Higgins & Burke

When I go out to eat lunch or dinner at a restaurant and ask for a green tea, this is almost always the one that is brought to me. Tends to be a little strong and bitter for my taste but I don’t dislike it, I just wouldn’t buy this brand for myself to have at home. There are other brands of green tea that I prefer over this one.

When I get tired of drinking plain green tea, this one is a nice alternative. A mild green tea with a tropical twist. The green tea goes so well with the zing from the fruits. Makes me feel like I’m sipping tea on a tropical island somewhere! This tea always makes an enjoyable cup for me.

I’ve been eating out a lot lately and that means drinking a lot of bagged tea. This was tasty with sugar, cream and two squirts of hazelnut syrup.

Had this the other morning with milk, cream, sugar and vanilla syrup. Not bad.

An alright accompaniment to an amazing breakfast of chilaquiles, poaches eggs and sausages. With sugar, milk and cream.

I had a fantastic food day today. I made sticky buns with pecans for breakfast which turned out moist and gooey and awesome. I don’t do a lot of baking with yeast doughs, so it was a good experience and something I’ll definitely be making again.

And then for dinner, we went to check out a new restaurant with my partner’s family. I didn’t really know what to expect, as this restaurant was basically a total remaking of a restaurant and lounge that used to be one of my favourite places to go for drinks and live music. It’s very different in this incarnation, but gorgeous and my god, was the food ever amazing.

We started off with some lovely oysters, and then for apps had bacon wrapped figs stuff with blue cheese (wonderfully balanced flavours!), pounded cheese whipped with butter on fried sourdough bread, and a really nice assortment of olives.

The entree I chose was a rack of Berkshire pork with apples, fennel, dates and cider. Sweet, delicious and rich. I also tried the bison flatiron steak with whisky glaze, chicken livers with chorizo and tomatoes over grits, and eggplant and quinoa sausage. For sides we shared garlic mushrooms, roasted cauliflower with currants and fries with truffle salt, thyme and pecorino cheese.

And then for dessert, brown butter cheese cake with deep fried sage and stewed pears. And tea. The food was all amazing and the tea was a very decent accompaniment. I kind of hope for loose leaf tea at fancy restaurants, but this is a nice, balanced Earl Grey. It was good with cream and sugar, and a fine way to cap off the evening.

This is one of my favourite Earl Grey teas. It is so smooth and fragrant and tastes as good as it smells. There is a sweet tinge to the bergamot and it blends in lovely not too overpowering just the right amount. Side note – the first place I actually had this was at McDonalds and was surprised the tea was actually so good!