{"id":3682,"date":"2014-08-02T09:39:17","date_gmt":"2014-08-02T13:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meshell.ca\/blog\/?p=3682"},"modified":"2014-07-30T15:25:51","modified_gmt":"2014-07-30T19:25:51","slug":"vegan-afternoon-tea-in-the-lobby-at-the-peninsula-hotel-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meshell.ca\/blog\/vegan-afternoon-tea-in-the-lobby-at-the-peninsula-hotel-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegan Afternoon Tea in The Lobby at the Peninsula Hotel Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a special surprise for JC’s birthday I wanted to take him out for something he’s never done before, and after the camping and the driving, it seemed a nice fancy experience would be just the right thing as a treat.<\/p>\n

I emailed The Peninsula Hotel and The Lobby a few weeks ago about their vegan afternoon tea offering, and what would be on the menu if we went. They kindly sent over a PDF and asked if I wanted to make a reservation. I did!<\/p>\n

\"Afternoon<\/a> After a lovely day admiring the works at the Art Institute of Chicago<\/a>, we made our way over through the Magnificent Mile, and on to The Lobby inside The Peninsula Hotel.<\/p>\n

It’s beautiful inside and service is semi-formal and friendly. It was nice that when I mentioned\u00a0only being interested in the vegan menu when I made the reservation,\u00a0because\u00a0we got to skip the menu shuffle that has occasionally happened when we’ve gone to a restaurant that has a vegan menu, but who’s staff aren’t particularly enthusiastic about it. That didn’t happen here, and I can’t say that it would, because everyone was great.<\/p>\n

\"Afternoon<\/a><\/p>\n

Save for five tables or so, we had The Lobby to ourselves, so I could actually take a picture of what the place looked like without taking pictures of strangers. Most people were in booths or by the window like us.<\/p>\n

\"Afternoon<\/a><\/p>\n

We started with celebratory glasses of champagne, and enjoyed the view out the window as the staff prepared for dinner. Happy birthday to my favourite person!<\/p>\n

When you sit down to the table you see a place setting and a tea strainer. We wondered if we needed to do anything with it. (you don’t – your waiter will take care of it, at least the first couple of times.)<\/p>\n

\"Afternoon<\/a><\/p>\n

I ordered the pot of Peninsula Chai, my logic behind it is that it’s always nice to try a places “signature” tea, as it was at The Empress in Victoria too (the first and previous time I’ve gone for any kind of high tea\/afternoon tea.) It was a sweet and spicy black tea as the name would imply.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a><\/p>\n

JC went with the lapsang souchong, a smokey black tea, with a smell that reminded me of a blend of old leatherbound books, aged whisky, and some kind of rich mahogany bookcase. As a fan of old smokey alcohols, JC was a fan of this tea. For me, I didn’t mind stealing a sip here and there, but I was very happy with my chai.<\/p>\n

The waiter asked us if we wanted honey for our tea, maybe out of habit, maybe as a joke, but he somehow managed to turn it into something funny when I paused before answering. I’m mentioning this mainly because it feels so rare that someone can make a properly playful joke related to non-vegan things, and some servers have just ended up making awkward jokes that end up being a little mean. Not here. Kudos for real. I generally don’t take sugar or any kind of sweetener for my tea, so it’s always been “no thank you” to that stuff anyway.<\/p>\n

Soon our waiter brought out our tray of finger sandwiches, scones, and desserts with preserves. We we thrilled.<\/p>\n

Top Plate<\/h2>\n

\"Afternoon<\/a><\/p>\n

What’s on here<\/strong><\/p>\n