42194 Wed Dec 21 00:19:19 -0800 2005 9 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 204574 I'm strictly a female female ... I enjoy being a girl. This is not going to be an objective food report. Tea for Alice, a new East Bay Tea Room serving a nice selection of Teance teas, has turned me from a business woman into a girly girl. It is so darn cute ... all done up in pastels ... serving pink and white iced petite fours and green princess cake. Women walk up to the door, peek in the window and involuntarily put on their Mona Lisa smiles. Suddenly you are five years old again and having afternoon tea ... but with real tea. This is a place to seriously consider for having a shower or getting the ladies together, as the website below says, for an un-birthday. Very charming setting for a mother / daughter outing. I wanted to go out immediately and adopt an eight year old. Great place of a little girl’s birthday party. And you have to like a place that quotes Lewis Carroll at the top of the menu: “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the cat “or you wouldn’t have come here.” Yes, I’m mad about the ambiance of Tea for Alice. The walls are painted light lavender. The tablecloths are pale yellow and set with tableware and linen napkins in four pastel shades ... pink, blue, green and yellow. One pastel-colored fresh rose is on each table. Valences of crisp white scalloped curtains on the bottom half of the windows allow the sun to shine in while blocking out the view of the San Pablo Avenue sidewalk. A print of the Cheshire cat grins on one wall It inspired me to order the most expensive item ... The Cheshire Cat Tea with a selection of two types of tea sandwiches, a scone served with preserves, lemon curd and Devon cream, an assortment of sweets and a pot of Tea ($15.95). Tea and items can also be ordered a la carte ... even take-out. A pot of Teance tea is $5. A la carte items include: Madelines ($.75) princess cake ($3.50), petite fours ($2.75),two scones with lemon curd and Devon cream ($4.75) tea sandwich ($3), a dozen assorted cookies ($5) and chocolate truffles (4 for $1), There is also soup for $3 and a tomato and avocado salad for $5.50. The selection of sandwiches includes: egg salad, tuna salad, chicken salad, ham and herbed cream cheese, ham and Dijon mustard, cucumber and cream cheese, turkey and cream cheese, turkey and Dijon mustard, turkey and cranberry sauce, roast beef and horseradish, chopped olive, peanut butter and jelly, jelly and cream cheese. Soups and sandwiches are made in-house. Baked goods are from Arlington Bakery and Virginia Bakery. My order came on a three-level caddy, the top with four sandwich quarters and a slice of orange, the middle with a cranberry scone, Devon cream, jam and lemon curd, the bottom with a pink and white petite four, a cookie and chocolate truffle. I’m not sure who made the truffle but it was very good with a bittersweet edge. The rest of the baked goods were Virginia Bakery quality. Given the excellent quality of Teance teas and the pretty room, some of the baked goods and sandwiches could have been at a higher level and had better plating. Bread was ordinary white and wheat with crusts cut off. Skip the turkey which was just deli turkey with canned cranberry sauce. The horseradish/roast beef was fine, but I’d try the other sandwiches. Given the cute setting, I’d stop by for tea and cake. It makes a nice break after shopping at El Cerrito plaza. The better value would be a pot of tea and ordering a la carte. There is a special holiday tea on December 24th which is on the website. Other tea options are (all include a pot of tea): The White Rabbit - $14.50 – finger sandwiches, fresh fruit, sweets The Mad Hatter – $11.25 - finger sandwiches, fresh fruit, scones Lady Tabitha - $10.50 – sweets The Dormouse – $9.50 – pot of tea, two scones, lemon curd, preserves, Devon cream There is a children’s tea called the Tweedle Dee Tea ($9.50) which includes one finger sandwich, a scone, fresh fruit, one sweet and a choice of lemonade, hot chocolate or tea. The current tea menu (not sure if all of it is from Teance): White tea: White Peony, Longevity Brow’s Jasmine, Silver Needle Green tea: Dragon Well, White Dragon Pearl Jasmine, Immortal, Peach, Love at First Site (the jasmine tea wrapped around a clover that blooms). Oolong: Formosa Oolong, Jade Green Tikuanyin Oolong, Monkey picked Tikuanyin Black tea: Keemum Red, Yunnan Golden Tips, Lichee Red, Earl Grey, Chai Spice, Orange Spice Herbal: Red Rosebuds, Chrysanthemum, Armenian Wild Mint, Chamomile Lemon, Organic Rooiboos. Not far from Berkeley, in El Cerrito is a little oasis. Here’s to the ladies who lunch. Link: http://www.teaforalice.com/ Wed Dec 21 00:19:19 -0800 2005 0 rworange 1 204579 Wow, your timing couldn't have been better. I was trolling the web for a place for two moms to take their four-year-olds for tea this Friday. If you peek in the window, my kid favors mismatched purple prints and the other one is known to sport a tiara. Thanks for the tip!! Wed Dec 21 01:55:21 -0800 2005 204574 0 heidipie 2 204580 I hope you'll report back about what you think. Wed Dec 21 02:09:34 -0800 2005 204579 0 rworange 3 205040 The place was indeed as cute as anything, but the fare was so-so, like you said. The kids loved it, especially when they left the spray-can whipped cream on the table for the hot chocolate. And then removed it just before things got completely out of hand. But the sandwiches, scones and pastries were all forgettable. Too bad. Fri Dec 23 20:34:18 -0800 2005 204580 0 heidipie 1 204596 Say it ain't so, Krys! A place like this could do more damage to the image of tea-drinking than could be repaired by all the chain-smoking, gob-spitting old men with birdcages in Chengdu tea houses. Wake me up when you find a place that will serve me my longjing tea in true Shanghai style, in a tall glass tumbler that can't be handled with a limp wrist. Link: http://eatingchinese.org Wed Dec 21 11:37:28 -0800 2005 204574 0 Gary Soup 2 204611 God it does sound awful doesn't it? Save me from ever having to attend a shower, 6-year old's birthday, or anything at a place like that. Wed Dec 21 13:07:55 -0800 2005 204596 0 koy 3 204633 Oh, but it isn't meant for men. One woman in her 20's walked up to the door with her boyfriend of the same age. All I could think was that he REALLY had to be in love to set foot in the door and snack on tea sandwiches and pink and white petite fours (he wasn't THAT in love). I hope they put a picture of the place on the website. They are planning to put the menus up on the web in January. I have a high barf factor for this sort of thing myself. However, they pull it off by keeping things simple. The colors are solid, no flowery stuff. There aren't any 'cute' knicknacks. Except for a few black and white Lewis Carroll prints, there's nothing else on the walls. Also the people in there are normal, no cute costumes. And I think the owner's young daughter and friend was hanging out there. I will say that even your tiny son may not be into this. One little boy about six in a superman cape (am I making this worse or what) looked at his mom as asked "Are we REALLY eating here mommy?". But is just struck something primal in me. The estrogen started pumping. I wanted to go shopping for hats and maribu. I was considering an after tea 'ladies drink' like sherry or lilith. Then someone cut me off on San Pablo Avenue and I turned back into my normal snarling self. I do have to give them a big thumbs up for using quality Chinese tea and not the awful teabags. The Love at First Site is just Teance's hand-tied jasmine around a clover (see link below). They give you a small glass tea pot for the actual tea, so you pour hot water into the small pot, brewing one cup at a time. It may not be the most rigid attention to water temperature, but better than over brewing bitter tea. Yes, I was a little surprised at myself for getting caught up into this whole thing. Cheaper and better than a face lift. I dropped a few decades for a while. Gee, I used the word barf in this post. Last time I used that I was in college. Link: http://store.teance.com/hatijatea.html Image: http://us.st11.yimg.com/store1.yimg.com/I/celadonteas_1869_21849064 Wed Dec 21 13:54:02 -0800 2005 204611 0 rworange 2 204849 I like Far Leaves on College ave. for the more traditional styles of tea drink for "adults" a pretty informed staff, good changing selection.. correct glass and pot ware for each type of tea... they don't have the really tall glasses of which you mention, however the closest i could find from my days living in Hong Kong... check them out... parkings a little tough though Thu Dec 22 17:29:40 -0800 2005 204596 0 lizzybeans 1 204682 Its places like this that make me glad I am not a woman. Wed Dec 21 18:31:00 -0800 2005 204574 0 Dan the Man 1 2316435 RIP - Tea for Alice is closed and for sale. Wed Feb 21 19:58:44 -0800 2007 204574 10264 rworange