When I was a teenager, my high school best friend and her mum used to take me along to attend Afternoon Tea at this little tea house in our neighborhood. Oh man, this place! It was about as froufy and lacy as you could possibly imagine, and I was constantly anxious about the gawkiness of my elbows, and the un-crossedness of my ankles; but the food was great, and they particularly excelled at those triple tiers of tiny scones and pastries. I don’t need to tell you that the only thing better than one very nice pastry is nine or ten of them arranged for my enjoyment, so greed won out easily enough against my (butch teenager trapped in teahouse) discomfort – even to the point where I was constantly pressing to return.
I think about that place all the time, even fifteen or so years later. So here is my proposed Goblin Tea.
Layer 1: Sandwiches. I have no particular interest in those traditional crustless tea sandwiches, so instead I want thin slices of baguette with some kind of meat and cheese and that, um, leafy plant that people put in sandwiches. Also, I want mini croissants. And there’s no end to what might be in them, because croissants make everything taste better.
Layer 2: Scones. All I want are plain scones and raisin or currant scones. But like, THE BEST scones – no playing fast and loose. Also jam and butter.
Layer 3: Desserts. Guys, it was so hard to narrow this down to three. But as of my current mood, I want little lemon bars, and tiny flaky fruit tarts, and little choux pastry puffs with maybe a small measure of vanilla custard in them (but I have a weird preference for eating them totally plain).
marianchurchland.com 
I just went to Neverland Tea in Kits this weekend for High Tea, it’s super cozy and cute and fantastic! I’ve made it my goal to visit other tea houses in town but haven’t managed to budge from this place just yet. It’s got the frou frou going on, and I always go for the earl grey. For me it’s all about the cream, I’m pretty picky about my scones being served with cream. Lemony scones with cream and strawberry jam is such a beautiful trifecta.
You’re absolutely right about the cream – I really needed to have clotted cream as part of my scone tier. How could I have missed that.
I’ll eye up this place next time I’m in Kits.
Tea houses are my favorite. Strangely, I visited my first tea house whilst living in Korea and had one of the aforementioned tiered tray of treats. Love the illustration and I would be the happiest if I could actually eat tea on a table whose base was a goat.
xx Abby a geek tragedy
I realized only as I was colouring the picture that it looked like the goat was holding up the table! But I decided I was ok with it (even though goats are unreasonable, and would tip a table over in seconds [then climb on top of the remains and eat everything]).
i love your goblin shoes! and lap napkins everywhere should be a’feared of their natural predator. under-table-goat on the rampage!
Everything is perfect and where it belongs. Tea houses are a timeless refuge. Des croissants… au beurre!