Cafe Poetes - afternoon tea

This is a picture heavy post, you've been warned.

For my birthday, I decided to grab a few girlfriends and get dolled up to go for afternoon tea in Midtown.

Been eyeing on this very instagrammable place for a while and can't wait to see for myself.

For those who are not imbibing they offer Lavender Lemonade, super cute also yummy.

For those who imbibe, they serve a glass of the Kir Royal or Rose Champagne, I oped for the latter.  Still very pretty.

To start, we were offered soup, either beet gazpacho or chicken soup.  Not realizing it's so small, but still very delicious, I got the chicken soup.  I was thinking, if I come to lunch and get this, is not a bad choice at all.

Viola!  La piece de resistance!

First, is the savor sandwiches.

Their twist: served on eclairs.  There were salmon, chicken and mozzarella eclairs.  All are delectable.

Then, comes the quiche, there were Lorraine and Mushrooms.  We split to try some, and both are good choices here.  Apparently, the normal size quiche is a slice of pie size so this is a mini one.

Then, we were served Madeleines with Marmalade, basically in place of the English scones.  The Madeleines were lightly lemon flavored, so if you pair with the orange marmalade it's very delightful.  Gosh, I feel like Paddington Bear just drooling about marmalade. 

Then comes the sweets, there were Chocolate and Pistachio Eclairs, meringue cookies.  The hearts are shortbread cookies that reminded me a non-ginger gingerbread cookie.  Same consistency but not the heavy flavor.  The middle are caramel choux, which surprisingly was my least favorite, not sure why but that just wasn't what I expected taste bud-wise.

As you can see, the place is not big but filled with thoughtful decorations.

They really want to give you a small piece of Paris in the bustle town of Houston.

So, a few things.  For tea, I called ahead and made a reservation.  Mainly because we have a large group, and the other is to make sure they have sets of tea for us.  They do use real Parisian if not French ex-pats that works here.  If you want to brush up your French, this is a good opportunity.  I will say, learning French for as long as I did (by no means fluent but can order food or get directions), I am truly embarrassed that I can't understand our server very well.  So much so that they sent us an American server to explain what we're getting.  That said, the owners came and pour tea and served couple of times to ensure we're having a great experience, which we did.

In terms of tea with our tea set, we were offered several kinds:  Early Grey, Pearlicious (our favorite), Herbal mix (also a favorite), Ginger Peach, and English Breakfast.  All are not over empowering and light and refreshing to go with the food and not be overwhelmed by the taste buds.  

I highly recommend you call ahead and see if a reservation is needed before coming here.  We did see many people didn't know where to go once they arrived.  That said, besides indoor seatings, they also have seatings out on the patio, so no need to worry.  They'll manage to fit you in somehow.

In regards to parking: they do have a small lot behind their building.  If not an unofficial lot is right next to that, which we've seen cars parked on it.  Of course, street parking are allowed just make sure you read all the signs and follow them.  There are a few one-way streets surrounding the cafe.

Cafe Poetes

122 West Gray

Houston, TX 77019

346-802-4969

https://www.cafepoetes.com