Patisserie Fur Elise

We arrived early for the 3:30pm high tea seating at Patisserie Fur Elise but were quickly seated. It is located in a Vancouver heritage home and the ambiance is clean and quaint. High tea seatings are two hours long and include tea, savouries and sweets.

I went with darjeeling for my choice of tea. It is a black tea that is slightly bitter with floral undertones. We were frequently asked if we wanted to refill hot water in our teapots which was great as I like my teas hot.

After the tea came the blueberry panna cotta adorned by a piece of gold foil. I enjoyed this cooling dessert with the creamy texture and sweet blueberries on top. 

Blueberry Panna Cotta

Next came the salad. Usually when people say "salad in a cup" they're alluding to green juice, the blended smoothies with green veggies. This is probably the smallest salad I have ever had but it looked so adorable in the tiny glass. The mixed greens were accompanied by candied walnut and a cherry tomato. I think I would have preferred this salad to be completely savoury (aka regular walnuts instead of candied) because the high tea portion contains many sweets.

Mixed greens with candied walnut

 This is our two-tiered high tea with savouries on the bottom and sweets on top.

There were four types of savoury items of which only three were sweet-free. Starting from the right in the square shape is the avocado and egg sandwich. It was a one, possibly two-biter between white bread without much taste.

Next to the egg sandwich is the prosciutto, brie, and basil croissant sandwich. I liked that the croissant was freshly baked, warm and flakey. This was my favourite of the savoury items as the salty prosciutto provided enough flavour and I personally love brie.

The salt and pepper shrimp with a piece of dill was underwhelming. The shrimp wasn't especially fresh and the bread underneath was slightly soggy, which is understandable but would feel more pleasant if the bread stayed dry.

The last savoury item is a scone with almond streusel served with strawberry confiture. It was also freshly baked and buttery but I enjoyed the strawberry confiture much more than the scone itself.

Right to left: Avocado and Egg Sandwich, Croissant Sandwich, Shrimp with dill, Scone with Almond Streusel

I enjoy desserts so I was looking forward to the sweets tier. To be honest, none of them wow-ed me. They weren't bad but there are many amazing patisseries in Vancouver to compete with. The sweets included a honey madeleine, a small lemon tart, a strawberry macaron, a cube of strawberry mousse cake, and a petite chocolate cup.

At the bottom level of Patisserie Fur Elise there were rows and rows of colourful macarons on display so I expected their macarons to be good. However, the shell was not crispy but soft and the inside lacked any chewiness.

Right to left: Lemon Tart, Honey Madeleine, Strawberry Mousse, Chocolate Cup, Strawberry Macaron

Overall, the ambiance and friendly service made the visit pleasant. It is a place to have good conversation with friends but not one where you find the best desserts in town.