The recession is in full swing, and fine restaurant dining is one of the first things to go. If you don’t feel you can afford the latest must-try celebrity chef locale, but still feel like you want a little bit of pampering at a reasonable price, then a properly presented, late Afternoon Tea is an excellent and affordable alternative to “dinner out.”  

Every Christmas, my best friend and I plan an evening or lunch date in lieu of gift swapping. This way we spend quality time together without our spouses and don’t end up with anything that requires dusting. Our choice this year is the Windsor Arms-- a small, old, boutique hotel in the heart of Toronto’s upscale shopping area. There are a few other locations where we’ve tried, like the Four Seasons, but the Windsor Arms is our favourite for food quality and ambiance.  

Among the things I love about afternoon tea is the fixed seating schedule—early afternoon (1:30), late afternoon (3:30) and evening tea (6:00). There is no rush, no being jumbled around as the nearby tables flip while you are eating, and no listening to the specials being repeated over and over again to each new set of nearby diners.

On the day we went, in one corner there was a young mother and her five-year old daughter sharing a special shopping day in the city. In the other corner, a busy executive Mom sat with her two daughters who appeared to be in their late to late-late teens, and who had dressed up for the occasion. Mom only took one call on her cell phone and then she relaxed into the afternoon. The other room held a handful of tourists on a shopping spree. The tea rooms are fairly small, and all the guests tend to arrive pretty close together. But it is a quiet and civilized start, middle and finish.

Once seated, we peruse the menu, and make a couple of quick decisions. Choose from a selection of custom-blended loose leaf tea—served in a fine china tea pot of course. We both choose a blend of Ceylon and Bergamot, mine with roses and hers with lavendar. 

We can choose from the cream tea, full tea, or complete tea. Cream tea is just tea, scones and sweets. Full tea offers, in addition to the scones and petit fours, a selection of tiny rolled, crustless sandwiches, a small savoury tart and fresh berries to finish. The complete tea includes a glass of sherry or sparkling wine, so obviously, that's what we pick for girl's day out. That’s it. 2 – 3 choices tops, then we just sit back and relax, nibble and chat.  

After the tea arrives, our waiter brings us a warm goat cheese and shallot tart to get us going. Next, the remainder of the meal arrives at once on a three-tiered china service. We always start with the middle layer, which holds the tiny savory sandwiches. These are surprisingly filling and packed with flavour.

Next up, the scones, served with devon cream and jam. These are not your grocery store scones; they are ethereally light and delicate. And finally, we take a stab at the selection of petit fours with a bit of something for everyone.  When we think we can't possibly have one more bite, our waiter brings a bowl of fresh strawberries and cream.

At the end, we are stuffed, all chatted out, and ready to hit the video store for a chick-flick movie night and popcorn.

Total price for the complete tea, before tip, $79.

That’s not bad for two and half hours of quiet, fine dining in an upscale restaurant.

Here are a few pictures to put you in the mood:

A sense of place:

The menu:

The presentation:

The teeny-tiny sandwiches (asparagus and arugula, smoked salmon and cream cheese,and turkey) (We've already eaten some by the time I think to grab my BlackBerry for a few pics):

Four Petit Fours: