Food

Windsor Arms Hotel Afternoon Tea Review

Not long ago, I went for afternoon tea at Windsor Arms Hotel with a few friends. Overall, it was a nice experience but I can't say that I will actively seek an opportunity to go back. 

When we arrived to the hotel, we were taken to a small room directly to the left of the lobby. It was lined with black wallpaper with a cozy fireplace against the wall and a grand chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The room was pretty but I had read from a review that there is another room that is more spacious and ornate. Indeed, as my friends and I went upstairs to the washroom, we were able to see that they had a larger hall which had not been opened. Since we had gone on a weekday, I'm guessing that there wasn't enough people to open the other hall. So if you want to be seated in the other room...then perhaps go on a weekend when there is more people? (I could be terribly wrong though and the room may never be open, hahaha) To be fair, I am already satisfied with the ambiance of our smaller room. 

The pretty chandelier in our room. 

 As expected, a myriad of silverware was placed before each person and um...good thing I didn't have any English spectators during our high tea - I couldn't figure out what to do with some of the utensils, hahaha. 

The aftermath after we "ladies" devoured everything - but yeah, as you can see, our table was filled with silverware, dishes, teapots and cups. 

Now onto the food.

The menu for our high tea was set in that we do not have a choice in what to order - the menu is provided on this link. The only exception was that we were given a choice for tea...there were at least 5 pages of different teas on the menu (I had wanted to try something new so I just picked the one whose name I could not pronounce, LOL.) 

In general, I was happy with the taste and appearance of the food. The scones were delicious and the sandwiches were moist and flavorful!  However, the "petits fours" desserts were too sweet and heavy for me. Below are just a few pictures to make your mouths water, haha. 

These  were the "petits fours". They looked very appetizing but unfortunately, they were too sweet for my liking. 

Anyways, most of my comments have been positive so you might wonder why I probably won't go back again. Well, we had to wait quite a while for the waiter to come take our order. The waiter was polite and there was nothing wrong with his service, but there were only two waiters servicing the room. This was a problem because we were limited in our sitting time and our orders were taken last. As a result, by the time our sitting was over, we had still not finished our food. Perhaps we had lost track of time while talking with one another but I also think we lost some time because of the slow service. 

Also, throughout our high tea, there was an extremely unpleasant drilling noise that originated from the neighbouring room. It was disturbing; people were startled. I felt that the hotel could have arranged for the construction to happen at another time when there wasn't anyone dining in the next room. If that wasn't possible, they could have arranged for us to dine where the noise would be less disruptive...not the room right across the wall. 

Overall, I did enjoy this experience since it was fun to just dress up and have a good time with friends. I don't have any complaints about the food (the Petits Fours may not have been my favorite but I don't have a taste for sweets in general) and the décor in the room was pretty. However, the service could have been quicker and the construction could have been done without causing so much disruption.

I would recommend this place for those who have not had high tea before (since the construction probably won't last forever) but I think once was enough for me. I tried to give my honest opinion about my experience and I do realize that my feelings are mixed (um...at least I'm not biased?). Anyways, hopefully this review would be useful for anyone who is thinking of going to Windsor Arms. If anything, just give it a try! Perhaps you'll get quicker waiters and no construction next door, hahaha 
 

 Mango "Cheese"cake Recipe

My close friends all know that I have a huge cheesecake craving (ESPECIALLY during exam season). The creamy texture and the melt-in-your-mouth sensation is literally addicting. But alas, every indulgence seems to be followed by a smack from reality - Hi, Joyce. There goes your new years resolution for eating right. 

Okay, don't get me wrong - I'm not promoting thinspiration but it is important to be conscious of the types and amounts of foods that we consume. It's just part of being healthy. But let's be honest- when my cravings strike, they hit me like a stampede. I am lucky that I only have this one craving but umm, not so lucky that I can devour 2 slices in 5 mins...? Not surprisingly, I wanted to find a healthier alternative. 

After several minutes of very intense online searching, I discovered a recipe for **Yogurt Cheesecake**. 

At first, I was skeptical. A cheesecake made from yogurt? But being my adventurous self, I decided to give it a try and I must say that I was very impressed. Even though this recipe uses Greek yogurt in place of creamcheese, it still has the creaminess that taunts me during my most intense cravings! It also delights me to say that it's so much healthier. 

Too good to be true? I guess you'll just have to try it yourself.

I've made this "cheese"cake 4 times now and I've played around with different sugar contents and toppings to suit my taste. I'm not one for really sweet desserts so you might want to change around the portions to your liking. Anyways, here we go. 

Yogurt "Cheese"cake Ingredients/Equipment 

1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 tbsp melted margarine 
2 cups or 500g Greek yogurt (I use 0% fat but I'm sure 2% would be fine as well)
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp cornstarch
pinch of salt
9" baking pan
large mixing bowl
oven

Steps 

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

2. Mix the graham cracker crumbs and melted margarine inside the 9" baking pan until it takes on a paste-like consistency. 

3. Press the paste against the bottom of the baking pan to form the base. 

4. Bake in the oven for 7 minutes at 375°F.

While that is happening....

5. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl.

After 7 minutes have gone by...

6. Take the baking pan out of the oven and pour the contents from the bowl on top of the graham cracker base. 

7. Bake in the oven for 35 mins at 350°F. Be careful not to over-bake.

8. Remove the cake from the oven and once it has cooled, place the cake into the fridge for at least 2 hours before removing it from the baking pan. 

Tip: When removing a cake from disposable baking pans like this, take a pair of scissors and make vertical incisions along the edge. Then, carefully peel the sides of the pan downwards. This way, the sides of the cake may be exposed without ruining the shape. Of course, if you don't want to deal with this step, just invest in a springform pan  (which I will likely do soon) :P

After pulling the sides of the pan down, snip them off with the pair of scissors. Then carefully transfer the cake onto a cake board.....and clean up the mess. 

While this yogurt cheesecake tastes great by itself, I prefer to add a fruit topping just to give it an extra layer of flavor. 

Mango Topping Ingredients/Equipment 

2 fresh mangoes (diced)
1/8 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with equal parts water
Saucepan

Steps:

1. Combine the diced mango, sugar, salt and water in the saucepan and cook under medium heat for 15 mins.

2. Slowly pour the cornstarch/water mixture to thicken the mango sauce

3. Let the mango sauce cool. When the yogurt cheesecake has been in the fridge for at least 2 hours, add the sauce on top.

Enjoy!

Now, just to make your mouths water some more, here is another cake I've made but with blueberry! The steps in making the sauce is essentially the same; only difference is the fruit and perhaps the proportions. So you might want to taste-test the sauce as you go and add more or less sugar/salt/cornstarch accordingly. 

UPDATE/REVISION to "Cheesecake Recipe": 

So the other day, I wanted to make "cheesecake" again. I was just going to follow the recipe that I had posted above since I was satisfied with the previous outcomes. I had also bought a 9 " springform pan recently and this would be the second time using it....apparently I don't know how to use it properly (For those of you who don't know what a springform pan is, here is a picture of what it looks like. As I had mentioned in my previous post, it is definitely a worthy investment. I bought one from Fresh Co for $9.99. It's much easier to release the cake from this pan because the sides can detach from the base.)

Anyways, continuing with my sad story - after pressing the graham cracker crumbs and margarine paste against the bottom of the pan to form the base, I lifted the pan from the sides to place it in the oven. And halfway to the oven, the base detached from the sides and ALL the cracker crumbs spilled to the ground. Worse yet, the crumbs were mixed with margarine so after cleaning the mess, the floor was oily and slippery. Oh Joyce, why are you so clumsy?? 

So there goes the base. Grudgingly, I was about to start over again when I realized I didn't have enough cracker crumbs to make a second base! That was going to be the end of my world when it suddenly occurred to me that I should consult the all-knowing internet before losing hope. That was how I found an amazingly simple way to make a cheesecake base without using graham crackers. In fact, it tastes better! (Well, in my opinion at least)

So here it is:

1. Preheat oven to 375.2. Mix 1.5 cups of multi-purpose flour (I had used cake-flour but it shouldn't matter), 1 egg, 1/3 cup of sugar, 2 tsp of vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp of salt, 1/2 cups of margarine in a pan.

3. Press the mixture against the bottom of the pan to form the base.
4. Using a toothpick, poke holes throughout the base- this would allow steam to exit when put in the oven. Otherwise, the base may form a dome shape at the center.  

5. Bake in the oven until golden brown... (sorry, I forgot to time myself...)

Then you can continue with step 5 of the recipe on my original post.

So if you ever run out of graham cracker crumbs (cuz gravity happily pulled it to the ground), then try this out! I actually prefer this base than the original. Anyways, that's the end of my little update. Talk to you later ~