Where: Buckhead, Georgia Style: French Bistro Tea Selection: 6 bagged teas Teatimes:Tuesday to Saturday, 3 to 5 Reservations: 24-hour notice Contact: 404-812-9171 Cost:$25 Afternoon Tea Destination Tea Tip: Upon entering the Peachtree Battle Shopping Center, drive towards the rear, to the strip of shops in the lower parking lot, where you’ll find Café Lapin to your right. You may also order off the lunch menu during your teatime.
Destination Tea Notes: Seven years after our first visit, we find much has remained the same at this French neighborhood bistro’s afternoon tea. Entirely made in house, afternoon tea here is served in plentiful portions even as the price remains so affordable. Perhaps for this reason, you can overlook the run-of-the-mill tea bags that don’t brew properly with the hot water brought out in large teapots (it’s just not hot enough). On both of our visits, our server was kind and welcomed us to be at our leisure. This time, the homemade cakes caught our eye, and we wisely added a couple à la carte items to our meal.
Plenty of seating should you wish to bring a larger party
Le lapin (bunny) mascots watch over rows of cafe tables.
Chandelier, art, mirror and ceramics montages decorate the space
We are seated at the same table, seven years apart!
Monsieur Lapin
Tea Selection
A mini wooden chest of Stash teas awaits us (2017). This same chest was on our tea table at our recent visit, this time with a medley of bagged teas you’d find in the grocery aisle.
True to the typical French fashion of taking tea without milk, our individual pots of hot water come with lemon slices. Though we take ours without, surely cream is available upon request. (2017)
On our return visit, a small creamer is provided. We like the bright teapot in a Provençal gold, but the large pot of hot water cools quickly, preventing us from properly steeping a second cup.
Scones & Spreads, Savories and Sweets
Et voilà! The tea tray is presented. (2017)
On our return visit, two of the tiers are full of bite-size sandwiches. We would have been happy with one plate of sandwiches for two people.
Good form! Bread is sliced thinly and portioned into petite finger sandwiches. The tarragon chicken salad was the favorite, while the pimento cheese struck some of us as sour, and the cucumber sandwiches needed a bit more spread to hold together. Perhaps these were prepared a day early, as the bread seemed slightly stale. (2017)
On our return visit, the cream cheese pendulum has swung to overzealous on the previously dry cucumber tea sandwiches, but good news is the whole wheat bread is not stale at all, and we enjoy the pimento and chicken salad tea sandwiches.
Served with jam, the homemade cranberry scones were a bit underdone in their centers, but were tasty nonetheless. The banana bread was a major hit. (2017)
Dessert included pistachio and espresso petit fours, macarons, chocolate truffle bites and fruit and nut cookies. (2017)
This time, the cranberry scones are perfectly baked (though they were begging for clotted cream). For dessert, a selection of cranberry shortbread cookies, banana bread slices and macarons, all yummy.
We did do this meal a bit in reverse. The tea sandwich selection left us wanting another kind of savory, so we each ordered the soup of the day – French Onion, which was perfect on a wintry day.
And we made an amazing executive decision, requesting a slice of carrot cake, which arrived like this, looking disheveled and moist in the best way. Perfection!
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