AFTERNOON TEA AT THE DOVE'S NEST - Palliser

My sister wanted to experience Afternoon Tea. So, we decided to try this place. I had Afternoon Tea before in York, England at Betty's Cafe. I recommend it to anyone going there; however, the line-ups can be long but you get to experience proper English Afternoon Tea. One interesting fact is that High Tea and Afternoon Tea are totally different deals. People always think these are the same but they are not. Afternoon tea is like what my sister and I had below with sandwiches, scones, and dessert during mid afternoon. High tea is a bit more substantial. It was for the working class people after the workday where they serve meat and fish dishes, vegetables, baked goods. It was a basic family meal like dinner.

Anyways, I made reservations for Afternoon Tea for two because they recommended it. We arrived a little bit early but was seated right away. There wasn't many people there since it was in the middle of the afternoon on a Friday. We didn't get a food menu but the tea menu was present. The place has a nice cozy English cottage feel to it which made it inviting.

My sister and I each got to chose our own tea, and we each got cute unique tea cups as well. I chose a fruity one, Kyoto Cherry Rose, while my sister had the Bourbon Street Vanilla. My tea had a nice fragrant to it and a nice cherry flavour. I didn't get a chance to try the Bourbon Street Vanilla though.

Afternoon Tea $31.95

We got three tiers of yummy goodness (see pics below). Starting from the bottom, the sandwich tray, we got 7 different items, one each. We got a mini spinach quiche, cucumber sandwich, ham and cheese sandwich, egg salad and pickle pinwheel, salmon mousse cup, chicken salad in a cream puff shell, and a cheese cookie. Everything tasted fresh. My favourite was the cheese cookie, and my least favorite was the salmon mousse cup.

The second tier is my favourite thing about Afternoon tea. I don't know if they have it here, but if you only want the tea and scone, it is called Cream tea. This tier, we got two scones with whipped cream and strawberry jam. I asked for Devonshire Cream (extra $1.75) too. I made the mistake of thinking that Devonshire cream was the same as Clotted cream but it not the same here. I think the Devonshire cream here is their own recipe of heavy cream and cream cheese, but it was good none-the-less. The scones at Dove's Nest are amazing. I like to eat my scone with clotted cream on the bottom with jam on top of it, but since the cream was lighter I did the opposite. After this tier, my sister and I were very full. We actually got the dessert part to-go.

The top tier is the dessert tier. We got three different finger dessert - Pinkie Square, Victorian Elegance, and Chocolate brownie. I didn't actually eat the brownie. I gave it to my sister. I'm not a big fan of chocolate cake or chocolate brownies. I just need something else with it - I'm a big fan of Black Forest cake though. The Pinkie square is an original Dove's Nest creation. It is a shortbread based square filled with coconut and cherry filling and topped with pink icing. I didn't really taste the cherry but I did taste a little bit of the coconut. I thought the icing overpowered the taste. The Victorian Elegance was my favourite of the desserts. This is a small delicate tart filled with lemon butter topped with whipped cream.

I recommend this place if you want to experience Afternoon Tea. The food is plentiful, and the service was excellent. Even if you don't do Afternoon Tea here, just try the scones. Yum yum.

The Dove's Nest
1600 90 Ave SW
403-258-3300