H Tasting Lounge: Afternoon high tea in waterfront Vancouver
H Tasting Lounge is a Pacific Northwest restaurant and lounge located inside the The Westin Bayshore hotel in downtown Vancouver. I came here with a friend to check out their afternoon high tea! This review is based on an in-dining experience.
Patio
We were seated in their outdoor patio, which was really pretty. I was impressed with how they hid their heaters under giant lamps.
Our table was bar seating (high bar stools and tables), but there are other tables with patio sofas. I found our table to be more comfortable in terms of eating but it didn’t look as nice as the patio sofas. However, the patio sofas didn’t look too comfortable because the coffee table level is low and that can make it difficult to actually eat. Every table is under an umbrella.
Afternoon high tea
H Tasting Lounge’s afternoon tea is only available on weekends from 12-3pm and cost $55 per person.
They present the items in a ferris wheel, which I thought was very cute!
Tea selection
First, we each got to choose 1 pot of tea each. There are 16 different teas to choose from but you can only choose 1. I ended up choosing the apple pie and my friend selected the sencha. Both were green teas but mine had a hint of cinnamon in it.
Scones + cotton candy
The afternoon tea starts off with vanilla pear scones and some jam and cream. The scones are nice and buttery and I like to eat it with lots of cream and jam. They are on the smaller side.
The cotton candy was very exciting! They put it on this tree trunk type of item so it looks like a cotton candy tree. Sadly, while I do love the look and aesthetics of the cotton candy, I’m not an actual fan of how cotton candy tastes. I would recommend you just use your hands and grab it as it’s more fun to eat that way. My friend and I tried to use our fork and it was difficult to get a piece to eat. Our cotton candy tree ended up wilting near the end.
Savoury
There are 4 savoury items in the ferris wheel – lobster eclair, quiche lorraine, smoked salmon and truffle egg salad.
Lobster eclair
I like to follow the order of the menu so we eat the lobster eclairs first. It is small but surprisingly has a lot of lobster filling! It is not just the middle layer – think of it like a cream puff filled with the lobster filling.
Quiche lorraine
There are 4 quiches so we get 2 each, unlike the other sandwiches that are 1 each. The quiches are small but have a strong cheesy and bacon flavour and a nice pastry crust.
Smoked salmon
The next sandwich looks almost like a chocolate cake but it is a smoked salmon sandwich with cream cheese. It tastes exactly as how I expected it to taste and the bread is slightly more dense.
Truffle egg salad
I liked the truffle egg salad sandwich the most because I am a loser for truffle. It smells and tastes strongly of truffle and I like how the sandwich looks like a little swirl roll cake. It didn’t fall apart when eating. The bread is fluffy too!
Sweet
There are 4 sweet items – matcha yuzu cake, summer fruit lemon cake, lemon earl grey financier and chocolate cake.
Matcha yuzu cake
I love matcha and I enjoyed the matcha yuzu cake the most! It is very soft and mostly mousse based. The green tea flavour is not very strong or bitter and the yuzu is not super sour either so it’s a light and refreshing cake.
Summer fruit lemon cake
This cake is very colourful and pretty. The structure of the cake is very similar to the matcha yuzu (soft and mostly mousse based). It has a more vibrant and fruity taste compared to the matcha yuzu.
Lemon earl grey financier
A financier is a small French almond cake. The earl grey is not a very strong flavour but it is not as sweet as I expected it to be since it looked almost like a cupcake. It is sweeter than the previous 2 cakes though. The cake is more dense as well with an almost eggshell-like exterior.
Chocolate cake
As per before, we follow the order of the menu and I can see the sweetest cake is saved for last. The chocolate cake is very cute but you can probably already tell from the appearance it is very sweet and full of chocolate goodness!
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐
We spent around 2 hours at high tea and we felt very full by the time we left (high tea is all about carbs!). I enjoyed my time and really liked the environment of the outdoor patio and the sunshine. The ferris wheel was fun but not super stable so we were low-key worried it might break or drop the item.
Out of all the items, I liked the egg truffle salad sandwich and the matcha yuzu cake the most. The item I disliked eating the most was the cotton candy LOL but I feel like you need to have it if you order high tea from H Tasting Lounge. It gives a whimsical feeling.
At $55 per person, this is a pricier high tea but I do factor in the experience and quality of high tea. Since I really liked the atmosphere and I also see their selection of savoury and sweets as more premium items, I do think it’s worth the price. By premium items, I mean fancy things like lobster eclairs and truffle vs. normal sandwiches like a ham and cheese croissant. My only wish is that we can choose more than 1 tea as many high tea places let you choose multiple so you can see which pairing goes well with your food items.
Overall, H Tasting Lounge provides a bougee and very Instagram-friendly high tea.
Sincerely, Loewe