Skip to main content

Fancy Tea? Maybe Not at The Carlyle.

A dirty little secret? Manhattan Mama loves going to tea. Okay, so not that dirty of a secret.

When I lived in London, I went to many MANY tea spots. In San Francisco, ditto. In New York I've been to a few -- it's hard to find other women these days who think blowing about $40 on scones and tea is worth it. And truthfully, given the economy today, it's not really.

But oh how I love it. So a week ago, The Rabbit and a couple of her friends, were treated to tea at The Carlyle by Auntie for the hotel's Madeline Tea. Held in Bemelmans Bar, the atmosphere is glorious. The room is painted with murals by Ludwig Bemelman, the author and illustrator of the beloved Madeline books. There's a live pianist, children are ENCOURAGED to sing and dance, and they have their own pint-size tea buffet -- real tea too.

Problem is, not great on the tea situation. The kids are given chicken fingers, mac & cheese, french fries, cupcakes and jelly beans. No scones. No tea sandwiches. Yes, I understand -- 5-year-old don't jump for joy at chicken salad on white bread. But, I've made plenty of teas for my girl -- and peanut butter and jelly, cheese -- all slice up nicely in quarter size sandwiches. And kids LOVE scones. (who doesn't love clotted cream?)

I even ordered my own tea -- scones arrived. Mama can do better.

Anyone out there love tea too? Would be thrilled to get some suggestions....

Comments

Sugarmama said…
Big fan of tea over here, though that definitely puts me in the minority among my coffee-swilling friends. I love a latte if I'm out, but first thing in the morning I have a nice big mug of assam. Our (one and only!) local gourmet market sells very good loose teas and is staffed by very knowledgeable tea drinkers to boot.
Anonymous said…
I love tea - especially a good cream tea! Like you said, who can resist clotted cream. However, it can be hard to find in Florida. If you're ever on vacation in the land of The Mouse the tea at the Grand Floridian is almost as good as Bonnet tea house in Felixstowe in Suffolk. Hard to beat that one.
Manhattan Mama said…
Love the suggestion zplus! Thank you! Always adore a new tea place to try. Will note both The Floridian and Bonnet. :)

Popular posts from this blog

Apologies for being incommunicado this week and hope none of you out there are too distraught not to be receiving the usual almost-daily MotV missives. The reason for the silence is that I'm up to my neck, metaphorically-speaking, in research papers for my first grad course assessment. This experience has made me realise how rigorously un-academic I am in my thinking. It has also illuminated how reliant I am on red wine in order to get through endless evenings typing furiously on my laptop, not to mention the fueling of increasingly colorful curses that I feel obliged to aim at the University's online library system which consistently refuses to spit out any of the journals I'm desperate for (I refuse to believe this is 100% due to my technical incompetence...) Oh well, if this is the price one has to pay in order to realize a long-cherished dream then it's not all that bad... No one ever said a mid-life career change would be easy. Wish me luck!

Environment

Being an expat, a favorite topic of conversation is 'where I/you want to go next?' or 'When do you plan to go home?' It's a good question. I'm not sure I want to stay in Dubai for ever, but I'm also not sure about how long I want to be here for or where else I would like to live. For almost the first time ever, I have no fixed plans apart from keeping my eyes and mind open to interesting opportunities. And as to going 'home', I have no idea where that is. Constantly moving around as a child left me with the feeling that 'home' is wherever I am right now, so in effect 'home' could be anywhere. The longest I've ever lived in one fixed place was 18 years in London, on and off, but that doesn't feel like 'home' either - I love going back to see family and friends, and it's a great place to shop, but that's about it. I have a great love for California, which is where my extended family is from (and where most of the