Girls' Getaway English High Tea - The Great Room/The Resort at Pelican Hill

The Resort at Pelican Hill is a five star hotel located in Newport Beach, CA. On top of its nearly panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean, Pelican Hill also offers 18 holes Fazio-designed golf course, Forbes Five-Star rating spa, and exquisite dining selections. 

Weeks of hard working has drained out all my energies and the very last bits of my brain juice. It's time for a little girls' getaway, go somewhere pretty, nibble on beautifully crafted food, perhaps with live music playing in the background? And of course lots of chit-chat with the girl friends. 

The afternoon tea/high tea is offered at The Great Room, which is basically the lobby when first stepping into this grandiose resort. 

Our table was near the floor to ceiling windows, where we can enjoy a little bit of California sunshine and a snippet view of the ocean (if we stand up).

Afternoon tea menu -

The tea set basically comes in two selections: Tea Time Renaissance $50 and Luxury Tea $60. The only difference is that the Luxury Tea also includes a glass of sparkling wine. 

Click on the picture to enlarge the view.

To help us undecisive girls, our waitress brought over a wooden box. From there you'll find little bottles with all the tea leaves assortments offered on the menu. You can open up the lid and smell the aroma before making a choice.  

We chose organic green, organic Assam, and vanilla rooibos. 

The weather was nice, so we walked outside and checked out the view before the high tea tiers are served.

View on the left, you can also see a part of the ocean view golf course here. What a life -

View on the right -

Outside patio -

View from the patio area -

Other restaurants here at the Pelican Hill have even better view of the ocean, such as the Italian fare Andrea and California inspired cuisine Pelican Grill. If you don't feel like having girly girly high tea, maybe give these restaurants a try instead. Not sure about the flavors but at least the view is going to be breathtaking.

Our teas are here. The teapot covers help to keep the tea warm. There are also cute little strainers that can be set on top of the tea cups. So the leaves can be filtered through when pouring out the tea -

All sorts of sugar and honey for the tea, if desired -

Our photogenic high tea set -

The first/very top tier comes with savory items, second/middle tier comes with English tea cakes and chef's selection of tea pastries, and the bottom tier comes with freshly baked scones.

Details of the items from the first tier: smoked salmon and black caviar on squaw, cucumber with tomato marmalade on white bread, prosciutto ham and Persian melon balls on white bread, and egg salad with tomato concassé. 

Squaw is a type of bread made with rye and molasses. Tomato concassé basically means diced tomatoes.

Some of the items from the second tier including berries tarts, pistachio pastries, and coffee cakes -

The pistachio one has a strong but pleasant nutty aroma, goes especially well with my organic green tea. 

Also macaroons and lemon cakes -

My favorite is always the scones. The Great Room also did a good job on these buttery scones, on par with the Tea Lounge from Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, and the well known scones from Smith & Hsu in Taiwan -

These scones are served with Devonshire cream, lemon curd, and berries preserves. 

Our quality girls' time was further enhanced with a harpist playing lovely music in the background -

Final bill for three -

Kind of pricey but to me, it's definitely worth it. Great service, good food, and absolutely elegant and relaxing environment, that's exactly what I needed and couldn't ask for more.


Cindy's rating: 7


Other afternoon tea places in southern California:
New hype in Los Angeles - not cronut knockoffs, but real mille crepes from Lady M
Quality high tea time - Boxwood Cafe at The London by Gordon Ramsay


The Resort at Pelican Hill - The Great Room
22701 South Pelican Hill Road
Newport Coast, CA 92657
(855) 315-8214
http://www.pelicanhill.com/dining/great-room/

*Afternoon tea is only available Friday through Sunday from 2 p.m. to late afternoon

*Reservation for the afternoon tea is highly recommended so the pastry chef can prepare the freshest sweet and savory treats on the day of reservation

*Live music available Thursday through Friday at various time slots; call in for the exact schedule if needed