visit and our last was like night and day, and that the afternoon tea at the Gatsby is now quite lovely and totally worth checking out. Continue reading
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Afternoon Tea at the Gatsby Mansion – Take II
30 JulTea Party!
18 Jul
This year is Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.
Crab pâté and smoked salmon are delicious.
I love tea parties.
Head over to the SeaChange blog to see how I combined these three facts into something worth raising your pinky for. 
Afternoon Tea at the Gatsby Mansion
2 JunJuly 2012 update: The Gatsby Mansion has recently come under new ownership and has a new chef, and their afternoon tea is now very good. Read my new review here!
Once again, Lynette and I had a hankering for afternoon tea, and as the White Heather Tea Room was closed, we figured this would be a great time to try out one of the other establishments in Victoria that serves tea (there are a lot of them). We decided on the Gatsby Mansion, and brought our friend Candice with us. Frankly I’m sorry that this was her first afternoon tea experience, because it was definitely sub-par. Hopefully that means it can only get better from here!
As you can see above, the Gatsby Mansion restaurant is beautiful on the outside, and the restaurant inside has definite potential from a decor point of view, but it felt like it was trying to be grand without really making the full effort to BE grand.
The ceiling of the room we were in was very ornately painted, and I couldn’t decide whether it was pretty, or pretty awful. The fake crystal chandelier was definitely leaning towards pretty awful, however.
Continue reading
Afternoon Tea at the White Heather Tea Room
19 Mar
My friend Lynette and I are secretly little old ladies at heart. One of the defining things about our friendship is our undying love of tiny sandwiches, scones with jam and cream, and tea, and we often celebrate the milestones in our lives by going out for afternoon tea. Heck, we don’t need a milestone – any occasion is a good excuse. We have even gone so far as to dream up a “Tea Tour” of the English countryside, wherein we would travel from tea shop to tea shop, sampling afternoon teas and writing reviews to publish in a book (who knows how realistic this is, but a dream is a dream, right?). In preparation, we have been to nearly every afternoon tea-serving establishment in Victoria, from the quintessential (and expensive) Fairmont Empress Hotel to the more-British-than-Britain (and now defunct) Blethering Place, but we have not yet written any reviews.
This is about to change. Prepare yourself for the first Tea Party review.
(This means we will have to revisit all the local places we have previously had tea at – darn! 
) Continue reading
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