L’Opera Patisserie – High Tea Fit For a King

I remembering writing my first post on L’Opera three years ago, just learning about the owner, Janice as well as her goals with the family run patisserie.  Since then, her business has boomed and its been great to see her expanding their product line to include mille crepe, high tea, savoury pies, and more.

I’ve always wanted to experience their high tea but never got the chance to because it is on the pricier side. It’s $55 per person and it comes with your own pot of tea as well as a variety of sweet and savoury items. This year, Queen B was kind enough to treat me to their high tea for my birthday present!

I forgot what tea I got but it was essentially green tea and rose petals. It tasted very light and had a hint of floral flavour. It went great with the heavier pastries.

Shrimp Bisque Soup was first up on the menu. It was the cutest little thing and what a great way to start off the high tea!

I enjoyed the buttery yet flaky pastry as much as I enjoyed concentrated shrimp bisque. I just wish we had more of it because we finished it in a couple bites.

The Surf Clam Carpaccio was also nice and refreshing. The earthy seaweed in particular was really delicious with the surf clam!

Ta-Da! What a sight to behold. I haven’t experienced a whole lot of high teas but I can definitely say this one felt and tasted the most ‘high class’ even above the Fairmont Hotel YVR and Secret Garden Tea Company. It’s very easy to see that Janice uses only the highest quality ingredients like lobster, duck, shrimp, squid ink in her menu, hence, the price.

To start off the meal is the Cream of Chicken Parcel and Organic Mushrooms on Squid Ink Baguette. Both don’t look like much appearance-wise but both blew us away with their explosions of flavour. The mushrooms and brie on squid ink baguette is something I actually replicated a week later for my housewarming party, TWICE, because it was just that good. All I had to do was call in a couple days in advance to order a whole squid ink baguette and I sliced it up myself at home. The cream of chicken parcel was like eating a little edible pouch of creamy chicken soup. Too much yum.

The Lobster Vol au Vent and Browned Butter Yams and Duck were both equally delicious as well. I personally enjoy lobster A LOT so I gravitated towards it more than the duck. However, the duck was resting on an edible cookie in a shape of a spoon. I mean…HOW FRIGGIN COOL IS THAT? You get to eat the utensil!!!

The second tier included the Banana Flambe, Tiramisu, and Pear and Brie Spring Roll. By this point I was already full but we needed to keep going. My favourite was the tiramisu though I found it a bit too heavy after having had all the savoury items earlier. The banana flambe was super cute when it arrived because it was flaming due to them soaking a little piece of bread with liquor.

Last but not least is the Matcha Lava Cake, Earl Grey and Strawberry Cream Puff, and Macaron of choice. Again, all solid, all playing with different flavour combinations and all clearly requiring a ton of labour and effort to get right. I don’t know how L’Opera keeps on hitting everything out of the park, but they do. And all of their products are worth every penny.

If you are in the mood for a luxurious high tea experience to celebrate something special, I would highly recommend their high tea. Make sure to make reservations at least 24 hours in advance as their spaces fill up quickly. Remember to sip, savour, and enjoy every bite because you most likely won’t get another meal like this often!

Service Rating: 4.5/5

Food Rating: 5/5

Price: $$$$$

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

 

Happy Eating!