Today we celebrated Ivygirl’s 13th birthday. We got her ears pierced, then we headed to Mount Dora because she had decided she wanted to go to a tea room.
After a few detours along the way, we got to Mount Dora, but the girls (she had a school chum sleep over) had only eaten three pieces of bacon for breakfast and were starving. Our reservation was not until two, but I thought I’d ask if they could seat us early. No harm in asking, right?
Ha. The place was crowded, and the hostess had a deer in the headlights look in her eyes when I asked. She apologized, but said if we hadn’t had a reservation we wouldn’t be seated until 2:30p.
No problem, said I, we’ll be back at two.
So, Restaurant #1, we stopped into an Irish pub to get a quick bite to stave off the hunger pangs, and Ivygirl’s grandma and aunts ordered a beer (or a pint, actually) and we all ate some potato wedges. Afterward, we were still hungry, but not about to faint from low blood sugar.
We browse the shops, stroll around downtown, then it’s time for our reservation at Tea Room #1, aka Restaurant #2. Now, I’m not a huge expert in tea rooms, but I would think when one goes into a tea room one can expect that an English High Tea to be on the menu. The menu had about six or seven choices, and it was a bit amusing to see the look on the girls’ faces as they tried to decide between the asparagus sandwich or the salmon souffle. We ordered our tea and continued to peruse the menu.
I looked at Ivygirl, who had a puzzled look on her face because the menu did not include macaroni and cheese or chicken nuggets, and said, “Sweetie, it’s your birthday. We can eat somewhere else if you want.” Her shoulders sagged in relief and she said, “You guys don’t mind?” We laughed and said no. My MIL, who is English, said this wasn’t a proper English tea room, and we decided we would go to the other tea room in town instead after we drank our tea.
They were actually very nice about it, and when they found out it was Ivygirl’s birthday celebration they brought out a mini-muffin with a lit candle, sang Happy Birthday, and gave her a cut flower.
We headed to the other tea room, Tea Room #2, aka Restaurant #3, where they seated us in about twenty minutes and we had High Tea. The tea was brought out in china cups, we each had a tea pot full of our requested tea (Ivygirl was able to get her peppermint tea, which TR #1 didn’t have) complete with tea cozy and a potholder to pour the tea. The High Tea was served on tiered cake stands, there were prints of English royalty on the walls, and the place is owned by an English couple. My MIL had a steak and mushroom pie, my SILs split a Full High Tea, I had sausage rolls and a salad, and the girls had cut sandwiches with a Queen Victoria sponge cake and a cookie.
It was a fun girls tea party, but I think that is the only time I’ve eaten at three restaurants in four hours.