Fairmont Banff Afternoon Tea Experience

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While on a road trip through the Canadian Rockies with my parents I decided to treat us to a unique experience. I have done afternoon tea in the UK, and once in Vancouver at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. But since we were visiting Banff for a few days I booked the Fairmont Banff afternoon tea as a gift for my Mum.

I’ll start by saying it’s not a cheap thing to do. At around $100 per person it’s not just about the food, but about the experience and of course the location. The Fairmont Banff Springs is a luxury hotel, so the afternoon tea obviously comes with luxury prices. But it was a fun and unique thing to do in the Canadian Rockies.

Where is the Fairmont Banff afternoon tea?

The hotel has a lot of restaurants and bars. There are over half a dozen establishments within the castle you can go to find a meal, light snack or just a drink. They are all slightly different, but no less fancy from the last. There’s a steak house, an Italian restaurant, wine bar, and German pub to name a few. But for the Fairmont Banff afternoon tea we were in the Rundle Lounge.

The Rundle Lounge was two level, with afternoon tea being on the upper floor. The small, yet adequately spacious lounge area was bright and had incredible views of the Bow Valley below and the surrounding mountains, including Mount Rundle itself. The hotel is a maze, trekking through corridor after corridor, stone staircases and grand ballrooms. But this hidden gem is worth the walk.

Choosing your afternoon tea

There are a couple of options for your Fairmont Banff afternoon tea experience. Standard afternoon tea or adding some Champagne to your afternoon tea. There’s also a Junior afternoon tea for children. We went for the standard afternoon tea.

It was exactly what we were looking for, and the menu seemed like it would be nice for us. The first step though was choosing which tea to drink. On the table was a menu of teas including descriptions and small samples you could see.

Our server also told us there was a tea bar where we could go to and open any of the jars to smell the tea. There were about 10 different types of tea to choose from. Some were black teas, some herbal teas. There were a couple of specialty teas that they also added for an additional cost if you wanted them.

I decided to go for a refreshing cucumber and melon tea which was delicious. Not too overpowering in flavor like some herbal teas can be. My Mum went for the classic Orange Pekoe tea, and my Dad chose the Apple Spice tea which was a little sweeter (think apple pie in a cup).

Choose your tea wisely as you get a large pot so end up with about 6 cups of it in total if you drink the whole thing. I did, and feel like I should have stopped at cup number 3 or 4, but you live and learn.

Vegetarian options at the Fairmont Banff afternoon tea

When I made the reservation in advance, I noted that we had one vegetarian in the party (me). I have been impressed in the past at how they accommodated dietary needs so was interested to see how they did with this one.

When we arrived and were being seated, our server asked a few clarifying questions: was I pescatarian, was dairy OK, and would I eat desserts made with gelatin. No, yes and no were my answers and they accommodated my afternoon tea accordingly.

Presentation of our afternoon tea

We had been taking photos from the window of the amazing views outside, and were already started on our first cup of tea when our server came with our first snack. A palate cleanser of fresh fruit (three types of melon and pineapple, topped with a raspberry) in a glass with small shavings of chocolate on the top.

We were just finishing this when she came along again, this time with our full smorgasbord of treats and sandwiches. What I really liked was the wonderful explanation of each and every item, including the vegetarian variances.

The enthusiastic and thorough delivery helped us really get excited about our food. So much so, that we were at the point of saying “leave us so we can devour this food”. But I appreciated the extra info rather than places where I’ve been before that just leave the food and walk away.

The server took the time to go over it all with us, and make sure we didn’t have any questions. Plus, it’s always good to know what you’re eating.

Fairmont Banff Afternoon tea

With all the build up complete, it was time to dig in. We decided to go in the traditional order of sandwiches first, then scones, then treats/desserts. This was going to be good.

Please note that the items in the afternoon tea will change seasonally so may not be as in my experience, but creativity is clearly encouraged as everything was so pretty as well as delicious.

The Sandwiches

Sandwiches is kind of misleading for me to say. Whereas typical afternoon teas do include sandwiches, this one changed things up slightly. They instead used mostly crackers and crostini to create open face sandwiches. Again, this menu could be different if you go another time.

This ended up being a good thing to us as the last thing you want is to fill up on bread and not be able to get to dessert.

There were some meat/fish “sandwiches”: pork belly with maple mustard and pickles; smoked trout with lemon aioli and chives; smoked duck with cherry chutney, orange zest and pistachios.

However many of them were vegetarian and I got other options to replace these three as my veggie “sandwiches”.

Roasted Butternut Squash

This one came on a cracker with a cranberry chutney and crispy sage leaves. It was one of my favorites of the day. It reminded me of a (vegetarian) Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner sandwich.

Yellow Beet Relish

I’m new to liking beets. Red beets I’m not a huge fan of, but I do like the golden beets. On a sandwich they were surprisingly nice and refreshing. There were some candied walnuts in here too and it was topped with a little grated parmesan. I actually really liked this one.

Cucumber Sandwich

What afternoon tea isn’t complete without a cucumber sandwich. This one had a bit of an upgrade though from the cucumber sandwiches I’m used to. With a little spread of fresh hummus and some spiced toasted pumpkin seeds, they added a little texture. All served on a fresh baguette style bread.

Roasted Sweet Potato

There was a lot going on on this rye bread based sandwich. The spiced sweet potato had a little kick to it. There was a little sage aioli on the bottom and it was topped with some pea shoots, toasted spiced pumpkin seeds and a little feta cheese. I wasn’t too keen on the rye, but the taste of the rest of it was fantastic.

Pear and Brie

There was also an egg salad sandwich on a baguette style crostini, however I don’t like egg sandwiches so I passed this one along to my Mum to eat. In place I took her Roasted Sweet Potato.

My other vegetarian sub-in was this poached pear and brie with candied walnuts. I love brie so this was a pleasant surprise. The creaminess of the brie paired well with the…well, pear. I know! Still, no regrets, this was delicious.

The Scones

We had two types of scones: a buttermilk and a cranberry scone. Both were deliciously fluffy and light. They were not too big as scones can often be. We had a selection of jams to go with the scones, and a light, citrus cream.

This was a much lighter option than the usual clotted cream you would get in the UK. I love clotted cream, but it is really rich and heavy so this was nice and refreshing for a change.

The Desserts

Of course the most anticipated part of the afternoon tea (for me anyway) is the delicious sweet treats. I have a serious sweet tooth so I was all but salivating as I started tucking into these delicious sugar-rush-inducing delights.

Looking for more food travel ideas? Check out this post all about the most amazing pastries and desserts in Paris.

Macarons

The staple pastry in an afternoon tea now. The delightfully delicate dessert is one of my favorites. We got three flavors: coffee, pistachio and vanilla. I took the pistachio macaron. It was incredibly light and airy with a subtle flavor. Amazing!

Pear Ginger Molasses Cake

Ginger cake is so English, and I do love it. The cake itself was moist and just melted in your mouth. There was a light cream on top and a little piece of candied ginger. Definitely not as heavy a cake as I’ve had in the past which was really good considering the enormous amount of food we were making our way through.

Pistachio Raspberry Tart

I loved the almond frangipane tart with a pistachio and raspberry filling. It was so nice I savored every bite. The raspberry gave it a nice tart finish and the colors were beautiful.

Cashew cookie

On the main menu for afternoon tea were two desserts that it turned out were made with gelatin. The first was a lemon profiterole and the second was a chocolate cherry slice. So instead I ended up with two vegetarian-friendly alternatives to replace those.

The first of which was a cashew cookie. It was nice, but a little plain for me. Plus after almonds and pistachios in two of the desserts so far I was on nut overload at this point and looking for something different.

Fruit jelly square

My second vegetarian, non-gelatin creation. This fruit square was the perfect way to finish the meal. It was a mixed fruit jelly: apricot, strawberry and raspberry. Dusted with sugar and using pectin as a setting agent, it was fabulous. It was a real sugar kick to end with though.

Is the Fairmont Banff afternoon tea worth it?

It all depends on what you value in a meal. If you’re looking for creativity, then this sure covered all bases. If you’re looking for something fun and unique with a beautiful setting, then again this raised the bar.

There’s no doubt it’s an expensive experience, but if you’re at the Fairmont Banff Springs I don’t think you can really expect to not pay a lot of money for an experience. I wanted to treat my parents, and this was a lovely way to do it.

I have done afternoon tea before, and I will again. For me, it’s all about the menu – not all afternoon teas are created equal. I’ve also had some where they just give you the food without any explanation. That was something I really enjoyed here: the understanding of the flavors.

I’d give this one a 9 out of 10. They did really well to accommodate for a vegetarian too. All without losing any flavors or creativity. If you’re in Banff, check it out.

If you’ve enjoyed this post please leave a comment or share using the social media buttons below. Have you had a spectacular afternoon tea somewhere or experienced the Fairmont Banff afternoon tea? What are some unique dining experiences you’ve had when you’ve been traveling?