It is often quite expensive to do but I love taking afternoon tea. And I usually do it when I travel- it’s a lovely respite from busy travel. I knew that I would spoilt for choices in Toronto, as countless hotels offer it. The Fairmont always puts on a fantastic spread, no matter which Fairmont you visit, though, so I had to go there. And even better for this holiday-file? It is Christmas themed at the moment! Here are my thoughts and highlights of my festive afternoon tea at the Fairmont Royal York, and the hotel in general!
I took tea at the Fairmont Banff Springs a few years ago, and it still remains one of my favourite Banff memories. Realistically, it is quite an expensive tea at a Fairmont, but I think that the quality is more than enough to warrant the price. (I know that there are certainly people who will say that $50-80 CAD is too much for tea, but you probably weren’t searching for this anyways…) It’s always in a gorgeous lounge, and the service is always amazing.
The Royal York
The Royal York hasn’t always been a Fairmont-owned hotel. It opened on 11 June 1929, and at 28 storeys, is still considered one of Canada’s most luxurious railway hotels. (Does anyone else wish that gorgeous hotels were always a part of travel now??) It was built in the chateau-esque style, and still holds a loved place in the Toronto skyline. Fun fact: for just under a year, it held the title of tallest building in the British Empire. It was lost the following year to the Canadian Bank of Commerce Tower, also in Toronto. If you find yourself at Union Station in Toronto (and you probably will), just look across the street to see the hotel! And although it is as expensive to stay at the Royal York as you would expect, you can visit for tea or a meal and still see much of it.
The Fairmont Gingerbread House
I was looking forward to seeing the gingerbread house, but I hadn’t quite prepared myself…. This is a life-sized, two storey gingerbread house. Yes, you read that correctly- life-sized, two storey. This was just incredible to see in person, and may have inspired me to attempt more sculptural baking myself…. Everything aside from the window displays is made of actual gingerbread, icing, and candy. I don’t know how you train yourself to do this, but it is quite impressive. As I expected, there were a lot of visitors who just stopped by to see the gingerbread house- a fantastic idea for free PR…
You can see the icing and candy detailing here. According to the Fairmont, “Inspired by a New York Brownstone, our 2-story gingerbread creation stands more than 24 feet high and 6 feet deep. It holds 4,500 bricks, 500 pounds of icing and while we don’t recommend it, it’s sweet, gingery smell will make you want to take a bite!” I don’t actually like eating royal icing, but it is perfect for the brick detailing. This is the first life-sized house that the hotel is done, I’m interested to see what they make next year!
Festive Tea at the Fairmont Royal York
This is possibly the best afternoon tea I’ve taken- the Christmas theme made it perfect. They offered all of their regular teas, but also featured four festive black teas. I had the Santa’s Milk and Cookies tea, described as “Reminiscent of dipping an English biscuit into a warm glass of milk. A satisfying creamy flavour. Santa’s favourite.” My friend had the Vienna Eggnog tea, which was also delicious. If you are at tea with a friend, I would recommend getting teas that you are both interested in, as you can enjoy a cuppa from either pot.
The cranberry scones were quite delicious, and a lovely change from the standard raisin scones. (They could have given a little more clotted cream, but I digress…) The savoury bites were excellent. I wouldn’t have thought smoked duck would appeal to me, but I will be on the lookout for more. However, I think that most of us are really there for the desserts. And the Fairmont delivers. The reindeer cheesecake bites, the green-iced light fruitcake, the cranberry/white chocolate whipped shortbread. All of looked appropriately festive and was entirely delicious. You pay an extra $5 per person for the festive tea in December, but it is more than worth it. (If nothing else, everyone gets a Christmas cracker to pop, which is enough of a bonus on its own!)
Have you taken the festive afternoon tea at the Fairmont Royal York, or anywhere else?
Cheers,
The Historian
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