Society

Sold On Cha

Cream and scones, cupcakes and tarts...high tea comes to town

Advertisement

Sold On Cha
info_icon

When Enid Blyton wrote The Mad Teapot back in the 1950s, little would she have imagined that it would inspire a tea parlour in a Delhi urban village someday. But there it is, The Mad Teapot, nestled at the back of a quaint lifestyle store called The Wishing Chair in Shahpur Jat. Walk in, and you find all the magic of the Blyton world: suspended teacups at the door, whimsical homeware in pretty pastels on the shelves, and at the end of a walk through the store: a high tea platter.

If hot and steaming isn’t your cuppa on a hot summer afternoon, Viveta Relan, co-owner of the cafe and store, has a delectable array of alternatives. “High tea in true British spirit is all about picnics and ceremonies and as Blyton fans we’re trying to recreate a sense of nostalgia, of a world we read about as children. We have a different theme for the high tea platter every weekend, featuring a different homebaker, and in keeping with the season, we’re offering jugs of flavoured iced tea to go with the platter instead of hot tea,” she says.

Advertisement

It’s hard not to be tempted by the sumptuous cake stand on the table, laden with cupcakes, icecream tarts, sandwiches and other sweet and savoury treats, with a pretty flowered teapot and a jug of fresh cranberry iced tea sitting on the side. “I designed the menu to be classically English but with a contemporary twist while being refreshing enough to nibble on in the Indian summer,” says Gurgaon-based baker Nicola Mendes, one of the homebakers featured at The Mad Teapot high tea sessions last month.

Sure, the in-between meal, or nashta, has always been a much-relished part of the Indian culinary culture. But does the lure of samosas, kachoris, pakoras and masala chai face serious competition from vintage British treats making their way to cafe menus and at private parties? Till some time ago, high tea was something you could access largely in upmarket hotels in India. A few years ago, Scotland-born, Delhi-based baker and journalist Pamela Timms started the one-of-its-kind Uparwali Chai. Dreamy pop-up tea parties, they were hosted at various venues to give Delhi’s foodies a taste of high tea treats with an Indian flavour.

Advertisement

info_icon


To a tea The Kuki-Jar’s takeaway box

But now, ‘high tea’ is increasingly commanding more premium, turning into a thing-to-do, at least for those who care to fuss over in-between meals. In Chennai, Kuki Ravindran, who runs the home bakery The Kuki-Jar, has a winner in her recently launched high tea takeaway box which lure kids and adults alike. “Indians love their tea and snacks, and the concept of a high tea box allows me to be creative. The menu has a heavy English influence,” says the baker who runs a one-woman show and chu­rns out about 20 boxes a week. The menu is a rotating one, but favourites from the box include sausage rolls, dark chocolate and salted caramel cupcakes, currant scones and tea cakes.

Back in Delhi, Shirani Mehta, owner-patissier at Maison Des Desserts in where else but Delhi’s culinary hotspot du moment, Hauz Khas Village, recently started a high tea platter at her patisserie and found it an excellent way to beat the aft­ernoon lull of weekdays. “We wanted to keep it a little different, a bit exclusive, like how you would have high tea at The Ritz, London. Our high tea sessions come with the company of a tea connoisseur, who helps customers pair treats like scones, tartlets, profiteroles, sandwiches with special teas. The idea is to give customers a service that’s more personalised, intimate and sophisticated, rather than just having them drop in casually,” she says.

Advertisement

Perhaps the growing fascination with a proper high tea and the accompanying frills and fuss is of a piece with all thi­ngs vintage coming back into vogue. And no one’s complaining—not least the culinary enthusiasts—that the grand old English spread-fired in our imagination through books and movies, travels and stories, has now come to our tables. And no more is it as exorbitant affair: priced at `800-1000 for two. “There is an interest in experiencing the nuances of a classic English tea,” says Mansi Sharma of Bakebox, “and the interest has trickled down to income groups other than the elite. It’s no more about showing off, it’s a lifestyle change.” Bakebox is a cake subscription service in the NCR that hosts themed high tea events at atmospheric cafes in the city.

Advertisement

And that growing audience includes ladies-who-lunch, students, young professionals and older patrons with a taste for all things prim and proper. Mumbai­kar Gauri Devidayal at popular diner The Table, for example, finds her high tea sessions becoming popular for private events like birthdays, baby showers, or even as a mom-and-kids afternoon out. It helps to experiment with the high tea format, of course, to add variety and attract a wider range of patrons. So Devidayal also offers what she calls a ‘Champagne high tea’, where along with the warm scones and cream, mini sandwiches and petite pastries, comes a glass of Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial Champagne. Not one to mix your alcohol and confectionery? You can also take your pick from loose leaf teas, coffee or hot chocolate.

Advertisement

As tea tasting and tea-and-food pairing catch people’s imagination, especially at high tea soirees, tea connoisseurs like Anamika Singh find themselves in dem­and. “At a Bakebox high tea event in Delhi recently, I did an autumn tea, lemon balm and rose petals iced tea, plus first lush lavender and lemon grass tea. These went perfectly with rosemary scones, Victoria sponge cake, lemon tea cake and quiche,” says Singh. For Kuki-Jar’s Ravindran, doling out high tea treats is akin to reliving the Enid Blyton world all over again, as it is for The Mad Teapot’s Viveta. As the character Moon-Face says in The Enchanted Wood: “Well, come back and have tea with us. Silky’s got some Pop Biscuits and I’ve made some Google Buns. I don’t often make them and I tell you they’re a treat!”

Edited online

Tags

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement