Scones & raspberries with berries soup pipette
The Patisserie at the SLS Hotel puts on a High Tea service that is very a fun way to spend an afternoon hanging out with some girl friends. This is definitely not a traditional High Tea (menu), but afternoon tea in LA has become much more innovative and interesting. Our reservations were for 3:30pm on a Saturday for a group of 6. There were about 3 other small groups of people scattered throughout the Patisserie side of the hotel. One thing I enjoyed about the service was that they brought out each dish at different times, as opposed to setting everything out on the table at once. The food was brought out in about 10-15 minute intervals. The timing of each dish flowed really well. We would receive a dish, ooh and aww over it, take the obligatory pics for our blogs, take out bites, then talk about the flavors and textures, return to typical girt talk, and just as there was about to be a lull in our conversation, the next dish would be brought out. This was perfect and allowed us to sit and chat comfortably for over 2 hours.
We started off with cinnamon & sugar dusted scones that were very tender with a moist crumb. You are supposed to take a bite of scone, put the pipette into your mouth and squeeze out some of the raspberry sauce, and then pull off a real raspberry as you slide the pipette out of your mouth. It was fun and very flavorful!
Mini foie gras sandwich on toasted brioche bun
Next up was the foie gras sandwich. This foie gras looked like a thick slice of ham and combined well with a spread of sweet citrus sauce. I am not the biggest fan of foie gras (ethical issues and such…), but it definitely seems to be the meat of choice when you eat at any celebrity chef run establishment.
I will have to say that this was probably the best tasting foie gras combination I have tried.
Cucumber yogurt and tomato caviar
The texture of the foie gras was heartier than a pate type spread. This was my favorite savory dish because the combination of sweet and salty tasted perfect together.
Next up was a cucumber roll filled with a thick yogurt and topped with a tomato caviar.
The yogurt gave it a strong cheese taste. This was probably my least favorite, but by no means was it bad tasting. Just compared to the other savory items, this one seemed to lack
Caviar with steamed bun
that extra punch of flavor and the texture of everything combined seemed a little to soft…like it needed some bread for added texture.
The steamed buns with caviar were served together with the cucumber rolls. The little buns were topped with black caviar. The bread by itself was very simple and somewhat drier on the inside than expected, but eaten together, withstood the salty hit of the caviar.
Another treat I really enjoyed were these little chilled (maybe nitro’d?) beet meringues filled with a creamy center of goat cheese. The meringue shells turned almost powdery in my
Beet Meringues w Goat Cheese
mouth when i took my first bite. The powder was so fine, it made me cough a little as the meringue particles floated down my throat. This had a surprising flavor that reminded of a savory asian snack…shrimp chips! Sounds weird, but it was tasty!
The last savory item was the Salmon roe cone. The presentation was very cute, and the cone was fun to eat. I liked the thin and crispy cone, but I’m not a big fan of salmon roe.
Salmon roe cone
But I still ate it and enjoyed it!
Our High Tea concluded with a plate of sweet treats for all the share.
- Mint chocolate after eights
- Saffron pate de fruit w edible wrapper
- Hazelnut volcano cookies
- White chocolate truffles
For the tea option, I chose the Gyokuro Asahi, which was a smooth and rich tasting green tea. They refilled our french press tea infusers once. In total, you can chose from about 10 premium tea options, or you can go with some very unique coffee options if tea is not your cup of… well, you know.
I really enjoyed SLS’ version of High Tea. The food was innovative, flavorful, fun to eat, and a new way to experience tea. The great thing about this tea, was that it only cost $25 per person. This is probably the cheapest tea you can find in LA, and definitely one of the best tasting and fun places to enjoy tea!
Sweet Endings
Filed under: Bakeries, Desserts, Food, Restaurants
Yum, that food looks so good and so pretty. I’ll take the scones right now
[...] I truly enjoy spending time with them. We have taken a cooking class, ate our way through several afternoon tea events, relaxed together for mani/pedis, and most recently, we took a flower arranging course by [...]