My Date with an English Scone and a German Foodie

Alice's Tea Cup Chapter III, 220 East 81st St., New York, NY 10028, 212-734-4TEA www.alicesteacup.com

This "chapter" of Alice's Tea Cup is only a few blocks from our apart- ment and I've always wanted to check it out. I am definitely a tea and scones kind of woman. Unfortunately, Brian is not a tea and scones kind of man. That plus the fact that the place always looked a little "delicate" for him to fold his 6'4" frame into. :)

But when my blogger friend, Sofie, The German Foodie, told me she was coming to visit New York, I had my perfect scone opportunity. She, her 16 year old son, and I met there on a lovely spring afternoon and got to to see what all the scone fuss was about. The place is quite small and a bit warm and stuffy. The service was friendly but relaxed. They have food on the menu but, hey, we can get sandwiches anywhere. We came here for tea and scones!

Since there were three of us, the waitress suggested one of their combo options which, for $30, would allow us to choose two pots of tea and four types of scones. We opted for an apricot with lemon glaze, signature pumpkin, blueberry with chocolate and plain buttermilk. Along with the scones and pots of tea we got ramekins of butter, jelly and sweet clotted cream.

The scones are, in fact, absolutely delicious and taste like what proper scones should taste like! I was particularly enamored of the apricot with lemon glaze but all of them were terrific. The tea was good, the pots adorable and the whole experience very civilized.

I wasn't sure how much kitsch to expect but there was actually only a subdued amount. There is the famous trump loi wall that is very well done and being photographed in front of it seems to be quite the attraction. Otherwise the theme was restrained with just a few fairy wings for sale. One thing that did surprise me was that the famous Alice's Tea Cup Cookbook was not available for sale. That is odd and a missed opportunity for them in my opinion. Sofie has since bought it online but I think they would have had two immediate sales had it been there.

Me (left) with Sofie (right)

And speaking of Sofie, she is funny, smart, direct and completely awesome! I followed her blog for some time before finally leaving a comment. But once I did it seemed to quickly open the gates for a fast friendship. Her son, Robert, is intelligent, good natured, well spoken and far from the teenaged brat that I certainly was! :) That makes Sofie a great mother, cook and friend. Go check out her blog and then, if you're in New York, go get yourself a scone.