Afternoon Tea at Yandoux Patisserie in the Olympic Village

As you know from my previous afternoon tea experience at the Hy Tea Lounge, I had my heart set on visiting another newly opened tea lounge/dessert shop also situated along False Creek. Yandoux Patisserie is a half-year new dessert shop located in the former LuvCravings Cakes and Tea House in the Olympic Village. The space has undergone a complete makeover, giving the small shop a sleek, bright airy look that's been very popular in the restaurant scene as of late.

Yandoux specializes in cakes and desserts which they really excel at. Specifically, the desserts in the tea set are smaller (very small) versions of their full-sized dessert offerings. As for the savouries, they don't have offerings for those on their regular menu so maybe because of that, it struggles a bit in that area. I really loved all the desserts on the set and I would definitely return to enjoy just the cakes.

The price point of the tea set is similar to other new offerings like Trump Hotels and H Tasting Lounge, yet it lacks the ambiance and 5-star service. The desserts - the one thing that they did well and could really upsell - were just so teeny tiny. I'm not sure why they chose to split their exquisite and perfectly made cakes into such small pieces that it became hard to truly enjoy the flavours. In the same area, Hy Tea Lounge might be a better choice for their extensive menu, quantity, price position and the bigger comfier space. I would recommend the Yandoux afternoon tea set for those who have already tried some of the other tea spots in the city and are looking for something new. C'mon, I know you would LOVE to have a photo of the air balloon display on your Instagram page 🙂 Otherwise, go and enjoy just the cakes, you won't regret it.

Until our next tea date.

XOXO,

Mimi

Yandoux Patisserie is located in the Olympic Village on Manitoba and 1st Avenue.

Yandoux Afternoon Tea Menu. Click to view.

Left: Cranberry white chocolate scone and mini macaron. Darjeeling chicken basket and smoked salmon rose.

Exquisite cake selection in mini cupcake liners.

View of the outside from the seating area.

Notable Points:

- One of the newest afternoon tea offerings in Vancouver. (H Tasting Lounge being another one.)

- Bright airy space with tons of natural light. Great for photos for your special event.

- Exquisite cake selection.

- Great location for those in the Olympic Village/Fairview area.

- Photogenic "Air Balloon" tea display.

Ambience: The space is airy and bright with simple modern furnishings. Because of the small space, it's very conducive for a nice intimate gathering for a small group. The decor is very simple and not very refined so if you're planning on taking a lot of photos with your group, you might find the background a little bit uninspired, your own decorations will be necessary.

Scones: 2 to choose from: dark chocolate, white with cranberry. The outside was nice and crumbly but the inside was a bit underbaked and gummy. Served with a light whipped cream and berry compote.

Savoury: The savoury items in the tea set did not make an impression like the desserts. A lot of care was taken to create the smoked salmon "rose", which I really appreciated. They insisted on re-heating the sablefish for us since we were taking photos, I found it a bit salty. The chicken cone was also salty and tough. The two salads were refreshing, the Concorde salad stood out for it's unique savoury whipped cream.

Sweets: All the sweets were amazingly delicious and well made but abnormally tiny. The mini macaron was crunchy and hollow and exhibited no special flavours although we knew it was supposed to be chocolate. The pyramid was filled with a graham cracker and had a delightful texture. The cheesecake mouse was very smooth and flavourful while the matcha cake exhibited a good matcha flavour with a nice crunch. I recommend ordering the full-sized versions of these desserts.

Tea: The tea selection is very small (8 teas) and there were only two black teas to choose from; not so great for those who love to take their tea with cream.

Tea Ware: Gorgeous and photogenic "air balloon" tea display. The rest of the tea ware featured materials and colors in Millenial favourites like rose gold and marble.

Alcoholic Beverages: No alcholic beverage service. Afternoon tea spots serving alcohol: Laduree, Trump, H Tasting Lounge, Notch 8 Fairmont.

Service: Friendly down-to-earth service. There was one server for the whole dessert shop. Although there were no introductions for any of the items on the tea set, our hot water was refilled several times.