Secret Garden - Afternoon Tea

One weekend, my friends and I decided to spend the afternoon drinking tea, eating pastries and doing some catching up. We all decided to go to the Secret Garden which is a little tea shop located in Kerrisdale. This tea shop can be easily missed if you're not paying attention!

For afternoon tea/high tea, it is recommended that you make reservations because they do fill up relatively quick. If you walk in, you may get turned away if you don't have a reservation. Reservations can be made for 12pm, 2:15pm, and 4:30pm everyday and cost $26.95 per person.

I was one of the first to arrive and was greeted and seated at a table set with shiny white china! The little tea shop was cozy, warm and home-y. It had a country-side feeling to it. Wooden cabinets filled with china and comfy chairs and wood tables.

While waiting for the rest of my friends arrived, I took at the teas they have. They have over 40 different types of tea that you can choose from. For afternoon tea, you choose the tea and they will bring out a three tier tray of pastries, desserts and sandwiches.

Tea Shop Decor

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Afternoon Tea at The Fairmont Pacific Rim

We bought a Social Shopper coupon for Afternoon Tea for Two at The Fairmont Pacific Rim for $35 and decided to use it one weekend. The coupon was a good deal as it would normally cost $70 for two people. After reading that they serve "sushi-style" sandwiches for tea, I wanted to try it! This certainly didn't sound like typical afternoon tea with the egg salad sandwiches, pastries and scones.

The tea at Pacific Rim is served in their lobby of the hotel. It's a spacious area with cozy chairs, a fireplace and a Fazioli piano! That piano was gorgeous! I loved the design that is etched on the inside portion of the cover. Apparently, that piano cost $225 000! If I had that kind of money, I would buy a piano that looked like that! 

After we were seated, we were given a small box with the different tea selections. The tea leaves were in a small glass bottle where you can open up and take a whiff before deciding which tea to have. All the teas smelled really nice, but I decided to have the Vanilla Roboois. My boyfriend couldn't decide at first... but he finally decided to get the same tea as I did.

A selection of teas from T

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