New2NY: A Touch of Union Square Class

High tea has been a Mom-n-Me tradition as far back as I remember. It's not a snooty thing like you might think, although my mom used to dress me up like a "society lady" when I was six years old, with a hat and everything. (I think it was a guilty pleasure).

So on my mom's recent holiday NYC visit, we decided to continue the tradition and have tea, metropolitan style. I searched Google for the best and most unique tea houses in the country. My search took me from the elite hotels to the smallest of boutiques, but we settled on Lady Mendl's Tea Salon located off of Union Square inside the Inn at Irving Place.

It was a brisk Monday afternoon (yes, I played hookie from work), and we were delighted to enter the warm reception area of the Inn with a fire crackling, mistletoe hanging and the most charming employees I've met in New York. They took our coats, welcomed us to tea and gave us a choice of tables, by the fireplace or the window. Like you even had to ask my mom, the window was our destination.

Our friendly and attentive server brought the first course, a mixed greens salad. Interesting, since salad isn't traditionally served at high tea, but I went with it. The slight tang in the dressing was refreshing after a full day of walking around. After the salad, we ordered our tea (and the Champagne to ring in the New Year of course). If you are in the mood for something light but extremely flavorful, I'd recommend the White Peony. Of course you can't resist mixing in the sugar cubes hand-decorated with candy roses.

Next came the finger sandwiches. I used to love these as a little girl because the crusts were cut off and if I didn't like something, I only wasted a little bit instead of a whole sandwich. Plus, there's the whole nice idea of not having to make decisions when you can try everything! The menu at Lady Mendl's stayed traditional with egg salad and cucumber rounds, but added a seasonal twist with the turkey and cranberry (a personal favorite combination) triangles and a little kick with the goat cheese circles. The best part - they offered seconds!

Then the scones came. Fresh baked plain and cranberry goodness with the usually jam and clotted cream accompaniments. Those were gone within minutes.

After two pots of steaming tea (at this point, I too was glad we were sitting by the window) they brought out slices of cake. Again, unusual since high-tea desserts usually follow the pattern of the sandwiches are are little, meant to be eaten in a bite or two. My mom tried the vanilla and I tried the chocolate, and although I usually prefer the rich taste of cacao bean and sugar, I must say my mom made the better choice. Her's was more textured like Phyllo dough, while mine was a tad dry and sticky. Her's also came with fresh berries while mine only came with coulis. Fresh berries are always better than coulis.

Right when we thought we'd sipped our last sip of tea, our ever so pleasant waiter (did I mention that all of the service staff were male while all of the patrons were female?...Nice for a change) brought the final course - the finger desserts I'd originally thought went missing. But alas, they were present in the meal, chocolate covered strawberries and all.

The whole experience was wonderful and relaxing. With 20 different flavors of tea and five lovely courses of food, Lady Mendl's is a classy refuge away from the snow and the taxi fumes that tend to mess with your head when you are outside for too long. Slightly pricey ($35 per person plus $10 for Champagne), the experience would be fun for a celebration or to entertain out-of-town guests. Although, I wouldn't be adverse to going for no particular reason either.