August 2024
Reviewing afternoon tea in Welland Ontario canada
This is afternoon tea for 2 at the 'Fox and Hummingbird Tea House' in Welland Ontario Canada which is about 40min into Ontario from buffalo NY for my US tea friends. This is a new tea place in the Ontario tea rooms scene so let's see how they're doing as a newly opened tea venue.
But first,
I am the self proclaimed queen of afternoon tea based in Ontario Canada who documents all my tea experiences across multiple platforms, you've maybe seen my videos on the CLOCK app recently. You can learn more about me and my royal credentials in my intro video linked on screen and in the description. But let's get into this tea time review, shall we?
The fox and hummingbird tea room is very nicely decorated. Once you get up the flight of stairs, the dining areas are setup in little vinettes which are so nicely decorated. It's like being in a bougie grandma's tea parlour! The ambiance, table setting, and customer service was very good here so that's receiving a 5 out of 5 on the score card.
The menu of tea options is very confusing and not well organized so we both ended up choosing earl grey as the number of black tea options was minimal. The tea cups and steeping method of tea was fine so tea receives a 3 out of 5. We loved these antique tea pots.
Our tea experience began with a soup. It was a large bowl of French onion soup but the onions were far from caramelized so I only ate the broth which tasted good. The 3 tier plate was delivered and looked quite monotone, mostly browns. The scones were served on a separate side plate. And as you can see there was ample food served at this afternoon tea!
From the bottom savoury tier, we each got 5 sandwiches. egg salad on a croissant, a salmon wrap, a Cucumber cream cheese, a salami sandwich, and a beef carrot sandwich. the breads were fresh and fillings were fine but None were standout bites for me for various reasons. But there were ample savouries and varied breads so the savouries receive a 4 out of 5 on the score card.
After our savouries we like to eat our scones. We were sadly only served two scones here and they were two different flavours so we had to split them in half to each try both. The scones were served with a house-made cream concoction, butter, and jam. We asked about clotted cream (which was written in the menu as a $4 add-on) but we were told they ran out of it. Sigh.
We were glad we split the scones to share them both b/c the plain scone was FAR superior to the blueberry scone which was over baked and maybe made with buckwheat flour or something ?? b/c it had an odd flavour to us both. The plain scone tasted quite good and was a cakey texture which I enjoy. However, both guests should have received a plain scone (and ideally two of them each) and of course, real clotted cream is required.
The scones are receiving a 4 out of 10 on the score card. I really hope they can improve them before my next visit!
For sweets each guest received 7 various sweets. 7 is a lot of sweets. The owner let us know that she makes everything in house and that seemed very clear to us. Everything tasted OK but kinda dry overall and nothing created a wow factor from the sweet tier. I suppose the butter tart was the best of the sweet bites. Quantity was good but taste and variety could use some attention. Therefore, the sweet tier is being scored at 3 out of 5.
From the confusing menu, we chose the "Tea for two" at $65 and added a second pot of tea so we didn't have to share and b/c my tea friend drinks A LOT of tea. Therefore, afternoon tea here with the starter soup is $32.50 per person, which is on the low end for afternoon tea in this region.
In terms of venue, I like the decor here. While it's lots of froo froo doillies I think they are tasteful enough, I would bring my grandmother here. My overall impression here is 7 out of 10.
The final score for the fox & hummingbird tea room is 65% on the scorecard which is 26 out of 40. Again, this tea room is relatively new so I feel confident it will score higher on my next visit; I'll give it a few months though....
