The Resort at Pelican Hill is a five star hotel located in Newport Beach, CA. On top of its nearly panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean, Pelican Hill also offers 18 holes Fazio-designed golf course, Forbes Five-Star rating spa, and exquisite dining selections.
Weeks of hard working has drained out all my energies and the very last bits of my brain juice. It's time for a little girls' getaway, go somewhere pretty, nibble on beautifully crafted food, perhaps with live music playing in the background? And of course lots of chit-chat with the girl friends.
The afternoon tea/high tea is offered at The Great Room, which is basically the lobby when first stepping into this grandiose resort.
Our table was near the floor to ceiling windows, where we can enjoy a little bit of California sunshine and a snippet view of the ocean (if we stand up).
Afternoon tea menu -
The tea set basically comes in two selections: Tea Time Renaissance $50 and Luxury Tea $60. The only difference is that the Luxury Tea also includes a glass of sparkling wine.
Click on the picture to enlarge the view.
To help us undecisive girls, our waitress brought over a wooden box. From there you'll find little bottles with all the tea leaves assortments offered on the menu. You can open up the lid and smell the aroma before making a choice.
We chose organic green, organic Assam, and vanilla rooibos.
The weather was nice, so we walked outside and checked out the view before the high tea tiers are served.
View on the left, you can also see a part of the ocean view golf course here. What a life -
View on the right -
Outside patio -
View from the patio area -
Other restaurants here at the Pelican Hill have even better view of the ocean, such as the Italian fare Andrea and California inspired cuisine Pelican Grill. If you don't feel like having girly girly high tea, maybe give these restaurants a try instead. Not sure about the flavors but at least the view is going to be breathtaking.
Our teas are here. The teapot covers help to keep the tea warm. There are also cute little strainers that can be set on top of the tea cups. So the leaves can be filtered through when pouring out the tea -
All sorts of sugar and honey for the tea, if desired -
Our photogenic high tea set -
The first/very top tier comes with savory items, second/middle tier comes with English tea cakes and chef's selection of tea pastries, and the bottom tier comes with freshly baked scones.
Details of the items from the first tier: smoked salmon and black caviar on squaw, cucumber with tomato marmalade on white bread, prosciutto ham and Persian melon balls on white bread, and egg salad with tomato concassé.
Squaw is a type of bread made with rye and molasses. Tomato concassé basically means diced tomatoes.
Some of the items from the second tier including berries tarts, pistachio pastries, and coffee cakes -
The pistachio one has a strong but pleasant nutty aroma, goes especially well with my organic green tea.
Also macaroons and lemon cakes -
My favorite is always the scones. The Great Room also did a good job on these buttery scones, on par with the Tea Lounge from Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, and the well known scones from Smith & Hsu in Taiwan -
These scones are served with Devonshire cream, lemon curd, and berries preserves.
Our quality girls' time was further enhanced with a harpist playing lovely music in the background -
Final bill for three -
Kind of pricey but to me, it's definitely worth it. Great service, good food, and absolutely elegant and relaxing environment, that's exactly what I needed and couldn't ask for more.
Cindy's rating: 7
Other afternoon tea places in southern California:
New hype in Los Angeles - not cronut knockoffs, but real mille crepes from Lady M
Quality high tea time - Boxwood Cafe at The London by Gordon Ramsay
The Resort at Pelican Hill - The Great Room
22701 South Pelican Hill Road
Newport Coast, CA 92657
(855) 315-8214
http://www.pelicanhill.com/dining/great-room/
*Afternoon tea is only available Friday through Sunday from 2 p.m. to late afternoon
*Reservation for the afternoon tea is highly recommended so the pastry chef can prepare the freshest sweet and savory treats on the day of reservation
*Live music available Thursday through Friday at various time slots; call in for the exact schedule if needed
Lady M Confections is a well known dessert store with vast media exposure such as Allure, Brides, Travel + Leisure, and New York - Best of New York. The very first location was established in New York and now Lady M has a total of four outlets. The latest opening is its first west coast store opened this summer in Los Angeles.
Minimal white color based store design and rectangular shaped layout are the general theme for Lady M, for both East Coast and West Coast outlets.
We arrived right when the confection opens at noon. It's not as crowded as it first opened during summer. However, steady customers starts to fill in the store soon after, mostly for take outs - large quantity take outs.
I read a Yelp review saying that Lady M was overflowed with Asians and a good portion of them were taking pictures of the cakes, which created a weird scene at the store. Well, it's true, and I was among one of them (but I did ask the waiter if pictures are allowed).
Lady M is pretty big among Asian communities. There were Koreans, Taiwanese (raising my hand), Japanese, and Cantonese at the store during my short 1 hour stay. It might be wise to arrive early still in case your piece of cake got taken away by one of my kind!
Mille Crêpes is what this confection is famous for. Created by gently piling up 20 layers of paper-thin crêpes coated with pastry cream. Besides Lady M's signature original mille crêpes, currently it also comes with citron, chocolate, green tea, marron (sweet chestnut), and strawberry flavors. The chocolate banana flavor not yet available in Los Angeles.
Lady M also carries other type of delicately made dessert. Light savory items such as sandwich and salad are also available for dine in customers.
(Click on the picture for a larger view)
Lady M Tea - Creamy Morning $6 -
Lady M's signature mille crêpes $7.5/slice -
My mouth is watering just by staring at the picture.
The crêpes is light, creamy, and with a slight caramel hint from the top layer. It's not overly sweet like some of the American cakes, which is ideal for a creamy treat like this. That way you won't get sugar stuck on your tongue feeling even till the very last bite.
Asian girls' picture taking mode.
Green tea mille crêpes $8/slice -
I would say the green tea version tastes even less sweetened, partly due to the slight bitterness from the matcha powder. Look at these paper thin layers, some might think $8 is very expensive for a slice of cake. However, you can tell how much work and precision goes into that one little crêpes. Don't even mention the quality of ingredients used. I think such a true delicacy definitely worth $8. For your reference, a 6 inch green tea mille crêpes costs $45 and a 9 inch one costs $80.
Checkers -
Made with vanilla sponge cake, chocolate sponge cake, and whipped cream throughout. To make it even better, the whole cake is covered with shining dark chocolate ganache. The cake itself is as good as the crêpes, I only wish the person who cut our slice can do a better job, so we get a cleaner color separation between the two flavors.
Flourless chocolate cake -
This one is pretty ordinary. You can still taste the quality chocolate used in the cake, but overall it's not as palate-blowing as others.
This place is definitely worth a try. The cakes and crêpes are light and delicate, similar to Japanese style cakes. However, the ones from Lady M are well flavored with its signature luscious cream, making the cakes light yet packed with delicate flavors.
Cindy's Rating: 8
Lady M Confections - Los Angeles
8718 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
http://www.ladym.com/
Operating Hours:
Tue to Fri from 12 noon ~ 7 p.m.
Sat to Sun from 12 noon ~ 6 p.m.
Closed on Mondays
*Do not take reservations
*Valet parking available
*Shipping available for certain items, please check website for details
Afternoon tea, or high tea in a fancier way is very popular in Taiwan. In fact, that's where I got the habit of pampering myself with tiers of sweet and savory treats during afternoon hours. Every little item on the plate is carefully created to please not only your palate, but also your eyes. Unfortunately, there aren't that many high tea selections in Southern California so I was thrilled when finding out about this place in West Hollywood.
Boxwood Café is located inside a boutique hotel called The London West Hollywood, crafted by a renowned British chef Gordon Ramsay. You might heard of him on the TV shows Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares.
Afternoon tea is only available daily from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. There are mixed reviews about this café on the Internet, but I just have to give it a try myself.
Maybe partly affected by the online reviews and partly due to the lack of "high tea" frenzy crowds like me, there weren't that many people on a weekend afternoon. However, I do enjoy a quiet and peaceful time with my friend at the Boxwood Café. The decor and furniture selection made me felt cozy and comforting. However, it also carries a certain degree of luxury and modern touch in a subtle way instead of shouting out "Look, we come with hefty price tags!"
Our seat was next to the windows where we can overlook the quiet WeHo neighborhood hidden behind fancy shops and restaurants on the street.
Service here was wonderful, our waiter stopped by several times during the short 2-hour time frame checking on our needs.
Afternoon tea menu was $28 per person and $40 with one glass of champagne (Schramsberg, blanc de blancs brut, North Coast). We skipped the sparkling wine and picked our tea instead - Rose with French vanilla, natural rosehip with hibiscus.
Ah I missed you so -
Top tier comes with freshly baked scones with plain and black currant flavors. Served with Devonshire cream and lemon curd. Second tier comes with tea sandwiches with curry chicken and golden raisins flavor, egg and watercress. There are also some canapés including smoked salmon and cucumber, hummus spread toasts. The bottom tier comes with honey madeleines, l'opera cakes, apple crumble, fresh fruit tarts, and lemon meringue bars.
Supposedly there's a certain sequence to enjoy different tiers of food. I personally don't really care about that, just go ahead and grab whichever one you want to enjoy the most at the moment!
You can tell that Boxwood Café really put in some effort in all these miniature items instead of just assemble all the components like a factory line. The flavors were all there despite their petite sizes and every individual dish can stand on its own. Even now I still remember the tastes from my curry chicken sandwich. The curry wasn't too over-powering and matches well with hearty bread. It'll be nice if they offer that quadrupled the size during regular lunch hours.
And the meringue was just too cute to be eaten. They look like clouds floating in the sky!
Online reviews might not be too welcoming for Boxwood Cafe's regular dining selections. However, compared to most of the high tea places in SoCal, I think Boxwood did a pretty good job on their afternoon tea offerings. I would definitely come back every time when the café changes their high tea menu!
Cindy's rating: 7
Boxwood Café at The London
1020 North San Vicente Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone: (310) 358-7788
Email: grlwh@thelondon.com
Website: http://www.thelondonwesthollywood.com/gordonRamsay/boxwoodCafe-en.html
Opening hours:
Breakfast -
Monday to Friday 6:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Saturday to Sunday 7 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Weekend brunch -
Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Lunch -
Daily from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
*Afternoon tea -
Daily from 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Note: Valet costs differ depending on if you're here for dinner, afternoon, etc. Don't ask me, I have no idea why they do that.
The London - West Hollywood
Website: http://www.thelondonwesthollywood.com/gordonRamsay/
I've been driving pass by ROCQ Cafe so many times but never really had any thoughts about giving it a try, until one day my friend suggested having a weekend brunch there last week.
The minute right after I walked inside the cafe, the place gave me a cozy and welcoming feeling instantly. Well, to tell you the truth, I was mostly blinded by its ordinary green and white signage outside the cafe and would have never expected such a cute design for the interior.
On top of that, being around the neighborhood for quite some time, I know the quality of the restaurants here, sustainable but not outstanding. Therefore my mind just automatically blocked me from trying out most of the eateries around the area.
Brunch is only offered during weekends at ROCQ Cafe. In addition, this place only opens during day time (in case you're thinking about dining here during late hours).
Our seats (so cute)! -
Menu -
Inside the menu -
My friend's fluffy looking coffee -
Counter area -
Eggs benedict with crab cake $11.95 -
"Crispy potato, roasted tomatoes, hollandaise sauce"
My classic French sandwich croque madame $9.95 -
"Ham, Swiss cheese, bechamel sauce"
I rarely order croque madame so I'm not really in a good position to determine whether or not ROCQ Cafe did a fine job on this dish. However, I do know that my croque madame was really yummy. The crust was slightly crunchy and together with runny egg yolk created a luscious combo. The bechamel sauce was not over-powering so the savory flavor from the ham still shines through.
Perfect bite -
Besides these two dishes, there were other classic French selections such as coq au vin, crepes, and quiche.
To make our brunch even better -
We selected one lavender macaron, one pineapple macaron, and a "green" colored vanilla cake -
My friend said ROCQ usually makes heart shape macarons, but it was around Easter time so they changed to egg shaped macarons, which we did not choose.
I was never a big fan of macarons until I tried Ladurée, the case still applies today.
Not sure about the coloring of the vanilla cake, which somewhat resembles active fungi. Taste-wise, the cake is decent and moist.
The portion is on the smaller side here at ROCQ Cafe. I felt like I need two orders to fill my appetite. However, I do eat a lot for my first meal of the day. The truth is the food here is not extraordinary awesome but it ain't bad at all. I wasn't overly impressed but the cafe surely proves itself to be one of the best choices around the neighborhood if you're looking for a light meal. And somehow I've been having this urge asking me to come back again. Perhaps the cozy vibe of the place has something to do with it.
Cindy's Review: 6
ROCQ Cafe
22722 Lambert Street
Lake Forest, CA 92630
(949) 916-0722
Monday - Friday
11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Saturday/Sunday
8 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Catering service available, check out ROCQ Cafe official website for more details.
