Dropping in for Tea
http://californiawineandfood.com/articles/289/1/Dropping-in-for-Tea/Page1.html
Dan Clarke
California Wine Press publishes two internet magazines.
www.californiawineandfood.com (CWF) addresses the interests of restaurant and hospitality professionals.
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Dan Clarke, Publisher
By Dan Clarke
Published on 05/25/2006
It
was the smoothest and most scenic flight I can remember.
Our 35-minute float plane
ride from Vancouver was efficient, but it was also fun. Seated right
behind the cockpit, we could share our pilot’s view as we gracefully
descended into Victoria’s Inner Harbour. The 18-passenger De
Havilland Twin Otter touched down and taxied to a dock just a few
hundred yards from our destination.
The hotel was in sight, but it was at street level and definitely uphill
from the harbor.
Dropping in for Tea
Dropping into the harbor.
It was the smoothest and most scenic flight I can remember.
Our 35-minute float plane ride from Vancouver was efficient, but it was also fun. Seated right behind the cockpit, we could share our pilot’s view as we gracefully descended into Victoria’s Inner Harbour. The 18-passenger De Havilland Twin Otter touched down and taxied to a dock just a few hundred yards from our destination.
The hotel was in sight, but it was at street level and definitely uphill from the harbor. I slung the garment bag over my shoulder and we began heading across the tarmac, pulling our wheeled suitcases behind us.
From off to the right came the inquiry, “Would you like a taxi, sir?”
“Oh no,” I replied, “We’re only going as far as the Empress.”
Our West Coast Air De Havilland Twin Otter.
“The Empress?,” he said, “Then, sir, why would you not want to arrive in style? My uncle can take you in his car. The fare is only $5.”
They put our bags into the trunk and we slid into the back seat. The uncle was a dignified, turban-wearing fellow with a full gray beard. His taxi was an older, but impeccably maintained, Cadillac Fleetwood. Yes, our arrival at the Empress was a stylish one.
The Fairmont Empress is one of the grand hotels of the world and so closely identified with British Columbia’s capital city that they’re almost synonymous. “Tea at the Empress” was a phrase it seemed I’d heard all my life.
We had attended the Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival and a sidetrip to Victoria was a temptation we couldn’t refuse, even though our time in Canada was limited.
The magnificent Empress overlooks
the Inner Harbour.
Editor’s note: Vancouver is British Columbia’s largest city and is on Canada’s mainland. The Provincial capital of Victoria lies to the southwest at the southern tip of Vancouver Island. That there is also a city of Vancouver in the state of Washington, just across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon, assured confusion for many young Americans when they reached that “Our Neighbors to the North” section of their geography textbooks.
That part of Victoria that was visible from our waterfront arrival seemed elegant, historical and very European, if not exactly the English atmosphere we’d expected. The Empress was a dominating presence-large, old and reeking of substance. Actually, it’s not really all that old. The eight-story hotel won’t celebrate its centenary for another couple of years, but it looks like it has always been there. The property has had its rocky moments over the years and insufficient revenues meant deferred maintenance and even the possibility in the mid-1960s that the place would be razed to make way for a “modern” hotel. Fortunately, such a tragedy was averted and this beautifully restored Victoria landmark is now doing well as a part of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.
Our room was at or near the top floor and looked out over the Inner Harbour. Wonderfully comfortable, it had an atmosphere all its own--part penthouse, part attic. Apparently, the hotel has 90 different room configurations among its nearly 500 guest rooms, giving its visitors accommodations with personality and character. I suppose there was a television in the room, but watching the tube didn’t seem an appropriate activity there. Much better spent was my time in a very comfortable chair by the window enjoying a book on the history of the city.
Our first evening we enjoyed drinks and dinner in the hotel’s Bengal Lounge. The room debuted in 1954 as the Coronet Lounge when British Columbia began breaking out of an unfortunate Prohibition of alcohol that had lasted from 1917. It assumed its current Bengal identity in 1967. The feeling is masculine, handsome and clubby. It’s the sort of place where an Anglophile could imagine himself sharing a table with Nehru or Winston Churchill. While those fellows didn’t show up, Maria and I did enjoy dinner in the company of the hotel’s public relations director who gave us a good introduction to the city and its most famous landmark. The Bengal Lounge is known for its live jazz on Friday and Saturday nights and Martinis every night. On this Monday night the room was quiet and we stayed with beer and wine as we enjoyed appetizers and excellent main courses of salmon and fish & chips.
The Bengal Lounge recalls an earlier era of the British Empire.
Tuesday was our only full day in Victoria and we began with an early walk over to Willie’s Bakery. Breakfast there is something of a local tradition and we enjoyed big omelets and, of course, had to try some of their breakfast pastry, too.
Walking and window-shopping our way back to the hotel was the best way to see some of the town and ward off the pounds we otherwise might have packed on with our big breakfast.
Tea is a tradition at the Empress. Maybe it’s the tradition. In any case, we didn’t plan on leaving Victoria without experiencing Afternoon Tea. Actually, the ritual seemed somewhat distant from my experience and preferences as I thought about it that morning-somewhat effete and a little prissy. (I was still back in the Bengal Lounge savoring flutes of Pol Roger--or maybe snifters of brandy--with Sir Winston.). Tradition trumped trepidation and we entered the Tea Lobby.
I quite liked it.
The room was a handsome one, comfortable and boasting two fireplaces. Live piano music set the mood. Fresh fruit appeared, topped with Chantilly cream. The house blend tea was served in Royal Doulton china and a cone-shaped serving device was placed in the center of our table, its ascending tiers holding a great variety of goodies. The lower levels tended toward savory treats such as small smoked salmon and cucumber sandwiches. Smaller tiers toward the top offered little pastries. Such fare as watercress sandwiches and little pastries (or even big ones) aren’t part of my usual pattern, but they were very tasty-about as good as this sort of food could be, I’d say. The tea itself was splendid, better than anything I’d had in Britain or Asia. Was it the product itself or the presentation? What’s the difference, I thought. And if I imagined living in another era and drinking with heads of state the night before in the Bengal Lounge, then maybe Maria and I were in the company of Victorian-era ladies in lace this afternoon in the elegant Tea Lobby.
Just a couple of ladies in lace and we’d have seemed
part of a BBC period piece drama.
We headed out front where we expected to take the last tourist bus to Butchart Gardens. We were in time for the last tourist bus of the day, but it was one that had a totally different route. We weren’t really going to miss much, said our driver, as it was still a little early in the spring for the glories of the botanical gardens to be apparent. No matter. We had a fine time getting a narrated tour of the rest of the city and suburbs, saw some beautiful residential areas, watched a seal at play and saw a couple of eagles in a tall pine tree. Someday we hope to be back in Victoria and, if the season is right, we’ll experience the glories of Butchart Gardens and visit the Royal British Columbia Museum and the ornate Parliament Buildings, both within easy walking distance of the Empress.
We had researched many possibilities for dinner on Tuesday night, but at the last minute decided just to take a walk and see what seemed right. So out the front door of the hotel and to the right we turned. Less than five minutes up the road we walked into a fish restaurant that looked-and smelled-right. At Pescatore’s on Humboldt Street we had an excellent and reasonably-priced dinner that featured products from the Pacific Northwest and California Sauvignon Blanc.
There were a couple of options for live music, but we had a cab scheduled for a 7 o’clock pick up the next morning, so made it an early night (We flew in conventional fashion from the Victoria airport back to Vancouver where we caught our flight to California). It was so early a night that we woke before dawn, which allowed us time to catch the view below. There had been a light rain during the night and we watched the darkness penetrated only by occasional vehicles passing by the Inner Harbour on Government Street below, their tires on the wet pavement the only sound audible from our open windows.
If You Go:
General Tourism Information:
Tourism Victoria
www.tourismvictoria.com
The Fairmont Empress Hotel
www.fairmont.com
Pescatore’s
www.pescatores.com
Float Plane to/from Vancouver:
West Coast Air
www.westcoastair.com
It was the smoothest and most scenic flight I can remember.
Our 35-minute float plane ride from Vancouver was efficient, but it was also fun. Seated right behind the cockpit, we could share our pilot’s view as we gracefully descended into Victoria’s Inner Harbour. The 18-passenger De Havilland Twin Otter touched down and taxied to a dock just a few hundred yards from our destination.
The hotel was in sight, but it was at street level and definitely uphill from the harbor. I slung the garment bag over my shoulder and we began heading across the tarmac, pulling our wheeled suitcases behind us.
From off to the right came the inquiry, “Would you like a taxi, sir?”
“Oh no,” I replied, “We’re only going as far as the Empress.”
Our West Coast Air De Havilland Twin Otter.
“The Empress?,” he said, “Then, sir, why would you not want to arrive in style? My uncle can take you in his car. The fare is only $5.”
They put our bags into the trunk and we slid into the back seat. The uncle was a dignified, turban-wearing fellow with a full gray beard. His taxi was an older, but impeccably maintained, Cadillac Fleetwood. Yes, our arrival at the Empress was a stylish one.
The Fairmont Empress is one of the grand hotels of the world and so closely identified with British Columbia’s capital city that they’re almost synonymous. “Tea at the Empress” was a phrase it seemed I’d heard all my life.
We had attended the Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival and a sidetrip to Victoria was a temptation we couldn’t refuse, even though our time in Canada was limited.
The magnificent Empress overlooks
the Inner Harbour.
Editor’s note: Vancouver is British Columbia’s largest city and is on Canada’s mainland. The Provincial capital of Victoria lies to the southwest at the southern tip of Vancouver Island. That there is also a city of Vancouver in the state of Washington, just across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon, assured confusion for many young Americans when they reached that “Our Neighbors to the North” section of their geography textbooks.
That part of Victoria that was visible from our waterfront arrival seemed elegant, historical and very European, if not exactly the English atmosphere we’d expected. The Empress was a dominating presence-large, old and reeking of substance. Actually, it’s not really all that old. The eight-story hotel won’t celebrate its centenary for another couple of years, but it looks like it has always been there. The property has had its rocky moments over the years and insufficient revenues meant deferred maintenance and even the possibility in the mid-1960s that the place would be razed to make way for a “modern” hotel. Fortunately, such a tragedy was averted and this beautifully restored Victoria landmark is now doing well as a part of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.
Our room was at or near the top floor and looked out over the Inner Harbour. Wonderfully comfortable, it had an atmosphere all its own--part penthouse, part attic. Apparently, the hotel has 90 different room configurations among its nearly 500 guest rooms, giving its visitors accommodations with personality and character. I suppose there was a television in the room, but watching the tube didn’t seem an appropriate activity there. Much better spent was my time in a very comfortable chair by the window enjoying a book on the history of the city.
Our first evening we enjoyed drinks and dinner in the hotel’s Bengal Lounge. The room debuted in 1954 as the Coronet Lounge when British Columbia began breaking out of an unfortunate Prohibition of alcohol that had lasted from 1917. It assumed its current Bengal identity in 1967. The feeling is masculine, handsome and clubby. It’s the sort of place where an Anglophile could imagine himself sharing a table with Nehru or Winston Churchill. While those fellows didn’t show up, Maria and I did enjoy dinner in the company of the hotel’s public relations director who gave us a good introduction to the city and its most famous landmark. The Bengal Lounge is known for its live jazz on Friday and Saturday nights and Martinis every night. On this Monday night the room was quiet and we stayed with beer and wine as we enjoyed appetizers and excellent main courses of salmon and fish & chips.
The Bengal Lounge recalls an earlier era of the British Empire.
Tuesday was our only full day in Victoria and we began with an early walk over to Willie’s Bakery. Breakfast there is something of a local tradition and we enjoyed big omelets and, of course, had to try some of their breakfast pastry, too.
Walking and window-shopping our way back to the hotel was the best way to see some of the town and ward off the pounds we otherwise might have packed on with our big breakfast.
Tea is a tradition at the Empress. Maybe it’s the tradition. In any case, we didn’t plan on leaving Victoria without experiencing Afternoon Tea. Actually, the ritual seemed somewhat distant from my experience and preferences as I thought about it that morning-somewhat effete and a little prissy. (I was still back in the Bengal Lounge savoring flutes of Pol Roger--or maybe snifters of brandy--with Sir Winston.). Tradition trumped trepidation and we entered the Tea Lobby.
I quite liked it.
The room was a handsome one, comfortable and boasting two fireplaces. Live piano music set the mood. Fresh fruit appeared, topped with Chantilly cream. The house blend tea was served in Royal Doulton china and a cone-shaped serving device was placed in the center of our table, its ascending tiers holding a great variety of goodies. The lower levels tended toward savory treats such as small smoked salmon and cucumber sandwiches. Smaller tiers toward the top offered little pastries. Such fare as watercress sandwiches and little pastries (or even big ones) aren’t part of my usual pattern, but they were very tasty-about as good as this sort of food could be, I’d say. The tea itself was splendid, better than anything I’d had in Britain or Asia. Was it the product itself or the presentation? What’s the difference, I thought. And if I imagined living in another era and drinking with heads of state the night before in the Bengal Lounge, then maybe Maria and I were in the company of Victorian-era ladies in lace this afternoon in the elegant Tea Lobby.
Just a couple of ladies in lace and we’d have seemed
part of a BBC period piece drama.
We headed out front where we expected to take the last tourist bus to Butchart Gardens. We were in time for the last tourist bus of the day, but it was one that had a totally different route. We weren’t really going to miss much, said our driver, as it was still a little early in the spring for the glories of the botanical gardens to be apparent. No matter. We had a fine time getting a narrated tour of the rest of the city and suburbs, saw some beautiful residential areas, watched a seal at play and saw a couple of eagles in a tall pine tree. Someday we hope to be back in Victoria and, if the season is right, we’ll experience the glories of Butchart Gardens and visit the Royal British Columbia Museum and the ornate Parliament Buildings, both within easy walking distance of the Empress.
We had researched many possibilities for dinner on Tuesday night, but at the last minute decided just to take a walk and see what seemed right. So out the front door of the hotel and to the right we turned. Less than five minutes up the road we walked into a fish restaurant that looked-and smelled-right. At Pescatore’s on Humboldt Street we had an excellent and reasonably-priced dinner that featured products from the Pacific Northwest and California Sauvignon Blanc.
There were a couple of options for live music, but we had a cab scheduled for a 7 o’clock pick up the next morning, so made it an early night (We flew in conventional fashion from the Victoria airport back to Vancouver where we caught our flight to California). It was so early a night that we woke before dawn, which allowed us time to catch the view below. There had been a light rain during the night and we watched the darkness penetrated only by occasional vehicles passing by the Inner Harbour on Government Street below, their tires on the wet pavement the only sound audible from our open windows.
If You Go:
General Tourism Information:
Tourism Victoria
www.tourismvictoria.com
The Fairmont Empress Hotel
www.fairmont.com
Pescatore’s
www.pescatores.com
Float Plane to/from Vancouver:
West Coast Air
www.westcoastair.com