Who doesn’t love a Wizarding World themed high tea? We sure don’t and that’s why we checked out the latest La Petite Cuillère Tea House collaboration with Warner Brothers Studio for the Fantastic Beasts: Secrets of Dumbledore High Tea set recently. This is our take, let’s go!
The Set Up
Sometimes when you randomly scroll through social media just for the heck of it, you come across nerdy outings like this one! As soon as I saw the post, I knew it would be a great opportunity to have some fam jam time! Luckily, the fam jam allowed me to have my nerdy moment and we turned it into a lovely outing! It took us a few tries before we were able to make reservations, but we finally did manage to after a couple days.
The Layout
This high tea set was specifically created for the movie and it looked magical for lack of a better word! All the items on the tower are pastries found in Jacob Kowalski’s (portrayed by Dan Folger bakery! From the Niffler to the Occamy, we’ll go through each tier.
Bottom Tier
The savouries. This tier had Kelpie cucumber sandwiches, Erumpent chicken salad sandwiches, Zouwu quiches, Bowtruckle lapsang egg salad, and Occamy pretzels in the front.
Middle Tier
The transition tier from savoury to sweet. This tier included Obscurus panna cottas, the Swooping Evil choux buns, Grindelwald brownies, and House Elf scones (we did confirm that House Elves were not included nor were they harmed in the making of this pastry).
Top Tier
And finally, at the top there were the Thunderbird tea cakes, Queenie’s apple strudel, and the Niffler mousse were front and centre.
Bonus Savouries
We also had an extra plate of savouries for on fam jam member as they had requested a completely savoury tower. We were thrilled that the tea house was able to accommodate our request, but there was a slight mix up in the communication when we made our reservations. Kudos to the kitchen staff for pulling this plate together on the fly for us which we are very appreciative of. It included: Lapsang tea-infused Egg Salad, Darjeeling Chicken Salad with Cranberry Chutney wrapped in a Spinach Tortilla, Lemon and Chive Cream Cheese Cucumber Sandwich with Cherry Tomato, Shrimp Cocktail with Pickled Shallot Caviar, Sautéed Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Quiche infused with Truffle Oil. This particular fam jam member loved this bonus savoury plate the best even though there were a few repeats on her plate and on the tower itself.
Tea
We each chose a tea and one of them we decided that we absolutely must get is the Jasmine Pure tea. Jasmine tea in general is a great palate cleanser and it breaks through all the heavy food as well. The second tea we chose was the Lavender Earl Grey Cream – this one caught all three of our eyes. And finally, the third tea we chose was the Raspberry Parfait. Something fruity to break up all the floral teas we had already chosen.
Our Thoughts
The Tea Choices
We learned from the last high tea we went to (check it out here for our thoughts) and let the jasmine tea sit for awhile and tried the other two teas first. The Lavender Earl Grey Cream had a much stronger lavender flavouring than we had expected and less of the creamy taste. It was quite delicious and paired well with the savoury tier. The Raspberry Parfait was our wild card choice and we were very surprised at how yummy it was and it paired very nicely with the more bready items such as the middle tier and because it had that raspberry flavour, it cut through the sweetness on the brownie and the jam at the bottom of the panna cotta shot glass. The Jasmine is a staple for us and is a tried-and-true tea that we know would go with anything because it has such a neutral subtle flavour. You can’t go wrong if you choose Jasmine tea. But the best tea out of all three? It was when we mixed the Lavender Earl Grey Cream with the Raspberry Parfait. It reminded us of how the Secret Garden’s Secret Tea tasted which was very delicious in its own right. Because the lavender and the raspberry flavours balance each other out, you honestly could just have this duo tea mix for the entire high tea tower and not need to have another tea to cleanse the palate between each tier!
The Food
A few items had a bit of a tea treatment. For example, the eggs in the Bowtruckle lapsang egg salad are soaked in lapsang tea for 48 hours before they’re mixed with the other ingredients and condiments to create the final dish! And let me tell you, that egg salad – yum! The lapsang tea flavours were there, but very subtle and slightly masked by the dressing. Yet, despite this, the dressing paired very well with the flavours of the tea. Loved how each flavour profile was thought out and paired well with each other. We were pleasantly surprised that the food was not overly sweet as the fam jam are more into the savoury items. Thank you to Chef Wilson Wu and team for creating a high tea tower that truly catered to our Asian tastebuds!
The quiche was amazing and we all agreed was probably the best thing that we enjoyed from the bottom tier. The Occamy pretzel looked like it might be super chewy, but it was actually quite soft with just enough salt for flavour. Grindelwald’s brownie was probably the sweetest item out of the entire tower for my fam jam, but I thought it was delightful and full of chocolate flavour. So, if you’re a chocolate fan, this one would be an item for you!
The House Elf scones were amazing! It might look like a simple scone that needs help from jam and clotted cream, but let me tell you that all you need is the Raspberry Parfait tea to wash it all down. The scone holds up on its own! It was what was on the inside that made it for us. There was a hint of a warm spice such as cinnamon or nutmeg or cardamom (we not quite sure) and sweetened with bits of fruit (possibly golden raisins?). It was actually quite moist and fluffy on the inside and the baked exterior was your traditional scone exterior. Loved it and we couldn’t get enough of it!
We also loved the panna cotta as it wasn’t overly sweet, aside from the jam (because it’s jam). Queenie’s Apple Strudel could have had a touch more filling and the pastry shell itself could have been crispier since it had that “made the previous day” texture to it where the pastry itself as absorbed some of the moisture from the apple filling inside. But the flavour profile of the strudel was spot on! And finally, we can’t forget about that Niffler. It was so cute!
Overall, we enjoyed our visit to the teahouse immensely! This Fantastic Beasts high tea tower was just amazing to look at – artistically appealing, visually scrumptious, and in awe of the amount of detail for each “beast”! So much so that we had to use the shortbread cookie wands to conjure the panna cotta desserts! It was so fun and we can’t wait to go back and try more!
‘Til next time,
Stay Nerdalicious!