On Sunday, 2 March, I met up with Amanda from the Effervescence Media Group (What Would Kate Do, Refined Side, The Glosse Posse) to have afternoon tea at the Fairmont YVR Airport. The hotel is located near the US terminal so if you’re taking the Canada Line, be sure to go right to the US/international terminals. You’ll see the Fairmont entrance at the very end and you can take the escalators to a lounge or foyer (empty and quiet here) that’s connected to a ‘bridge’ with crystal lighting (see photo below).

The bridge or hall leading to the Fairmont dining area and hotel

The dining area is on the left so you’ll have to wander in to the middle, where you’ll be received for afternoon tea. We were seated at a table by the windows, where we could observe the airplanes departing to and arriving from the States. It was a grey rainy day but at least we had natural lighting.

Once we had settled down, we were introduced to the Afternoon Tea menu and informed about the ‘process’: we each select a tea from the menu on the left and we would be served the savoury and sweet treats from the menu on the right. Amanda went with the Ti Kuan Yin ‘Iron Goddess’ tea with the orchid-like flavour and I went with Earl Grey (though I should have tried the airport signature tea, Jetsetter). Our teas came in a French Press tea maker which we both found very neat and efficient.

Not long after our tea was served, a three-tiered plate stand arrived on our table.

Afternoon Tea for two

Starting with the bottom savoury plate, we had:

• Caprese
• House Smoked Turkey Croissant
• Roasted Striploin Sandwich
• Smoked Salmon Sandwich

In the middle, we had cranberry and orange zest scones, served with strawberry jam and clotted cream from Devon.

The top dessert plate had:

• Cheese Cake
• Chocolate Mint Cake
• Lemon Tart
• Salted Caramel Chocolate Cone with caramalised apple

Close-up photo of what was on each tier

The funny thing about afternoon tea is that it never looks like there’s enough food. You think that you’ll be hungry afterwards and will need to order a side dish. False. I believe the tea is the main culprit for filling our tummies up so quickly. Amanda and I couldn’t finish the salted caramel cones so I took them home. My brother ended up finishing it for me. I assume they were delicious.

I enjoyed everything on our plates but the one that stood out was the chocolate mint cake. I’m not usually a fan of chocolate ‘foam’ cakes but the mint is strong enough to taste. It was quite refreshing, especially after the two medium-sized scones. (I have a confession to make: I prefer scones when they’re warm. I don’t usually like having scones for afternoon tea because they tend to be dry to the point that they’ll crumble as I eat them, making me look like the messiest pig in town. Oh and the powdered sugar usually ends up on my palms and table cloth. I need an etiquette lesson on eating scones like a princess.)

Overall, we both had a pleasant experience, leaving with full bellies about two hours later.

Afternoon tea at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport is served daily from 2-4:30PM. The cost is $42 per adult and $18 per child.

~*~

When I had finished sipping my tea, I decided to take the long route to the Canada Line to make sure I could see this totem pole in the Canadian terminal:

The totem pole in the Graham Clarke Atrium

It is my favourite totem pole in Vancouver. For one, it has a dominant blue theme, which is one of my favourite colours (green being the other). Secondly, I love Celtic knots and the blue knots towards the top of the totem reminds me of the Celtic ones. Lastly, there are two Chinese characters on the totem pole. The one on the right is the character for sky, and the one on the left is what I think is ‘earth’. Although it appears that there are only three cultures represented (maybe more and I’m oblivious), I still find this multicultural. I don’t have the story behind it so I’ll have to look into it one of the days.