La Petite Cuillère

"Feel sorry for the little creamer?"
(Creamer not pictured, but cow shakers are!)

After getting my hair cut and coloured this morning (no more high-maintenance purple streaks for me!), Smeek picked me up for our first trip ever to La Petite Cuillère, a relatively new (and hard to find) high tea place in the Mount Pleasant area. Prancine told me about it a few months ago and I have been meaning to check it out ever since.

We aimlessly circled around in her car Popo and then decided to park at Kingsgate Mall before continuing our search on foot. And it was worth it--this little tea shoppe was such a gem! Located on the southeast corner of Kingsway and East 8th, it's a narrow but cosy space with a mixture of English garden meets hipster charm. The menus are disguised in bound children's books (Smeek got one titled "Luftwaffe" which has been an inside joke of ours since high school), and each table is stationed by a window and graced with an orchid plant.

Smeek and I each ordered their high tea service (pictured below), which included two finger sandwiches, an apricot scone, devonshire cream, homemade raspberry jam, and two sweets for around $13. I decided on the Earl Grey Cream tea and have to say that it was one of the better creamy Earl Greys I have had. The devonshire cream for my scone was also on a whole other level from other ones I've encountered in Vancouver.

Everything was delicious and I was happy to have sweets that I actually enjoyed eating. Normally tea places give marzipan (ugh!) or little chocolates, so having a little cheesecake square with caramel sauce and a slightly larger piece of chocolate cake was a very welcome change. I gobbled everything up pretty quickly and was done when Smeek was just halfway through her two tiered masterpiece.

Then I realized that I was still hungry, and that was largely because my appetite had decided to suddenly come back after being MIA for over a month.

I knew we had to save room for cupcakes--Prancine had told me that the owner baked the unique creations herself--and since Smeek still had some room (a rarity) we each ordered more finger sandwiches and a cupcake. By our second round of sandwiches we were stuffed and couldn't finish our cupcakes. Smeek got an avocado key lime one (delicious!!!) and I had to try their vegan Oreo one. I was a bit disappointed at mine because it tasted a bit too cinnamony (for not expecting that ingredient at all) and the texture was not to my liking. Meaning that RaeRae remains vegan Oreo cupcake queen and chef extraordinaire.

Vegan Oreo cupcake -- the topping resembles dirt.

One of the most amusing things was when fantastically dressed asian girls entered the shop and sat in my line of vision. One girl had a pastel pink, white, and blue hairdo (I think it was a wig!) with a tiny Mad Hatter hat perched to one side, and each of the girls wore poofy short dresses, some of which had cupcake-patterned fabrics. I found myself captivated by their presence and oh-so-curious. I kept turning to Smeek and saying, "I don't understand!" Was there an underground harajuku tea society that I didn't know about? And if so, good for them for convening.

Unique sighting aside, I was very happy to have gotten to experience the whimsy of La Petite Cuillère with my soulmate and fellow anglophile and tea-lover Smeek. We hadn't seen each other in much too long and I loved having time to laugh together and catch up. Since she was coming off of a night-shift, her reactions to a few of my actions at the table surprised the both of us, and I hope that we don't forget them any time soon.

We followed up our meal with some shopping at Urban Outfitters on West 4th, where I upheld my habit of going into a store with a friend who was actively searching for something, and me being the one who finds and buys something. But at least I am now one sweater richer. And oh so many Smeek-memories richer as well.