Alice's Tea Cup
On Friday I had arranged to meet my good friend Grace, who recently moved back to the city, for lunch (I get off at 1pm on Fridays — for one more week). We met in college but hadn't see each other for about seven or so years (!) so we had a lot of catching up to do. Grace suggested that we meet at Alice's Tea Cup on West 73rd. I had never been there but I'd walked by many times and it was on my list of places to try.
I could describe it as an amazing place to have a birthday party if you're a 7-year-old girl, but that is just part of it. Yes, they offer you fairy dust and sell costumes and wings, but when we went it was filled mostly with adults. It's bigger than I expected, with a lot of tables (you can also order to go), each set with teacups and china in a variety of patterns. As the name suggests, it is Alice in Wonderland themed, and the main attraction is the tea. Well, that's what they probably want you to think but I think we can all agree that what I was mainly excited for was their pastry selection.
They have real food too, but we decided on the two-scone-and-pot-of-tea deal, with two extra scones because who can decide on just one? They have a ton of rotating flavors, all of which sounded delicious, but I chose the blueberry lemon and banana almond (which just happened to be vegan). I have always had this idea in my head of scones being these dry, sad, barely edible rock pastry impostors, but I couldn't have been more wrong.
These scones were brought to us warm, with a side of cream and jam. They were both so incredibly, mind-blowingly delicious that they forever changed my opinion on the scone as a viable pastry option. They were so good, in fact, that I almost forgot we had tea — almond tea — which was also very good. The combination was perfect, although their list of teas is so long that I'll probably have to try a different one next time just because I can.
We didn't get too far into their menu before making our decisions, but everyone around us had adorable and tasty-looking racks filled with sandwiches, cookies and even more scones. I can totally understand why Alice's is such a popular destination, and now I want to bring everyone I know. Even if the idea of having a proper tea sounds boring and girly to you, I urge you to take a leap of faith and try Alice's.
As the weather gets colder I'll probably find myself there more and more — Grace and I said that we should just start at the top of the tea list and work our way to the end. That might take us a while, but I think I'm up for the challenge.
