Afternoon Tea at Rose House

Rose House Vancouver
5687 Balsam Street
Vancouver, BC
V6M 4B5
Tel: (604) 620-3668
Email: vancouver@rosehouse.com

The reception area

Front entrance decor

Tea Showcase~

As you can see, the decor was rose themed

Display with different cute tea sets for sale

 

We both ordered the full Prince William Afternoon Tea set

Cera ordered the Rose Afternoon tea and Wish had the Royal Blend

Wish's tea with a packet of sugar

Bottom Tier: Savories
Deviled Egg
Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese Sandwich
Tuna and Apple Sandwich
Prawn Cocktail
Mozzarella & Tomato on Toasted Baguette

Middle Tier
Raisin Scone with Devonshire cream and Rose Jam
Poppy seed Shortbread Cookie
Quiche

Top Tier: Sweets
Blueberry Cheesecake
Strawberry Puff Pastry
Strawberry Panna Cotta with Kiwi
Tea Jelly
Lemon Macaron

The Verdict:
We had a great experience at Rose House! The decor was elegant and the service was excellent. This may just be Cera and Wish's new favorite afternoon tea salon in Kerrisdale. The array of savories were well thought out, although the tuna sandwich could have used a bit more seasoning. The scones were fresh and hot and complimented the homemade rose jam very nicely. However, the sweets were our favorite part of this afternoon tea, especially the refreshing tea jelly and the strawberry Panna Cotta. They also offer a beautiful iced rose tea that we're definitely going to try next time!

For $27.95/person, Rose House in Kerrisdale is a DEFINITE must try! We rate it two thumbs up!

A Little Bit of History
Apparently the founder of the Rose House, Robert Huang, is a well known rose painter. You can find The Rose House in other places in the world such as London, New York, Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo!

Kracie - Panda Cookie

How cute is this? We've been looking for this for ages and luckily, Wish was able to find it when she visited Japan!

Apparently different kits come with different panda expressions!

Mini spoon!

Making the chocolate~

SMELLS LIKE NUTELLA!

Into the bag it goes~~~

First we make the panda face and ears~

The rest of the face....

Slap the vanilla part on and pat it smooth and into the microwave it goes!

Panda cake! Although it looks like a bao bao instead...

The Verdict:
It smelled great! It was soft and moist but sadly, tasted somewhat bland. We should have tried to even out the white dough more because the dough actually rose to create a dome shape rather than a nice, flat cake. Our final result also turned out a bit creepy looking, but was fun and easy to make nonetheless.

Kracie Happy Kitchen - Cake Kit

Mini cake! How cute is that! This kit has two molds - the traditional circle cake or flower shaped cake. We were lucky to get the flower cake mold!

The box

Heehee.. This looks a bit like a packet of wet tissue...

FLOWER SHAPED MOLDS! ♥

The batter~

After 30 seconds in the microwave and it turned into a foam consistency! Very cute.

Making the vanilla frosting...

And the strawberry frosting...

Making the strawberry jelly...

Awwwwww ♥! However, this took a while to solidify :(

TADA!

The Verdict:
Straight out of the microwave, this really did smell like cake! This kit was one of our favorites because decorating the cake was a bit challenging (taking the cake out of the mold) but fun at the same time, plus the final result was pretty adorable. The jelly accents are super cute! :)

In terms of taste,  much like all the other  Popin'Cookin kits, the icing was not very strongly flavored. Texture wise, after a few minutes, the jelly and icing made the cake mushy and distasteful. So if you're going to eat the cake, eat it quickly!

Meiji Takoyaki Yasan たこやきやさん Gummy Candy Kit

This Takoyaki DIY candy kit isn't from Kracie's but another candy company called "Meiji". Cera and Wish already love their chocolate, but a DIY candy kit ? We REALLY needed to try it out.

The package. This kit did not come packaged in a cardboard box so we were scared that
the mold is going to be squished.

The least amount of stuff that we have seen so far!

First, make the takoyaki "batter"

Pour the "batter" into the molds and add the pre-made "tako" shaped gummy in.
..Add more batter, then flip the candies and let set...

..And you voila, you get takoyaki! We also garnished with sprinkles and the pre-packaged "sauce"

Verdict
Wish and Cera enjoyed this quick kit as it was the easiest kit by far that we've ever made. The "batter" does solidify pretty quickly so you need to work quickly in order to form nice circular balls. Taste wise, this was the best tasting candy kit so far (considerably better than kracie candies)! Pretty chewy and sweet, just like a gummy candy should be!

Afternoon Tea at L’Opéra Patisserie

L’Opéra Patisserie

153 - 5951 Minoru Blvd
Richmond BC, V6X 4B1
Phone: 604-270-2919
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Cera and Wish first heard about  L’Opéra Patisserie from a friend who is also an Afternoon Tea fanatic. One rainy day, we decided to visit the place just to see their menu. The bakery itself is quite small somewhat hard to spot amongst the busy streets of downtown Richmond. 

Pastries

The macarons

L'Opéra cake is their signature cake so we decided to try it along with a
Rose Macaron and a L'Opéra Special Macaron

Our little table by the fireplace - perfect for a cold rainy day!

Two months later, we made a reservation to have afternoon tea here.

Inside of the bakery. Super pretty decorations!

The decor of the treat tier - gold ribbon with a gold teapot charm

The tier of wonderful things :D

Top Tier - Savories

Bottom Tier - Sweets
Mini Tarte au Citron with Blueberries
Burnt Sugar Puffs
Raspberry Mille Feuille
Raspberry Caramel Basket

Apparently this salmon puff was new and had just been released the same day
we went to afternoon tea! The owner said it isn't on the menu yet!

It's a fluffy, buttery puff pasty filled with salmon.

Another savory...

Raspberry Caramel Basket. Super delicious even though on the menu says
it should have been strawberries. The caramel basket was such an interesting concept!

Mini Tarte au Citron

Burnt Sugar Puff

Raspberry Mille Feuille

.. and Wish's favorite - the Blueberry Macaron

WITH A BLUEBERRY INSIDE!!!!!

The owner also gave us some chocolate cookies to go!

Verdict

L'Opera has a rather small tea selection but the decadent sweets and savories made for that! The french style afternoon tea was unlike any that we've tried before and you can truly tell that a lot of thought and effort went into planning and creating their menu. What amazed us the most was that the owner was self taught! Wish really loved the macarons - they were soft and fluffy with a surprise berry hidden inside.

What Could Be Changed

The savories and sweets were really delicious, however, Wish felt that our tier had WAY too much raspberries. 

Do we recommend afternoon tea at Soirette? At $25 per person, L’Opéra Patisserie is definite must try!

*Edit*

As of 2014, Cera has informed us that Afternoon Tea at L’Opéra Patisserie has increased in price to $39. 
:( The menu seems to have significantly changed as well.