By Grace Cameron, Lifestyle EditorHigh tea at Toronto' swanky Fairmont Royal York Hotel isn't what it used to be. These days you can have a cuppa as a Tarot card reader reveals your destiny
THERE WAS nary a pinkie sticking out and not a white glove in sight. Instead, on a frisky April afternoon, about 50 casually dressed people, including a baby and a table full of men, went to tea at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto.
At first, the thought of afternoon tea at this 75-year-old landmark that exudes British civility and all things refined weighed heavily on my mind. I'm more a coffee-drinking (brewed coffee, mind you), on-the-move, contemporary kind of gal. Tiny finger sandwiches, crumpets, Devonshire cream and delicate tea cups hardly figure on my gastronomic landscape. And this place even has a Tea Sommelier (a highfalutin word for tea expert) for heavens sake!
It was the Thursday afternoon twist - a Tarot card reader - that finally swayed me. I reckoned that if the Royal York was hip enough to have a Tarot card reader in its tea-room it couldn't be so staid after all. So on this afternoon I drifted in from the cold to the EPIC, the restaurant located on the first floor of the hotel. I was escorted into a carpeted room, peaceful with just a bit of a buzz. Nothing imposing or ornate here, I thought. The first order of business was to see Kathleen Meadows, the Tarot card reader who was waiting for me. Bespectacled, with an inviting smile, Meadows seemed more like a nice school marm than a woman who held the answers to my life's questions in her deck of cards.
A religion psychologist, certified Tarot Grand Master, Tarot teacher and reader for 20 years, Meadows has been at the EPIC since last October. She also does Tarot tea parties, Sunday afternoon high tea in Kitchener, the small town where she lives, and admits to reading her own cards two to three times a week. "Sometimes I know things I don't want to know," she said.
For my reading, which took about 20 minutes, Meadows was full of positive news. My son, she said, would be a chef, while I can look forward to adventures and exciting times ahead. Hmmm. (For more about Kathleen Meadows and her true Tarot tales, log on to www.tarotbykathleen.com. Note, call ahead and reserve if you're going for tea and want a reading. A 20-minute reading costs C$25, while a 30-minute session is C$35.)
A LITTLE BIT OF LUXURY IN A FAST FOOD WORLD
With the reassurance of good times ahead, I was ready for tea. Seeing that I was solo I was advised to have short tea service for one. I flipped through the green leather-bound menu and ordered the Kyoto Cherry Rose tea, described as a Chinese grown, Japanese style green tea from the Hunan Province. Flavoured with roses, it's considered avant garde by the Japanese.
With my tea came Grand Marnier toasted crumpets, raisin scones with little pots of orange, grapefruit and lemon marmalade, a yummy seasoned berry cocktail with raspberries, and Devonshire cream. The tea was a bit weak for my liking (but what can you expect from someone who likes her coffee strong), but the scones were light and fluffy. The bill came to C$21.85, including taxes.
At the table next to me Susan Celante, an accountant, and her daughter, Martha Wilson, who had taken the day off work and were having tea. Celante recalled that 40 years ago her mother used to take her to this hotel for tea. Back then "the women wore hat and gloves and my mother was very well dressed."
For awhile, the ritual of afternoon tea had simmered down, said Wilson, who added that taking tea is making a comeback with her generation - people in their 20s and early 30s. "Young people are trying to go back to what was," she reckoned.
"Afternoon Tea is a little bit of luxury in a fast food world. Plus, a cup of tea just tastes better out of a real cup than out of a paper cup."
A few tables away Amber Hart, a Chicago native transplanted to Toronto, had just finished her cucumber and soft cheese sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, chocolate finger pastries and Celani tea. "It was very good and surprisingly filling," she noted.
She confessed that she was persuaded to come for tea by her mother-in-law, " a big fan of British Royal tea", who was visiting from Chicago. Hart, a housewife, said she was reluctant at first because she thought "it would be kind of stuffy. But it wasn't. It was more relaxed than I thought it would be."
She'll be coming back, she said, with her mother and sister when they visit the city.
Homemade Apple Scones: Perfect with a cup of tea
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup minced apples
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk
2 tbs. butter (reserve for topping)
2 tbs. sugar (reserve for topping)
METHOD
Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in the butter. Add sugar and apples. Mix in the egg and milk to make a soft dough. Knead until ingredients are well-mixed.
Spread in 8" x 12" greased pan, and bake 25 minutes at 450 degrees F. Cut into 2" x 2" squares when done. Split each square diagonally. Butter. Dust the tops thickly with granulated sugar.
Serve warm and enjoy with a hot cup of tea.
On April 5 when Air Jamaica returned to Toronto for the first time in 13 years, Food was along for the ride. The Air Jamaica delegation stayed at the Royal York Hotel for three days.
