Fleuri Restaurant at Sutton Place Hotel for High Tea

My family, especially my mom, has always adored afternoon tea. And there is nothing, we find, better than a good cup of tea with some nice scones, finger sandwiches and small pastries. It's not difficult to find tea services, or high-teas, in Vancouver, but it's difficult to find good ones. Often, places that makes good scones didn't do very well with the sandwiches, and the places that did well with the sandwiches didn't do well with the pastries. Luckily, the Fleuri Restaurant at Sutton Place Hotel serves a excellent tea service that does well on all aspects.

The tea services at the Sutton Place is $24 per person and can certainly be shared, although everything is so good that one can easily finish a whole order by themselves. One of the things I really like about having high tea in the Sutton Place is the atmosphere and the service. Unlike the lobby lounge in Hotel Vancouver, the Fleuri Restaurant is a little tucked away from the main lobby area, providing a tranquil environment, and all my experiences with the services there have been excellent.

The tea service begins with the server bring over a box of teas for our selection. The box is a little too heavy to be passed around, but the loose teas are all in different glass jars for you to smell, so they can certainly be passed around the table. All of the teas, and there are about 12 kinds, there smell excellent, but my favorites are the Cassis and Vanilla Rooibos (I believe).

After you have chosen your tea, and it's served, the server will bring the 3 tiered High Tea. Each order will include 4 different sandwiches, 5 different sweet pastry items, a scone, and, of course, Devonshire Cream. All the items tastes great, but what I like most is that different breads are used for all the 4 sandwiches, so there's nothing repetitive about the set. Their sweets on the second tier are also excellent, although a little too sweet, but that is the way of desserts in North America. Their scone on the third tier is the highlight of the set, I believe they sometimes make it with white raisin and others with red, and their Devonshire Cream is definitely not to be missed when having the scone.

I'm quite surprised at the lack of people having tea at the Sutton Place Hotel when the quality is so high. Not that I'm complaining, because the less people go there, the less busy and quieter it is, the better atmosphere it is for me. But if you ask me where is the best High Tea in town, I'd have to say it's the Sutton Place. Although I understand that many like to go to the Shangri-La, but other than the nice teapots, cups and saucers, their quality of food and atmosphere is no match to the Sutton Place Hotel. Plus, the High Tea in Shangri-La is more expensive too.

Fleuri Restaurant at Sutton Place Hotel 845 Burrard St. Vancouver, B.C. Tel: 604.682.5511