starting 2022 off right: afternoon tea at the Plaza's Palm Court

I’ve decided to manifest it. 2022 is going to be a good year. And I figured, the best way to start of a year is with one of my favorite meals: afternoon tea. And since we’re only bringing good energy into 2022, I decided the best first meal of the year should be somewhere I’ve always wanted to go. Specifically, afternoon tea at the Plaza’s Palm Court. I had been there once before, after my elementary school graduation, where my dad and I had lunch there. And I all I remember is getting a sandwich and potato chips.

Anyways, unsurprisingly, many people had the exact same idea, and it was pretty backed when my friend and I arrived for our 11 am reservation. But we were seated fairly quickly in a corner, which gave us a good vantage point of the entire dining area.

AS yo can see, they still had the balloon net from the countdown from the night before.

fun fact: when you sit down, they already have the jam, clotted cream, and lemon curd on the table.

Because it was new year’s day, we decided to splurge, and get both the Manhattan Tea and the Holiday Tea, so we could get the full experience.

To start, I got the tropical garden tea, because I wanted something kind of quirky. It was okay, but definitely not as good as my normal earl grey.

Soon enough, the main event arrives, and although they appeared kind of on the smaller side at first, we struggled to finish it, so it actually turned out to be a good amount of food for two people.

I’m not quite sure what proper afternoon tea etiquette is, but we started with the scones first, since they arrived warm. I quite liked them, and especially liked the fact they provided both jam and grapefruit rosemary curd, as I am a big fan of citrus-y curds, although I could not really taste the rosemary. They were definitely solid stones, but not like especially spectacular. But also, I love scones so it’s hard for me to find scones I would not eat.

We then moved on to the savory sandwiches, which were our favorite tier. They were honestly a surprise hit. Obviously, the foie gras yule log was extremely tasty because: foie gras. But unexpectedly, the cucumber and green goddess creme sandwiches were very very good. They were super refreshing, and tasted the way a green juice feels? Just like light and healthy and you’re an LA influencer who lives exclusively off of erewhon. I did not know sandwiches could be refreshing until I had that, so I am a big fan and will be attempting to replicate it in the future.

Now, moving on to the desserts. They were all pretty tasty, although not super memorable. I did especially enjoy the apple-shaped dessert, the jelly-shaped thing, buche de noel and speculoos eclair, but overall, definitely pretty good, but not the most exciting desserts. My favorite had to be the lady apple, granny smith, and marscapone ganache with a caramelized apple cider crumble center, as it came in apple-shaped, and stood out the most, both in terms of taste, and execution. It was basically a miniature, creamy inside out apple pie. So pretty delicious.

Overall, this was definitely the way to start 2022 off on a good note. I have a lot of high hopes for this year, and this tea really kicked things off on a right foot. Here’s hoping we’ll keep this energy for the rest of the year as well.