For my birthday, my dear friend Liane treated me to high tea at L’Opera Patisserie in Richmond. Much like many other high tea places, you must make reservations (at least 24 hours). There were 13 items on our tier and we were able to choose whatever tea we pleased. This French bakery is a little slice of heaven in Richmond. Walking in to it’s ornate salon area complete with wicker chairs, red and gold wallpaper and lots of crystal and gold touches, it’s very cute.
On our menu was Shrimp bisque soup, organic mushrooms on ink baguette, surf clam carpaccio, lobster vol au vent, cream of chicken parcel, browned butter yams and duck and the sweets included banana flambe, tiramisu, pear and brie, matcha lava cake, earl grey and roasted strawberry puff, creme brulee and you get to choose a macaron from their case.
As dainty as our tower was, it is a lot of food. I appreciated a lot of the savoury items – particularly the mushrooms on ink baguette, the surf clam carpaccio and the lobster vol au vent. The sweets were good too, my favourites being the matcha lava cake and the earl grey roasted strawberry puff.
The shrimp bisque soup was good and was the first item to come to our table. You get to crumble the puff pastry on top and enjoy the soup alongside the buttery pastry.
The surf clam carpaccio is a nice nod to more asian flavours complete with seaweed.
Not pictured is the organic mushrooms on squid ink baguette. I think squid ink is going to be a big thing in the next year or so, just because of it’s darkness and contrast to bright things on plates.
The lobster vol au vent was a nice, delicate pastry.
The cream of chicken parcel is a great serving size and one, if not the heaviest item on the savoury side. I enjoyed it and it filled me up pretty quick.
The brown buttered yams and duck was served on a delightful edible spoon that held the yam. The duck was a little cold, but maybe because I saved it for last.
On the sweet side:
Banana flambe – the dessert is not too overpowering in terms of banana flavour and has a nice slight sweetness to it.
Tiramisu – one of the heavier sweets, this was very filling and more on the sweeter side but still pretty enjoyable!
Pear and brie – it was a nice addition to the sweets, the pear definitely cut the taste of the brie.
Matcha lava cake – one of my favourites on the tower, I was surprised as I thought the outside would be green, but it was a nice chocolate cake with flowy, gooey matcha flavour inside.
Finally, the earl grey roasted strawberry puff. This dessert is 2 combined into one: the bottom is an earl grey tart and the top is the strawberry. I liked the two flavours together, the earl grey flavour is very mild and so is the strawberry, so neither overpowered one another but were pretty harmonious.
The macarons we chose were the black forest and chocolate, both good! The macarons had a good shape and consistency to them and a good amount of filling.
We had the creme brulee served to us last, but we were much too full to finish it.
I really enjoyed myself here and I would definitely recommend coming here for a nice, delightful catch up session with a friend or a special occasion! You can also order things to go, so if you’re not feeling up to high tea, you have options. I would say this is probably the best high tea I’ve had in the city!
Food: 4.5
Service: 3.5
Value: 4
Ambiance: 4
OVERALL: 4
