Update, May 2023: At Hotel Granduca Houston, afternoon tea is now served in Alba Ristorante or Giorgio’s
Where: Houston, Texas Style: Italian villa Tea Selection: 3 pre-selected teas Teatimes: Daily, 2 to 4 pm Reservations: 24-hour notice Contact: 713-418-1104 Cost: $85 The Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque Afternoon Tea; $75 The Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut Afternoon Tea; $58 The Granduca Afternoon Tea; $33 The Granduca Bunny Tea Destination Tea Tips: Posh tea hats are most fitting at this elegant hotel tea.
Destination Tea Notes: We confess a bias — Angela’s Italian-American heritage — in choosing the one afternoon tea we had time to visit on our recent Houston trip. How could we not go to the Hotel Granduca’s Ristorante Cavour where they put an “Italian spin on the English classic afternoon tea”? Of course, this also means we sit down to tea here expecting to feast like Gods. (If this is a bit of a high bar to set, it’s also a totally reasonable one in Italian families.) All told, the experience is one we recommend, especially to celebrate a special occasion in a refined atmosphere. Granddaughters and grandmothers take tea, girlfriends in fancy fascinators laugh together around a long table in a secluded alcove off the main room, and we happily toast our glasses of included Prosecco to a very special birthday girl. We appreciate the Italian influences throughout the meal, which stumble a bit during the savories course, but pick back up with the arrival of a pot of mascarpone and warm, generously sized cranberry scones.
Beautiful, lushly landscaped entrance to the Hotel Granduca Houston
Knights in the foyer, a nod to the inspiration for this hotel – the 16th century palazzo (palace) of a Northern Italian duke
Ristorante Cavour features Italian reds and greens throughout the decor.
Our round table with beautiful rose centerpiece cozies up to a corner lit by paned french doors that run the length of the restaurant.
Hello to the co-creator of Destination Tea: Jeanette (second from right), whose birthday we came to Houston to celebrate. So much love for this vivacious, adventurous and brilliant woman!
Tea Service
LOVE our teacups and saucers. Beautiful!
First things first: champagne is poured before tea. Our thanks to Ristorante Cavour for spoiling us a bit, as not all hotel teas of this price point include champagne.
We appreciate that servers here are diligent about keeping our cups refilled, offering one pre-selected tea per course: Organic English Breakfast, Black Orange Blossom and Chamomile.
Scones & Spreads, Savories and Sweets
Afternoon tea begins with a curate of savories for the table.
Several Italian ingredients are featured in the savories here, from olives to bresaola (an aged, air-dried, salted beef originally from Northern Italy). Funnily, we find excellence in the preparation of the less-Italian walnut chicken salad croissant and cucumber goat cheese on white, while the shrimp olive tapenade sandwich is soggy and the mushroom puff mysteriously combines a dessert cream puff with a creamy mushroom filling. The bresaola rosette with quail egg on onion cracker provides a welcome tasting adventure.
Scrumptious cranberry scones to take and passMascarpone cream (an Italian version of cream cheese) is offered along with jarred marmalade, apricot, grape and strawberry preserves.
The Italian butter cookie with apricot dipped in chocolate is Angela’s favorite, taking her back to the days of stopping by an Italian bakery on the way to a family party in New York. Dessert also includes a mini carrot cake, fruit tart, linzer tart and hazelnut cookie.
Hey, thank you so much for this detailed write-up and excellent photos. We were considering tea at Hotel Granduca, and your thoughtful review has made us realize that we MUST go. Appreciate it!
We love comments! Destination Tea's comment policy shares a guiding principle with afternoon tea etiquette: please be gracious. We welcome honest comments that are not rude or scathing.
Hey, thank you so much for this detailed write-up and excellent photos. We were considering tea at Hotel Granduca, and your thoughtful review has made us realize that we MUST go. Appreciate it!
Awww, good! Enjoy your visit there. And thank you for visiting Destination Tea.