Alice’s Tea Cup Chapter II NYC

Alice’s Tea Cup Chapter II NYC

156 East 64th Street, New York, NY 10065-7411 (Alice’s Tea Cup Chapter II)

http://www.alicesteacup.com/

After shopping at Kusmi I headed down to Alice’s for lunch. The reviews on Steepster left me a little wary but friends on Facebook had recommended I visit it next time I was in town.

I did need to look around a bit to find it as it was around the corner and the entrance was set down below the sidewalk.

Once I found it I headed in and asked for a table for one. The hostess was pleasant and happy. I did feel a little guilty coming in at peak time alone.

I was seated on the level below sidewalk next to the kitchen; there was definitely a second floor that plates were being brought up to.

The restaurant was skinny and long. The décor was mismatched china and framed prints of pictures of various Alice films, and artist pictures and painting inspired by the same.

There were little notes around (think eat me and drink me) like on the dessert case (come closer, come closer).

They did pull off the wonderland tea party, grandmomther’s parlor theme well.

The tables were wooden with wooden chairs; the table I was on was actually an old converted sewing desk with footpedal.

The staff seemed to have droopy too large and mismatched attire as a uniform (which makes sense) that added to the theme.

The tea menu was very large and descriptive – and sorted by type. I wished I were not alone and could order more than one tea to share and try with someone. The food selection was also diverse and tea themed (scones and such).

The wait staff didn’t seem happy with me; I guess I was taking up space at a four person table for only one person. I felt a little bad but wished they didn’t seem so grumpy about it.

I ordered Alice’s Tea (house blend and apparently a favorite).
The tea I received in a whole, not small, teapot with an interesting drip catcher sponge attached. It was served abruptly with my cup only half poured and sloshed about. Was this thematic to the mad hatter’s tea party or just an angry waitress that she got the one patron table?

The tea itself was a translucent orange brown color. There was not a strong aroma to the brewed tea. The tea was slightly astringent, so I added sugar to the first cup, but as I kept refilling it I didn’t bother as it was so slight. The tea was a smooth, medium bodied black with citrus notes. I couldn’t taste the green tea they blended into the black. It was a little floral.

For lunch I ordered the cumin carrot sandwich. It was delicious and filling and presented well.

I tried not to be a burden and to eat and drink in a not dawdling way, but I could not resist the cookie plate at the end.

There were chocolate peanut cookies; butterscotch chip cookies, crasin macadamia cookies and what I believe were shortbread.

Overall good food, not bad tea, and a grumpy wait staff.

Lady Mendl's Tea Salon Place Review

Lady Mendl's Tea Salon Place Review

Website: http://www.innatirving.com/default.aspx?pg=dining-mendls
Address: 56 Irving Place New York, NY 10003

Yelp Reviews
Tea Map Reviews
Steepster Reviews

I called a few days in advance and the only opening was at the 5 pm seating, I am glad it wasn’t booked. I suggest making sure you plan this in advance.

When I arrived I nearly passed the location by, there is a plaque next to the door but nothing else.

I walked in and explained I was there for the tea parlor, and was taken to my seat in a small parlor. There was already one group of four ladies seated, and I got to select which table I wanted from the remaining 4. After I was seated the remaining tables did fill with two pairs and one single person.

It was interesting to note that all the wait staff was male, and all the patrons were female.

The waiter explained the difference between a tea and a tisane infusion while presenting the tea menu to me, which was a pleasant surprise.

Each guest may select one tea, and the 5 courses are decided by the tea parlor and not listed anywhere.

I selected the Wood Dragon Oolong, which they said was steeped 5-7 minutes.

Throughout the five course meal the wait staff kept my tea filled, my water filled, and the courses coming. You will not leave hungry.

The parlor had an upscale, fancy restaurant, vibe. You didn’t need to know your tea, or tea preparation, to appreciate the lovely meal.

The first course was a butternut squash tart, topped with parmesan cheese and crème fresh. It was surprisingly spicy, but tasty.

Next my pot of tea arrived; it had already been properly steeped so no worry about removing leaves or timing it. I was offered cream, which I declined. The table already had granulated white sugar and candied ginger. The tea saucer had a cute sugar cube with frosting flower on top.

Second course was finger sandwiches; I could select one of each. I was offered seconds after I completed my sandwiches, I appreciated that but passed. Each sandwich had one predominating flavor, and sadly all other flavors were lost. Please note that they were tasty and filling.
-Smoked salmon and cream cheese on pumpernickel
-Turkey cranberry
-Egg salad
-Cucumber

I asked the waiter if I could purchase some wood dragon and Lord Mendel tea to take home and I was quoted 7$ each. I accepted.

Third course was scones, one plain and one cranberry, with raspberry preserves and Devonshire cream. They were nice and warm, sweet. I do think the cream tasted exactly like whipped butter and wonder if there was a mistake or if Devonshire cream just tasted like whipped butter.

There was sadly no refill offer on scones. I wasn’t going to accept as I wanted to be able to eat dessert, but as they say it’s the thought that counts.

Fourth course was a layered crepe cake filled with vanilla cream on a raspberry coolie(?). It was light, and creamy. The raspberry was minimal and completely overwhelmed by the vanilla.

Fifth course was a large strawberry dipped in Belgian chocolate, apricot pastry and a shortbread or butter cookie covered in sugar. I devoured the strawberry, it was perfectly ripe and delicious. The pastries were not fabulous, I ended up taking a nibble of each but didn’t bother to finish since I was stuffed.

The waiter came back and asked for my to go order a second time. When he came back with the packaged teas I was dismayed to find that they were bagged teas, and over ten dollars each for 4 teabags per bag. I still purchased them but in the future I will likely not bother to purchase the tea.

The five courses and tea were 35$ plus tax and 20% tip

My bill, with tip, came to 67$

I would recommend this as a nice place to enjoy good tea and food with friends, it's inexpensive and filling with great, attentive, service. If you are really a tea person though I would recommend you go elsewhere.

Front Door:


Table:




Wood Dragon Oolong:




First:


Second:


Third:



Fourth:


Fifth:


To Go Tea Packaging:

Tea & Sympathy Place Review

Tea & Sympathy Place Review

Website: http://teaandsympathynewyork.com/home.php
Address: 108 Greenwich Avenue

Yelp Reviews
Tea Map Reviews
Steepster Reviews

I decided to have dinner at Dinner at Tea & Sympathy around 9 pm on Saturday.

There is a list of rules on the door, funny enough that Nicky spells her name the same way.

The wait staffs were two girls, one Irish, not sure the other one's accent but it sounded UK/Ireland.

Overall it's a tiny place, but when I arrived it was almost full, but no wait.

They discourage lingering, but are pleasant, helpful, and it seems (I have never visited England) like a shop you could find abroad.

I had the soup of the day, squash soup, with a lapsing souchong.

The soup was spicy but nice. It wasn't heavy and I was glad for that on a hot night.

The Lapsang Souchong was prepared as loose leaf in a postman teapot. They provided a cup strainer to keep leaves out of your cup while pouring.

They failed to mention how long, or that they had not steeped the tea yet. I let it set two more minutes as it was very pale. I think it could have used another minute.

The unfortunate part of the large pot and small teacup was that my first cup was weak, my second cup was perfect, and the third cup was over steeped as there is no way to stop the steeping process other than to drink faster.

Although there is a no lingering policy I never felt rushed, and the girls knew their product.

Sadly I failed to get photos of the outside or inside. The inside walls are decorated with pictures of royalty, and other random British memorabilia. Behind the counter there are many, many different teapots and teacups, which do seem to get used. I wonder if even the ones on the top shelves near the ceiling get used when it gets very busy.

The bathroom was next to the kitchen and was tiny. The door stuck, so at first I thought it was occupied, the staff saw me look dejected and pointed out I just needed to pull harder.

Overall the place was clean, the food was good, the quality of the tea was good, and the staff was very pleasant and helpful. My only complaint is the need to monitor your own tea after it arrives at an unknown steep time. I would recommend stopping by - the people near me were enjoying mushroom pie, scones and clotted cream, and other delicious looking items.

My meal came to $16 including tip.

Next door is the store, Carry on Tea & Sympathy's, it is small. The store makes excellent use of their space to offer a large selection of teas and china. They also offer to go service for those not wanting to sit for a meal.

Next to the store is an unrelated fish and chips store, making that stretch of street very British.

The Tea Set Review

The Tea Set
235 W 12TH STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10014
Website: http://www.the-tea-set.com/

Can be found on twitter @TheTeaSetNY

MilitiaJim and I were only spending the afternoon in Manhattan, so we were only spending a small amount of time in each location. Two of MilitiaJim’s friends joined us for our trip around the city after we had sushi for lunch.

Our third and last stop of the night was at The Tea Set. We arrived, and the place was sadly empty of customers. When I first walked in there was a beautiful and colorful wall of tea tins on shelves in front of a lovely exposed brick wall. Sadly the picture of this did not come out well. If we were getting something to go we could have easily gone up to the counter and placed our order and waited in hat area without being in any patrons’ way.

The intimate and cozy store is great for sitting and chatting with friends.

I took the table near the window, where the Hanukkah menorah was there, a nice try though not done properly. I took the bench seating against the wall that had many pillows, and ordered a bottle of Champaign and two pound cakes. They make their whipped cream fresh and serve the pound cake with a strawberry. It was moist and delicious.

The menu was a little vague:
- Champagne Bottle... $59
- Champagne Bottle Pommery... $85
- Champagne Bottle Pommery Rose... $125
- Champagne Bottle Krug..... $325

Not that I know champagne well but for a champagne bar you would think there would be a list of today’s Champaign choices? For those who know what kinds they like (drier for example?)

So, we ended up with 2 bottles of Champaign. I think if it has just been the two of us I would have gotten one bottle and perhaps tried their tea and Champaign cocktail.

After all the drinking I got us 4 mugs of mango black tea. We’re large mango fans. The tea was served them in large double walled mugs with the laser cut infusers. There were more than enough leaves and you could steep them as long as you wished (I like this!). I also caused a bit of confusion asking to purchase a tin of mango, and have them steep up the same tea as it was not on the menu. I would think all teas for sale should be on the menu? We came to a compromise of them steeping up some from the sampler and not pillaging from my tin.

The tea was a nice translucent reddish brown color and tasted like sweet dried mango pieces in a medium bodied black tea. It was not as good as the thepuriTea mango black we adore so much but a good second place.

Overall the staff was helpful, and stayed out of our way while we chatted, drank, ate and had a great time! We never felt rushed.

I think next time we are in New York I might wish to do a brunch there with a mimosa and then some tea.

I had purchased a Fantasy Mango Souvenir, the shopping bag was a very unique bag made of recycled newsprint and twine! I do love when the bags are special.

Through the nice I got to have a quick chat with the owner, and the waiter. Both of them were very helpful and happy.

The owner stopped over to offer me a tin of berry or plum tea, I choose plum and was gifted a tin of the Topped Fresh Plum Pleasure! I can’t wait to try some. (If I get home on time tonight I can have it then.) An unnecessary and very kind gesture on his part.

The bill with tip came to a bit over 200$, more than I was planning to spend, but we also had twice as many people as I planned for. Keep in mind this is an expensive area, the price seems in line with the area. The tea was high quality, the Champaign was nice (not an expert), and the food was good. Nothing at all to complain about, I recommend you stop in.

Other people’s reviews:
Yelp
Steepster

The Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop Review

On June 28 there was a deal on buywithme.com to purchase $5 and get $10 worth of Tea OR $13 for a 20 minute Aromatherapy Massage ($26 value) at The Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop (therandomtearoom.com). I bought one of each.

The teashop is located 713 North 4th Street, Philadelphia PA 19123

On July 24th MilitiaJim and I went for some tea and snacks before going to Dorian’s Parlor (http://www.doriansparlor.com/). We had also wanted to redeem the massage certificate but the masseuse was unavailable that day.

The place itself is a tiny thing, with a bar counter, and random furniture and art. A bit like dropping into the mad hatter’s grandmother’s place for tea. There was china and random interesting things all around. We ordered genmaicha and selected a pound cake and scone from the side table (serve yourself) for snacks. The tea came out in a glass teapot with two nice pottery cups. The place was not full but did have other customers the entire time we were there.

The genmaicha smelled seaweed, earthy
The taste was rice, vegetal and felt a little gritty, not in a bad way but textured and not silky butter
The after taste was like toasted rice
It had a medium body
The color was a translucent yellow-green

Yelp.com has some great pictures: http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-random-tea-room-and-curiosity-shop-philadelphia

Saturday July 31 MilitiaJim went back for his massage; it was an inverted massage, where you are on an incline, on your back where you feet are at the higher angle. It was interesting and relaxing but took some getting used to. He would get it again in addition to a normal massage but it is not a substitute. He also got a chai tea with his massage! After reading all the yelp reviews I wish I tried the chai, I’ll need to go back now.




Place Rating: 3/4 leaves


Tea Rating: 3/4 leaves


Leaf system:
1=Bleh! not again if it were free
2=Acceptable, if it were free or there were limited other tea options
3=I might purchase this tea from time to time, or select it while out
4=A staple in our cupboard from now on, I will purchase and keep purchasing

The Painted Tea Cup Tea Room Review

For mother's day my Uncle John had my family attend mother's day tea at The Painted Tea Cup Tea Room

http://www.thepaintedteacup.com/
220 South State Road (was 127 S State Road)
Upper Darby, PA 19082
610.352.2334
Hours of Operation: Tuesday — Saturday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Other reviews:
teamap
Steepster

I drove there with my sister. The first problem I encountered was not finding parking; we drove around the neighborhood before finally parallel parking in front of a tiny store next to a tavern. It was closed! My mother called and told us to come a block down the road to a beautiful house that had its own parking. Apparently they had moved. We were a bit (15 minutes?) late for our 2 pm seating.

Next problem, the power was out! Despite this the high tea was still on, woo! Honestly they handled it so well I never would have guessed and would have assumed all the candles and darkness were for Victorian ambiance.

My maternal grandmother, grandfather, mother, uncle John, sister and myself were there. Unfortunately both my sister and grandfather are fussy eaters and missed out on many of the delicious items through the lunch.

Our tea selection was;

Queen Mary black tea-an English breakfast blend
This was a nice strong black tea, no astringency or bitterness
It stood up well to cream and sugar.
It was smooth and tasty, but nothing special when plain.
I enjoyed it with honey; it was then sweet and strong.
I also enjoyed it with lemon balm and a bit of sugar, much better than real lemon when I later added a dash of cream.

Green tea with strawberry and kiwi flavors
It tasted more like a tisane - a strong strawberry fruit blend flavor, couldn't pick out the kiwi or green tea.

Decaffeinated English breakfast black tea
I declined to try the decaffeinated English breakfast, so sorry no reviews on that.

On the table we had available mints, sugar cubes, splenda, sweet and low, lemon wedges, lemon balm, honey, cream, jam, and crème fraiche.

Apparently there was going to be rooibos tisane but the power outage altered their plans.

Set at the table was strawberries and grapes on skewers (sorry forgot to get a photograph) arranged in lemon balm leaves for a delicious and pretty floral centerpiece.

Next up was peresca (spelling?) sparkling white wine, frozen strawberry and grenata (spelling?) in a Champaign glass. Dry, but fruity delicious.

Next served was raspberry whipped cream cheese on tea biscuits, sprinkled with powdered sugar with a side of frozen grapes. This was simple, tasty, but not anything remarkable.

The next course was an individual plate of many delicious items;
spinach and cheese quiche
chicken salad on spinach and a roll
pineapple mandarin orange jello
pumpkin bread
glazed lemon pound cake
cinnamon spice muffin
spinach artichoke mouse with a slice of tomato in ice cream cone
pumpernickel, watercress, radish sandwich
cucumber with rosemary on bread with mayo

I do hope all my notes are accurate, I was too busy gobbling down the filling and delicious foods. I was ready to pop when we left. In fact in many cases I had to nab my sister’s plate for pictures as I went about eating mine before I remembered to get a picture!

The dessert course contained;
fruit custard tart in filo type dough
cake, lemon curd, raspberry and Chambord drizzle
chocolate muffin cake with butter cream filling

The check was presented in a hand sewn billfold made of upholstery material with gold trim piping and a plate of chocolate truffles! (sorry forgot a picture of the billfold)

The owner had stashed up on many of the holiday Tea Forte assortments, and my mom purchased one (she has a love for the winter chai which is hard to get) along with some of the green tea with strawberry and kiwi for my sister.

Old Location



New Location




The Family





Some of the interior, I did not get to poke around much sadly




The Teas - Queen Mary



The Teas - Green Tea with Strawberry and Kiwi


The Food