Six at our table, visiting Quebec and Chateau Frontenac from North Carolina, and one had the…read morebrilliant idea some weeks ago that we should get an afternoon tea while we're in town. Best. idea. ever. It gave us plenty of time to chat with each other, graze our way through pots of tea and three tiers of awesomeness, plus every spare inch of space on the table was filled with "additional" desserts. We compared favorites at the end and a few things rose above the crowd, but even our "meh" items within this extensive list would have been pretty darn good on any other list, it's just that the bar was set so high, and still the superlatives were surprisingly topped. The only thing that would make this better would be a printout of what was on the table once everything was served, because even though the servers explained everything, there was so much, we had to repeated ask them on their return loops what some of the items were. (There's a tea house near home that does that consistently and it makes our lives better.)
When all's said and done, two of us liked the lavender-citrus dessert best UNTIL trying the strawberry shortcake dessert and then both changed their favorite to that. Two of us liked the smoked salmon best, but dealt with it differently -- it was on the bottom layer with the savories, so we both tried it first, but one ate it all up right away and the other saved it after the first bit and finished it last, after the sweets. One liked her pot of tea best -- she'd gone with #3, the Grand Bazaar Spice, which has cardamom, cloves, and anise, and which actually 3 at the table chose for their tea. (The other ones picked were Creamy Earl Grey, Imperial Breakfast, and Ontario Ice Wine.) And the final favorite was the hazelnut cream puff.
The scones were also truly delightful, and I need to remember more often to indulge in orange marmalade. Also, the opening sparkling tea? So much better than sparkling cider!