The holiday season is in full swing. Everyone's busy preparing for ILD and beyond - travel to see family, upcoming conventions, there's so much going on! If you have time, be sure to head to https://prettyprincess.club to see the latest updates. We are actively accepting vendors and volunteers! If you're interested in being a vendor, either remote or on-premises, check out our vendor page: https://prettyprincess.club/event/vendors.html If you'd like to volunteer your time in exchange for a free GA ticket, please take a look at our volunteer page: https://prettyprincess.club/event/volunteers.html
For now, we want to take some time to reflect on a recent celebration we had: Nif's birthday! Nif and her lovely husband Ryan went to The Georgian at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel for an incredible tea. Learn more about The Georgian here: https://www.fairmont.com/seattle/dining/thegeorgian/
Did you know Pretty Princess Club is based in Seattle, WA? Yes! We are not directly affiliated with the local comms (although Nif is an active member), but we love to put on events for Emerald City Lolitas, Tacoma EGL, and the other incredible comms in our area. Why is our flagship event going to be in Las Vegas, you ask? Well, that's a question for a different blog post... so if you're curious, stay tuned, and we'll have all the answers for you next week.
First, tea! But actually...
The first thing we noticed about The Georgian is its opulence! The hotel lobby surrounding it is so beautiful and full of the most wonderful decorative touches. When we walked in, the incredibly kind staff got us seated very quickly - no West-Coast hipster service here. We sat across from their loose-leaf tea display (we didn’t get a picture, so you’ll have to trust us that their selection is quite extensive). As we walked in, we noticed big buckets full of bottles of 2006 Dom Pérignon - since this tea was a special celebration, you know Nif went for the champagne tea. The 2006 Dom Pérignon was outstanding - and priced at a slight discount with a full tea service. We noticed the high minerality - different from the cake-y or bread-y notes that you might expect in a younger glass of champagne. Full of fine bubbles, and not too sweet - we’d love to drink this one again if we got a chance!
We ordered tea. Proper loose-leaf tea given to us each in our own teapots - you’d think we wouldn’t have to mention this, but we’ve had some…suspect…teas as of late. Nif went for the Earl Grey (her favorite) and Ryan chose The Georgian’s special Orange Pekoe to go with his herbal tea cocktail. Delicious!
The first thing we ate was a little palate awakener: a delicious sampling of berries and cream. The cream, with a light panna cotta in the middle, was lightly sweet and full of vanilla flavor. What a great way to start the meal!
And then…the tea service itself. Having had some lousy scones and overly-sweet desserts in recent memory, we were cautiously optimistic. We were so impressed! The scones were lovely, with a flaky texture, orange and white chocolate flavor, and served with plenty of Devonshire cream. The sandwiches were savory and filling - Nif was surprised by how much she liked the egg salad, and we loved the homage to local ingredients with the salmon.
Most importantly: dessert. Nif absolutely flipped for the “Bee Hive,” a delightfully crunchy meringue concoction with honey inside. Ryan loved the carrot cake, which Nif - a notorious carrot cake hater - had to begrudgingly admit was outstanding. The strawberry cream puff and dark chocolate cake were also scrumptious, even though we had a hard time finishing them.
We mentioned to the staff on the way in that it was Nif’s birthday, so we got a special treat at the end! Chocolate-covered strawberries surrounded with edible gold glitter. What could be better than that to top off a special meal?
All told, this is absolutely in our top 3 of teas we’ve had in 2019 (shout-outs go to the Queen Mary Tea Room [https://queenmarytea.com/] - also in Seattle - and The Rotunda [https://www.neimanmarcus.com/restaurants/san%20francisco/ca/the%20rotunda/san%20francisco] in SF). Sadly, The Georgian will undergo renovations in early 2020, so we’ll have to wait to plan a big event there. If you’re interested, we highly recommend you make your reservation ASAP, or you’ll have to wait until June 2020 to go.
What are your favorite teas you’ve had this year? What made them so wonderful? Obviously, we love desserts, but in our opinion, the tea itself and the little extras throughout really make the experience. Not to mention the scones ;) What do you think?
Thanks for reading! We’ll catch you next week with a new blog post about why we’re so excited to have Royal Vegas Retreat in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. See you then!