Victoria’s iconic Fairmont Empress hotel, overlooking the city’s inner harbour, started serving Afternoon Tea when it opened on January 8, 1908 and continues to serve freshly prepared scones, pastries, and tea to over 80,000 guests every year! Yesterday, we joined that number.

From our comfortable corner table by the fireplace, we had a gorgeous view of the harbour as we lingered over our lunch.

The set menu, made from fresh, locally-sourced ingredients, arrives on a three tiered tray. On the bottom layer are raisin scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserve. I must admit that, until yesterday, I didn’t know what clotted cream was! The name brought to mind something lumpy and gross, but it is far from that! It’s smooth and soft, similar in flavour to a high-quality unsalted butter and somewhere between butter and whipped cream in richness. The second layer consisted of finger sandwiches, mini quiches, and cold smoked salmon on tiny blinis. It doesn’t look like a lot of food, but we were getting full by the time we reached the top layer that held five delectable mini desserts for each of us. We ate two of them and packaged the rest to bring back to our hotel for later.

We had our choice from a vast selection of teas, so we chose two different ones and sampled both. The original china was gifted to the Empress by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) on a visit to Canada in 1939 and the pattern is reproduced exclusively for the Empress.

Tea at the Empress is pricey. So pricey, in fact, that my frugal nature almost convinced me that we shouldn’t indulge. Hubby insisted, however, and I’m glad he did! It’s definitely worth doing if you’re ever in Victoria.