Dorothy Reviews Tea at The Drake

A few weeks ago a friend posted a link where a four year old reviews a high end restaurant with her face.  It immediately made me think of my own four year old who is somewhat well known for the variety of faces she makes and her strong opinions on food.  It just so happened that we had reservations at The Drake for afternoon tea for Malcolm's birthday, so I had my camera on my phone ready to try and capture a few of Dorothy's reactions.  I apologies in advance for the quality of my photos, which were taken quickly and are not quite in focus.

So, a 1:30 tea time when lunch is usually at noon and she is down for a nap between 1-1:30 might not have been the best idea.  She had a bit of a rough start, but did settle down once she got a little something in her stomach.  When we first sat down, she thought it was too loud.  There were a lot of people talking and live harp music, so it was a bit loud in there.  There were several groups around us celebrating, with a birthday just behind her and a bridal shower over her other shoulder.

Our food.  The kids' included sandwiches of turkey & cheese, peanut butter and jelly, and cucumber tomato.  Malcolm ate the peanut butter and the cucumber tomato.  Dorothy could not be convinced that any of the sandwiches were remotely edible.  Kevin and I ate the turkey and cheese that the kids refused and they were very good.  We also had the cucumber tomato, a roast beef and cheese, and a seafood salad.  All of them were good and I liked the roast beef and seafood salad the best.

Dorothy opted to begin with the cranberry scones and mini lemon poppy seed loaf.  We had clotted cream, lemon curd, and strawberry jam to choose from as toppings and she wanted jam on her scone.  She ate the lemon poppy seed loaf and had about 2-3 bites of the scone (both were very good, but I preferred the clotted cream to the jam).

Instead of tea, both kids opted for the hot chocolate that comes with the kids tea.  Dorothy had much angst over the hot chocolate being "too hot" and she would not believe me that it had cooled to room temperature.  She drank a bit from her spoon to test it out, and I added some cream to "cool it down" before she would attempt to drink it.

Once she was finally convinced to drink it, she liked it, however she did comment, "I wish this had marshmallows like real hot chocolate."

The chocolate chip cookie was a safe bet and a good palette cleanser before moving on to the more exotic offerings.  Both kids were big fans of the cookie.

The chocolate cake pops were met with great enthusiasm, but neither kid finished them.  Evidently, once cake is no longer on a stick, it ceases to taste good.

Kevin and I had more sweets than we could eat, so we offered to share with the kids.  Here, she is sampling the passion fruit tart.  Malcolm loved it and said it was delicious.

This was Dorothy's verdict. 

She had been eyeing the two macaroons that were for the grown-ups, and was very happy when I offered her half of mine.  Then she took a bite and hated it.  The poor girl was betrayed twice in a row by desserts.  It was a rough day.

The black forest cake got a much better reception.

Her plate of rejected food.  She ate one wing of the vanilla cream puff swan and wouldn't touch the rest.  I think she would have liked the cream if she had gotten a better taste of it.

Malcolm and I had the tiers of food between us, so I didn't get many pictures of the birthday boy.  Kevin took a few, but I haven't seen his yet.




All of us, in front of the gorgeous fountain.

Overall, Malcolm enjoyed it more than Dorothy, but even she found a few things (mostly hot chocolate, cake, and cookies) she liked.  Kevin and I enjoyed ourselves and it was a fun afternoon.