Our first Crawl of November took place at Victoria Tea House and Deli, located on the corner of Hirsch and Westbourne in Richmond Hill. The Crawlers made a few previous attempts at visiting the shop and both times found it closed. We were enlightened as to why during our November 1 Crawl when manager, Annrose van Eck informed us that the tea house is affiliated with the Hospitality School at PE College and is closed during school holidays. The staff... cooks, waitrons, baristas.... have all completed the 3-year hospitality course and are presently doing an 18-month internship at the training facility that is the Victoria Tea House.
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| Meet the Manager Annrose van Eck |
The tea house flyer touts the shop as, "A small but sophisticated tea-house where you can enjoy pleasant service & delicious food." .... Took the words right out of my mouth.... the adjectives in the quote describe the shop perfectly:
Small - the tea house seats about thirty people in the main dining room; there is also a
conference/banquet facility on the premises that seats forty
Sophisticated - beautiful table settings, subtle decor, lovely furnishings, fresh flowers on each table
Pleasant - the entire staff is all smiles and very welcoming; attention to detail and customer
service/satisfaction is obviously a priority
Delicious - the Masterton's coffees were very good; those of us who ordered food were treated to
excellent cakes and scones prepared from scratch right in the tea house kitchen
The Victoria Tea House has been in operation since 2009 serving as the practice venue for the PE College graduates. Because it is a school training facility the hours are limited, Mon-Fri, 8:30 - 3:30 and Fri, 8:30 - 1, with breakfast being served until 11:30 and lunch from 11:30 - close. The breakfast menu is a la carte and the lunch menu, which runs on a two-week cycle, features basic dishes along with a daily special for the unbelievably low price of only R40! Baked goods are served all day. Everything on the menu is made fresh by the staff. Orders for take-aways and platters are welcome and the facility is available for evening and weekend functions (when school is in session) upon request.
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| Portrait of Queen Victoria adorns the wall |
The entire staff is trained in all areas of hospitality. There were six staff members on duty on our November 1 Crawl with Ntisi and Nezi serving as our waitress and barista, respectively. On my next visit to the tea house Ntisi's and Nezi's roles could be baking the desserts or preparing the lunches. After their internships the PE College grads will be more than ready to enter the hospitality work-force. Good luck and best wishes to all of you.
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| Meet the Barista Nezi |
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| Meet our Waitress Ntisi |
In October at the News Cafe Crawl I saw, as an accompaniment to a hot chocolate order, a small container of what are called Smarties here is SA.... I mistook them for M & M's. At that time I told the Crawlers about American "Smarties," which are quite different, and said I'd bring some back with me from the U.S. in November. I arrived at the Victoria Tea House Crawl with American Smarties in hand and distributed them among the Crawlers, Margaret Zoetmulder, Colleen Le Roux, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Kathy Roppel, Beth Vieira, Gail Darne, Vicki Minnaar, Rebecca Marx, Nomusa Nkomo, Fran and Mandy de Beer, and my daughter, Liz. After sampling the Smarties the Crawler response resluted in a normal distribution Bell Curve... love, hate, and everything in between.
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| This Week's Crawlers Vicki, Nomusa, Beth, Liz, Kathy, Rebecca, Fran, Mandy, Beryl, Stella, Gail, Colleen, Margaret |
The cultural exchange continued as Nomusa gave Liz and Rebecca a history on Zimbabwe followed by a brief lesson in her native tongue, Ndebele, which is closely related to Zulu. Producing the clicking sounds proved to be challenging for Liz and Rebecca, and entertaining for Nomusa and the rest of us listening.
So, with Lou's and my renewal visas all sorted there are no more upcoming trips to the U.S. scheduled. The plan is to spend two more years here in PE..... Lou, working and me continuing my coffee odyssey.
~Thank you to the management and staff of Victoria Tea House
~Happy Birthday to my niece, Julie, in Pittsburgh, PA - November 10
~Congratulations to Barack Obama on his re-election as President of the U.S.A.
Until next week,
Ellen
