Storyteller's Cafe
In the Grand Californian Hotel, Disneyland Resort

More Disneyland food, hooray...ever since more of our friends got annual passes, it's been great fun going every other week or so (honestly!). It's also great to go to the restaurants in the resort - and the 10% pass discount doesn't hurt either.

Storyteller's Cafe has great atmosphere - earthy and welcoming, and smells deliciously of cinnamon-y BBQ sauce (the kind they put on their rack of ribs.) It almost doesn't feel like a Disneyland Resort restaurant. The wait isn't so bad, because they set out a cart with free apple cider and little cups. This cider is realllly good and addictive, and warms you up instantly on a cold night.

I can't say I've ever had bad service here, although the one time when my parents went without me, they said they were "ignored"...but I give them the benefit of the doubt, they've been very attentive every time I've been.

Once sitting down, a big ole basket of breads was placed before us...
Cornbreads and a lil' mini loaf of soft white bread. And a dish with triangles of butter. This cornbread is addictive - sweet, with corn kernels embedded in every muffin. The outside of these muffins are just right - to make that sticky but tantilizing outer crust. The bread is just okay to me but it is softer than soft. Onto the GOODS. I got the Warm Chicken melt, as I never tried this dish before. I have to say it's just, alright. Not great but not horrible. Chicken breast slices are topped with a huge slice of beefsteak tomato, grilled onion and cheese, and the bread is huge texas toast garlic bread, served with a side of fries. The fries would have been better if they were less cold..an off day because I've had piping hot fries from them before and they're good, not greasy and not overly salted. The tomato was the thing that dragged this melt down - gloppy and overbearing, I hate when tomato is cooked and the tired skins of the tomato get stuck between your teeth. I pulled the rest of the tomato out of the sandwich after taking a few bites. The bread is HUGE and overbearing, I had to rip off the edges to make a more managable sandwich. It's a ton of food and I was fuller than full after eating it.
Ryan tore into a 1/3 lb cheeseburger with guacamole. Look at how much guacamole they hooked him up with!! It's like a TOWER of green creamy goodness...and not often can many people say that. By the way, those strawberries in the corner were actually pretty decent - I was expecting them to be sour, but they ended up tasting alright.
This was Dean's Spaghetti with meat sauce, but honestly this was like, meat with some sauce and noodles. This was like, a vat of meat. And cheese. Dean said he would have liked more garlic bread, which, by the looks of the two meager pieces they put on his plate, is a fair assessment. He almost finished this monster but threw up the white flag as his stomach was just about to burst.
This was Mike's cheeseburger with bacon. Nothing much to say about it, 'cept he ate almost all of it....AND...
It was Mike's birthday last week so they brought him a Mickey Chocolate Mousse! I love the festive feel of this, with the mini M&M's, sprinkles, and chocolate ears. I couldn't even take a bite I was so stuffed, but Mike managed to scrape the plate clean. (he loves his sweets!)

This restaurant is a good place to relax after a busy day walking around Disneyland/California Adventure. It's a bit secluded from the crowds (although a ton of people go here still, but I'm comparing it to restaurants that are located INSIDE the theme parks), and the food is very decent.

Yashima Japanese Restaurant
Sawtelle and Olympic - 2nd floor

Where to eat on Halloween...Amber and I searched for a place to go during lunch. We had wanted to try the new rotating sushi bar...but upon arrival at the door, found that they were CLOSED on Halloween?? What self respecting business closes their doors on HALLOWEEN? I would understand every Sunday, or even MLK Jr. Day...but Halloween? Suspicious...

So we continued our search. Amber mentioned this small restaurant around the corner in the same complex...so we went there. Yashima has sparse decor - oddly enough, I would describe it as 80's minimalist. Trust me, you just have to see it for yourself.

We were seated quickly and presented with a menu that mostly consisted of udons, soba and rice bowls. Water was quickly served. This place was fast. Awesome.
I chose the special of the day - shrimp curry rice, small bowl of udon, tempura, a few nuggets of chicken karage, and mixed greens salad with one slice of tuna on top. This was a great set! So many different flavors, not too much of anything, nothing too overwhelming. The salad was perfect, a tangy Japanese dressing with delicious mixed greens, and the piece of tuna on top was such a great bonus! Tempura was hot and crispy, udon was supple and chewy in that good way. The two bites of karage were a nice little bite. Here's a close up of the shrimp tempura curry rice. The shrimp was alright but the curry was just okay. I mean, it was alright but nothing to go out of my way for.
Amber got the Beef Bowl set. This thing was huge for her - she only ate maybe a third of it - but loved every bite. Nice use of egg, and those shreds of seaweed! So perfect.

This is a top view of her set. Her miso soup looked really good!

Yashima was a nice little place to eat during lunch. I'm going again!

KC's Crepes
Lincoln Blvd and Manchester - close to Otis and Loyola

I'm letting my readers in on the biggest semi undiscovered crepe/boba place on the westside..shhh! I don't want everyone to flood to it, to make it more crowded than it already is on a Saturday afternoon...but as a dedication to my quest for good food, I must share this place with the blog-0-sphere (whoever is reading out there, anyways.) Otis and LMU students might know this place well - a tiny little space in a nano-mall, with one of the parking spaces converted to a little patio oasis to enjoy the outdoor breeze. Walk in, and usually KC himself (I'm assuming that's his name - the really nice Japanese surfer guy with a baseball cap that welcomes you) will take your order and make your drink. Such delicious drinks they have, too...

Owen's favorite, the latte boba. He'd get one of these everyday if he could (but luckily, or unluckily, they're closed on Mondays.) It's simply a shot of espresso, whole milk and deliciously sweet bobas - which make this drink SLIGHTLY sweet but the coffee is the true star here. For some reason a lot of boba places that I've been to REFUSE to do this simple thing - i.e. Lollicup which have their "Coffee tea boba" - which is just as it sounds, coffee plus tea mixed together. Gross!?
I went for my usual, a strawberry iced tea, with less flavoring than he usually puts in there, as I requested. Refreshing, delicious, with that good SNAP after you take a sip...you know what I mean? Like...AHhhhhh. In the background is Jay's Thai iced tea. He seemed to like it.
Now to the crepes! All the crepes are freshly made immediately after you order them - KC's daughters/co-workers/relatives (I don't know?) start making these delicious hand rolled things of beauty. After making them, they come outside to your table with a "So sorry for waiting!" and place the baskets full of crepe creations in front of you. The edges are paper thin crisp, fit perfectly in your hand, wrapped in a brown piece of paper. My crepe was the Turkey Sandwich crepe - with turkey slices, monterey jack cheese, mayo, mustard, mixed greens, a few tomatoes, and salt and pepper. Soooo good, not heavy, and mouthwatering to the last little bite!

This was Owen's Tuna Salad crepe, which I've had before as well. They don't skimp on the tuna in this, and really throw a lot in there. Mixed greens again, tomatoes and mayo (kewpie, I forgot to mention!).
This was Jay's BBQ Shrimp Crepe. Unfortunately I guess this wasn't exactly what Jay was expecting, as I think he thought they meant, BBQed shrimp. Instead, it was shrimp with BBQ sauce. However, he still liked it - he proclaimed that the shrimp was not overcooked..something that was very important to him (and he's a cook, so he would know!) and finished it all. I don't know if there was only shrimp and BBQ sauce in there, I forgot to ask and he ate it too quickly :D But I took that as a good sign.

I think the only thing that I'd have to complain about this place is the prices - these are not cheap crepes (Jay's, being the most expensive, was around 7 dollars!) It's like JAPAN prices. Also, it's a CASH ONLY place. But KC has a card system - buy 10 get the 11th free, for bobas and crepes...so that takes the edge off of it. And I like supporting him, as he goes off to make drinks and surf on his off days...so GO KC CREPES!

The Counter Burger
Ocean Park across the street from Activision

Burgery goodness! A good meaty burger was just what we were all craving one Friday night, so we all met up at the Counter. The wait was long (the place is fairly small and trendy - so the crowds were thick) and once we sat down we were ready to GRUB! We had already filled out our checklists of what we wanted in our burgers (so convenient - and so many possibilities) so we chatted an waited for our food...
As almost always, we start with my favorite drink, the Arnold Palmer...the perfect mix of refreshing and sweet...
We got an order of cheese fries - real cheese was melted over this bunch, so Owen was happy. For some reason I love me some fake cheese (yes! I know! It's disgusting but there's something about it that I strangely like...call it a weird obsession) but these were really good.
Regular fries were also ordered...check out the in-progress ketchup drawing of...A big smiley face! Yes, these fries are happy to be devoured...and they were, although my favorite fries are steak fries, these shoestring fries were pretty good in their own right. Now to the real deal...the burgers! Owen got a 1/3 lb (they don't offer anything smaller than that!) beef burger with tilamook cheddar cheese, grilled onions, bacon, avocado, a caesary sauce spread (I think!) on a honey wheat bun. The piece of bacon that I managed to snag from his plate was juicy and delicious. I think he really enjoyed his burger - nothing was left on his plate when he was done.
Here's my 1/3 lb turkey burger, with grilled onions, scallions, olives, mixed greens and a goat cheese spread, on a honey wheat bun. Soooo good. Eating this burger was a messy business - it was so full of stuff that a lot of it fell on the plate. I ate the stuff that fell out with a fork - nothing goes to waste! Everything was delicious and fresh, and I enjoyed it greatly.

The Counter lives up to its' fame...good burger place, I love the ease of ordering exactly how I want my burger dressed, but the wait is a problem...I guess it is to be expected for such a trendy hotspot.

Bay Cities Italian Deli
Lincoln Blvd and Broadway in Santa Monica

Oh man. I know this is a bold statement...but there is such a thing as the perfect meal. There are different versions of this perfect meal (fancy perfect meal, casual perfect meal, etc.). This is the perfect sandwich craving meal. Yep. Anyone else that has been here will have to agree - this place is awesome.

However, there are a few pitfalls - first being parking. The parking is in a small lot on the side of the store, and is always packed. Richy Santa Monica folks will murderously and inconsiderately cut you off for that lone half spot in the back. It's a huge bummer. Secondly, EVERYONE comes here for a sandwich from the deli - take a number and then wait for at least a half an hour for your number to be called. This is not a joke. For instance, our number was 43. They were on number 5. Don't get me wrong, those guys behind the counter work hard and they're super nice. There's just so many people that are waiting for exactly the same thing you want. And that is a DELICIOUS SANDWICH! They bake their own amazing bread there - these Italian rolls that have a crunchy crispy crust and a soft as anything interior. Super fresh. If you grab a loaf while mulling around the store waiting for your number to be called, there's almost always a fresh, HOT baguette stack near the front of the store.

In any case, yes, it's worth it to jump through these hoops and get to what you've been waiting for...
A LARGE GODMOTHER with the works - which consists of:
genoa salami, mortadella coppacola, ham, prosciutto, provolone. No substitutes. There's no NEED for substitues. This thing is amazing.
The delicious shredded lettuce, Boar's head meat and cheese, Italian mix of bell peppers, oil and vinegar, mayo and mustard, on that mouthwatering bread. Even though there's a lot of salty meats in this sandwich, it surprisingly not as salty as you would think it should be - the bread and other stuff mellows out the salt. This is a slice of heaven. Really.
Just to mix it up, Owen got a turkey with cheddar cheese. This was equally great. Love that Boar's head meat...the turkey is so delicately sliced and fresh and delicious and everything you want in a turkey deli meat.

We also got some Hava Chips (Owen's favorite) and I got an Orange Pellegrino drink (sooo good). This makes for a great meal and quelling of any sandwich cravings you could ever have. Just have patience while waiting for your number to be called...ignore your urge to go to the Jack in the Box down the street as your stomach growls...you will thank yourself over and over again as you're taking a big bite out of this sandwich.

Zen Zoo
Sunset Blvd in Hollywood

The morning after the art show, a few friends were in town (LAUREN!!) so we met up with them at Zen Zoo, after trying to go to Budda's Belly (which was closed.) The atmosphere here was really relaxing and pleasant - really did the whole "asian atmosphere" tastefully but not over the top. Nice.

Here's my green tea latte, gracefully presented by Lauren's hands. This was actually really good - flavorful, not too sweet, blended ice. Refreshingly milky. I thought it was a good choice for the morning.
Owen was craving miso soup so we got a big bowl of it. By the looks of this bowl it looks amazing, and at first, it really was - good hearty stock, big green onion slices, shiitake mushrooms. However, the bad part was how much ginger they put in here. This is not ginger soup, it's supposed to be miso soup. All I tasted was ginger the more I drank it, and there was also big chunks of ginger that I had to avoid (I HATE biting into ginger, I like it as a flavoring or I can tolerate little bits of it but big old chunks? A world of no.) This would have been much improved if they put more tofu or seaweed in here.
This was our order of chicken curry, chinese style. I liked this more than Owen did, because he's used to the Indian curries or Japanese curry. Chinese curry is not so in your face as the other curries - more watery, less punch/richness. They were generous with the ingredients - big pieces of potato, white chicken meat, carrots and onions. I liked the sprigs of clover looking rabbit food on top and the black sesame seeds. White rice lined the bottom of this bowl. It was decent, but not necessarily something I'd order again.
These baos were part of the combo set that we ordered. Chicken, BBQ pork and vegetable. These were delicious. The bready part in the bao was extremely light and fluffy - and not gross and soggy like some dimsum places have it (the condensation from the steaming drips all over the baos and makes the dough all nasty and gooey). This version was awesome. I could have had like 3 more BBQ pork ones and like 2 more of the chicken ones - the vegetable was alright but not my bag.
This is the dumpling part of our combo - the wheel o' dumplings. " All of our dumplings are made with a thicker rice flour wrapper." They don't lie. I don't mind the thicker wrapper, it was all about the fillings, which were excellent. I don't know what everything was, except for a mix of shui mais and har gaos (meat and shrimp dumplings.) The triangle dumpling in the middle was filled with veggies. Not bad. Everything was good, and everything was eaten.

Zen Zoo was a great thumbs up from all of us. It wasn't one of those "authentic" places but it was a good rendition of it, and really relaxing.

Wedding Food

A wedding reception is supposed to have the most killer food. So here's a quick review on food we had at Owen's aunt's wedding...

First off, beet salad. Okay, I don't like beets so this dish was not a winner in my book. The little mug was some cold gazpacho, which was okay, it tasted like chilled chopped tomato chunky soup. I only ate the greenery and cheese off of this plate. Beets, you are my mortal enemy.
After that, was lemony sorbet. First off, sorbet should be freezing cold when served, because the texture of sorbet is delicious when you dig your spoon into the scoop - a refreshing way to "cleanse the palate". However, this stuff was gross, all melted and soggy. I took a little spoonful and spit it back out. Lame, lame and lame. If I wanted cold lemon soup I would have had lemonade and ice and would have been happier. An Icee from the movie theaters was better than this slop.
My plate was a softshell crab with mashed potatoes, green beans tied up with chives, carrots and some other root vegetable. The softshell crab itself was alright, but I wasn't a fan of the sauce they used on it - too gingery sour, I really just wanted a good salty miso dressing on top. The rabbit food on the rest of the plate was okay. I have to say that even after I ate everything on the plate, I was still hungry. Crunchy crab does not go a long way, I guess I'm more used to having this with rice.
Owen's plate was more substancial - the Lamb, on which they poured a delicious pea gravy sauce over the meat once it finally got to the table. There was also a square of scalloped potatoes with breadcrumbs over it, that was pretty decent. Again, rabbit food to round out the plate.

We didn't stay for the cake because we had to go, but I heard the cake was a carrot cake and really yucky. Like, hard shell outside for the frosting. Carrot cake should always be moist and have a good cream cheese frosting or something like that on the outside to balance out the cake. So thumbs down on that even though we didn't have it.

Overall, I've definitely had better wedding food, and the service was horrific - we didn't get served dinner until 9pm (the ceremony ended at 4:30pm!!) And it was freezing in the Malibu mountains. So yes, even though this is not a restaurant I wouldn't suggest using whatever catering service they used, haha.

El Coyote
Beverly Blvd.

By the way, yes, I've been lagging! I know, I know, I gotta gear up again for some major foodblogging, I've been plagued with stress and illness. No matter, Let's get to it!

Mmm, Mexican food. Why is it so good, the combination of meat in a tortilla, and some rice and beans? It's satisfying and substancial, especially when executed by a decent restaurant. I've been to plenty of Mexican food restaurants, and I have to admit, this is one of the superstars.

We were seated at a cozy table near the back, which suited me fine. Their drinks were superb...I got an Arnold Palmer as usual...

Oooo, a beautiful Arnold palmer! And it was a very good one too, the best combination of sweet, tart and refreshing. Owen had a few margaritas, and they did not hold back on the tequilla, to his delight, so thumbs up on that.
I got a simple combo - 2 tacos, one beef and one chicken, hard shell, with rice and beans. So pretty! The rice and beans were just right, not TOO salty as sometimes the rice and beans can get.
Here's a delicious close up of a chicken taco. Oooo, hard shell taco goodness. One of these did me in, and was very substancially delicious. Here was Jamie's mom's chicken taco salad. This thing was huge! I had to take a picture...the size of the tortilla shell that is encasing this monster salad...was about the size of a baby. A big baby. A big deformed baby that would eat this and become twice its' own size baby.

My verdict? This was a good place to go, despite my dislike for valet parking and really really tacky Halloween decorations. There's a lot of mexican food out there, and even though I wouldn't say it's as good as Tacomiendo (food wise), they got the booze and tasty drinks going for it, and a lot of clientele that swear by it. A very decent LA institution.

C&O Cucina
Washington Blvd and almost to Abbot Kinney Blvd.

Italian food is always iffy to me as a choice when wanting to go out to eat, because I almost always feel jipped. Why? Because spaghetti and meatballs are the easiest thing to cook at home, and paying 15 dollars and up for a meal that sometimes equally tastes as good as frozen meatballs and dried pasta noodles from TJ's (so good, so cheap) is a travesty. Of course, there are a few exceptions to this rule. One of these exceptions is C&O's Cucina/Trattoria.

C&O's Trattoria is actually better than C&O's Cucina, for the ambience, waitstaff and location (closer to the water.) However, they're always more crowded, the wait-time is longer and the valet is more expensive. Cucina is really almost as good, considering the tradeoff.

First off...the Killer garlic rolls...

They come around with a big fresh batch of these little morsels of deliciousness every 15 minutes or so, and fill a white oval plate - carefully transferring them with a pair of tongs. These cute rolly bites of carby goodness are covered in real chopped garlic and parsley bits, and are usually gone in a second with a hungry group. However, I warn you - these are so good that you might not be able to stop - and there's much more delicious food to go, so keep in mind: they are KILLER!
Owen loves himself some caesar salad, and here was one order of it. Nothing outstanding, but not disappointing. The cheese is great in this - real grated parmesan, like it always should be (unfortunately, not always the case.)
Yes, even more food. Worth the wait though - this was the gargantuan order of The Special - Wide, flat noodles with shiitake mushrooms, apple chicken sausage in a tomato cream sauce. This was amazing good! The mushrooms this pasta dish an AMAZING flavor, and the wide noodles made this dish super special to me - I just like wide noodles alright? The creme sauce was great - not too creamy and not too tomato-y. The apple chicken sausage had good bite and flavor. This is my new thing to love here!!
Ish got the C & O Classic Cioppino - "A famous Italian Fisherman's Stew featuring shrimp, clams, mussels, salmon, swordfish and scallops in a deliciously light tomato and Pinot Grigio broth.". Dang. This was a seafood orgy in a soup. He seemed to like it a lot and who wouldn't with all those different kinds of seafood swimming in his delicious thick soup.
Bryan got a classic Spaghettini with meatballs. Huge meatballs (the size of a fist!) nestled above delicious spaghetti noodles and homemade sauce, what's not to like? Bryan managed to finish this whole plate himself so I'm assuming it was edible :D

Dean and Ryan shared a Linguini & Clams - in a Garlic Butter White Wine Lemon Sauce. Hearty and so full of clams...

C&O's motto is "People generally don't leave here hungry." I can attest to that statement...I was full to bursting when leaving, full of carby carbs and holding enough leftovers to feed me and Owen for the next few days. C&O's rules!

Via Cafe

Gai Ling Way in Chinatown

Stopping to eat during a busy day can be a chore sometimes, 'cuz there's too much to do during the day and not enough hours to do it in. Taking a break from the busy organization of the upcoming art show (can I plug this art show any more??) we went around the corner to Via Cafe for a bite to eat.

The atmosphere is pleasant, playing trendy music and art on the vaulted celings. The restaurant is a narrow format but it doesn't feel too crowded. Choosing whereever we wanted to sit, glasses of water with lime in it were immediately served to us. Awesome. The waitress was friendly and took our orders promptly.

After we placed our order, the waitress came back and placed this on our table...whoo...mint and sprouts. I'm ready to eat...This was our order of Spring Rolls W/ shrimp, lettuce, cucumber, noodle, basils & sprouts. I loved the peanut buttery tangy dipping sauce that accompanied this appetizer. All the veggies in this were fresh and crunchy, and the shrimp was good. A major plus in my book. This was gone in like 2 seconds.
This was my dish, the #24 - Grilled Lemongrass Steak, Egg Rolls, Shrimp W/ rice vermicelli. I liked this dish a lot, although I haven't had enough Vietnamese food in my life to make the distinction between really good Vietnamese food and not so good Vietnamese food. Regardless, I took no prisoners as I plowed through this bowl of hearty, slightly chewy dry noodles, slightly lubricated by the spicy soupy stuff they included with my meal. I threw a bunch of spicy red hot sauce on here, which made my tongue dance with happiness (I love me some hot sauce). Everything in this bowl was good and felt freshly prepared. I loved the thin slices of beef, finding a few chopped green onion pieces in the mix. The shrimp was plain but the trusty hot sauce did the trick. The egg roll was, well, an egg roll.This is Owen's Chicken Rice Noodle soup, which I later found out was boiling hot when served to him, so when he took the first bite he burned his tongue (this happens too much!) When it cooled down enough it was a great bowl of noodles, good pieces of chicken freshly torn, and the soup was richly chicken flavored.
Ryan got the Beef Ball Soup, probably very similar to Owen's dish except sans chicken - substitute beef meatballs, vietnamese style.
Dean got the Rare beef and beef ball bowl. I think this is really interesting, as the rare beef that is placed in the soup keeps cooking in the boiling broth, so it's perfectly cooked as you carefully lift it to your mouth to eat.

I know this place isn't as cheap as other, more authentic Vietnamese places, but they're still very reasonably priced and the atmosphere is cool (I love the artwork on the walls.)

Casablanca
Lincoln Blvd and Rose

I must have passed by this place a million times and never went in. This was my chance! We went to Casablanca as a big group, because we were celebrating Owen and Owen's grandma's birthday. Parking was easy enough, as we had gotten there early. Inside was a huge collection of memorabilia, dusty fading posters and pictures, and all kinds of things in the state of molding all over the walls. Angry hostess at the front gave us all the weary eye, and indifferently let us stand awkardly next to the entrance/bar until enough people showed up. I was seated next to a creepy almost too real lifesize statue of Humphrey Bogart dressed as Sam from the movie, and he hauntingly glared at me all night.

The fresh tortillas were piping hot as we put them on our plates. They were very good, with a douse of their salsa verde embedded with feta cheese cubes. I was almost full to bursting just eating these. They were very similar to Pacos Taco's homemade tortillas - actually almost identical.

The waiters were, for the most part, were very on the ball and polite. Owen got a few margaritas before dinner and was sorry to find them to be super watered down. Our entrees came after a bit of wait, because of the magnitude of our party.

This was my Shrimp Fajitas Plate. It was...just okay. I expected one of those sizzling platters like I've seen at most places, but was surprised to see my veggies and shrimp - in a not so good -almost florescent orange colored oily substance - mingling with my rice and beans and guacamole. The shrimps were a good size, but the oily yuck sauce killed it. The veggies were way overcooked, but still edible had it not been for the oil. The rice was good, flavored slightly by butter I think. It was my favorite thing on the plate. Black beans were okay. Guacamole was decent.

I didn't HATE (hate is reserved for places like Dussini) this place but I didn't love it either. I think for a more intimate group, it would have been perfect, but for a big group of 20, it was not right. I didn't eat my leftovers, if that's any indication of something that's worth reheating and eating again. You know what I mean...when you're looking in the fridge, glancing at a styrofoam take out container, with the contents of the uneaten parts of last night's dinner, and thinking...eh...I don't think I want this...that was the feeling.

Jin Patisserie

Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice

The contination of the crazy weekend of food when Brian came into town...is contined with our trip to Jin Patisserie on Abbot Kinney. We were looking for somewhere different, somewhere to sit and take a time out from all the crazy stuff happening in our lives. This place fit the bill - with its' outdoor seating and calming little water fountain in the middle of their courtyard, it was a great place to unwind. We all decided to get their Afternoon Tea Set. It came with one choice of tea in a little teapot...unfortunately no refills (I mean, come on, just add hot water?)

My tea was the "Des Sables" - "Flavoured with the famous Damas rose, grown on the slopes of the Atlas mountains, and exotic fruits - mango, yellow peach and citrus fruits - giving the unique flavor of a petal jelly. Both fresh and sensual, a beautiful drink whether served boiling hot or ice cold." Our server expertly sniffed each teapot cover, and from the smell could tell each tea that we had ordered. Something a little extra special, I suppose.
Now to the GOODS. Starting from the left corner going clockwise:
Scones (2) - Light and flaky as scones could be, these were deceptively small and after eating one and a bite, I couldn't eat any more of them. They were super delicious slathered with clotted cream (so evil and so good, the clotting of the cream reminded me of the clotting of my arteries) and orange marmalade (so good - had to be homemade or locally made, it was very good quality and fresh.)
Finger sandwiches (2)- filled with egg salad, I love my savory foods. The egg salad was creamy and thick, not too chopped or gloppy. The bread was nothing special though.
Mini quiche (1) - Mini ham and cheese quiche tartlet was my favorite. Buttery flaky crust, filled to the brim with ham and rich cheese. Not too much egg, it was enough to bind everything together but not overwhelmingly eggy like some other quiches I've had. Perfect size for a taste.
Small slice of pound cake (1) - Pound cake was good but not amazing. I can't say it was anything special.
Small wedge of madeline (1) - this was a good texture for a madeline.
Little assorted cakes (4) - I don't know what exactly everything was called but it was all delicious and of the best quality. For instance, the creme on the top of each was super rich, decadent and most likely made earlier that day. I think there was a mini tiramisu in there, which was my favorite out of the little cakes.
Little chocolate (1)- Yum. Perfect ending to everything.

This was a good, "different" kind of high tea, definitely not what I was used to (like the amazing high tea I had at Harrods in London) but everything was top notch quality. I might just try their proper lunch next time and get their cakes/desserts to go to enjoy at home. This was a good place to go to with a small group of friends, I don't think they could have accomidated more than the 5 of us at one table.