But, I am by nature curious and adventurous. While this wouldn't really fulfill that adventurous component (it wasn't extreme tea, after all), it fit quite nicely into the curious part.
Tea was to take place at the Wilmington Tea Room, situated on the Riverfront in Downtown Wilmington, NC. While I was initially expecting a shopping trip would be needed to find appropriate attire for the tea, I was told jeans would be fine. Hmmm...that certainly changed my first idea of stodgy boring tea. The second thing to break down that image? The interior of the tea house.
If you are looking for boring and sedate, then bright purple is probably not the best choice for wall coloring. Of course, that is the first hint that tea at the Wilmington Tea Room is going to be amazing! The second? The menu. There are SO many fantastic choices of tea, sandwiches, desserts, soup, salads...you name it!
The other hint that this would not be quite what I expected? None of the china matched. At our table, there were eight place settings. Eight different place settings. All of the cups and saucers matched, but they didn't match the plates below them, nor did they match the other settings on the table. My first reaction when looking around was that it was an OCD-sufferer's nightmare. So, it was MY nightmare. I was earlier than the rest of my group, so I started mentally rearranging the plates, cups, and saucers from other tables. I can't help it. Patterns are my nemesis. Any disruption in that and my brain begins to focus on putting the patterns to rights. Once we got started with tea, all of that went rearranging out the window. As I relaxed into the experience, the hodge-podge, quirky mix became endearing and homey.
We all had different kinds of tea to drink. The choosing was probably the hardest part of the experience. I love tea of all kinds: herbal, black, green, white, you name it. At the tea house, you have a choice of at least thirty-six different teas (although our list was longer due to seasonal additions). I love its warmth and all of the flavors that comprise a fantastic tea blend. In the end, I settled on Vanilla Creme.
What we had in common was the food: full tea all around. With a choice of soup or salad, I went with this creamy, wonderful, Seafood Bisque. Probably not the best meal plan choice but I am sure completely forgivable as this was the only meal I ate that day (also probably a bad idea). Also to be found in full tea were scones (berry and plain) with strawberry jam and Devonshire cream. Layer two? Yummy little puffs with cucumber and dill, others with tomato, small ham and cheese sandwiches on cinnamon raisin bread (a little strange, that), and some delicious chicken salad with craisins on marble rye. Top of the stack was dessert: choices between mini carrot cakes with cream cheese icing (this is the only one I ate and learned I adore carrot cake), a coconut macaroon, a chocolate dipped strawberry, and the house specialty Gooey Bar (fudge square with chocolate chip cookie dough on top and bottom).
In the end, this was one of the most amazing experiences I have had in quite some time. I committed no major faux pas and had such a wonderful time. The staff was fantastic, and the food and tea were superb as well. If you are ever visiting Wilmington, I strongly recommend a stop by the tea room. Make sure you have plenty of time to sit, eat, chat, and simply take in the surroundings. You can also sit at tables out on the deck and take in the view.
It is one that I will not soon forget.
No comments:
Post a Comment