Stuck for Valentine’s (or Galentine’s) plans? Plan a relaxing cafe for afternoon tea
Fort Worth has three nice cafes offering a charming afternoon tea, and two are serving this Valentine’s weekend.
They’re very different:
▪ The Ashton Hotel, 610 Main St., serves Saturdays only. It’s an exclusive afternoon tea from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. by reservation; $60 per person plus a mandatory 26% tip, or about $75.
▪ The Kimbell Café, 3333 Camp Bowie Blvd., serves afternoon tea from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. daily except Mondays. It’s a deal: tea, finger sandwiches, scones, jams and cookies for two persons for $35.
▪ Indulge Tea Room, 425 W. Third St. inside 3rd Street Market, serves a special tea service twice monthly. It’s $65 and the next event is a special Valentine’s month tea Feb. 26.
A tip at the Ashton: Get a room
Obviously, the Ashton is the most elegant.
The hotel’s former dining room no longer serves anytime except at Saturday tea, featuring light fare made in the Hilton Fort Worth kitchen nearby.
Chef Enrique Estrada’s current menu includes bisque, tea sandwiches, scones and pear-almond tarts, all plentiful and with a selection of sides.
The menu lists nine teas, some from Austin-based Zhi.
Tip: There is a room special including “tea for two” for $439 this Saturday and as little as $225 in March, less than $100 more than the cost of tea service for two; 817-332-0100, theashtonhotel.com.
The Kimbell Café: a beautiful bargain
The Kimbell’s tea service is the only one available Valentine’s Day, but reserve quickly for Feb. 14 or this weekend.
The Kimbell might be the most beautiful bargain in town.
Once lunch is over, the cafe serves coffee and tea until 4 p.m. You’ll find friends celebrating, families sharing a special afternoon and students sipping tea and using the Wi-Fi.
The menu has been updated and now features a choice of eight blends of Rockwall-based Sterling Tea.
The selection is wider than before: flavors such as bourbon-pecan or hot cinnamon for chilly Texans, but also four caffeine-free flavors such as lemon velvet (for that cough or cold) or strawberry-hibiscus.
(You know to drink only caffeine-free tea for a cough, right? Sure you do.)
It’s only $5 to add a pot of a different blend, so try more than one. If you just want tea alone without the nibbles, that’s only $12 for two people.
The house-made jams and cookies change daily. The tea sandwiches are the Kimbell’s signature chicken salad or pimiento cheese.
For Valentine’s, the cafe will add red heart-shaped scones and other red pastries.
The Kimbell tea often books up on weekends, but not during the week.
Try it on a Tuesday through Friday afternoon for a quiet day with a friend or loved one. It’s so much more pleasant than a coffee stand, and about the same price.
Indulge tea events at 3rd Street Market
3rd Street Market’s afternoon teas in the Indulge Cooking Studio & Tea Room are part of the market’s adventurous schedule of daily cafe lunches, fresh house-baked sourdough, coffees, flowers, gifts and foodie events.
Indulge’s Valentine’s month event Feb. 26. will feature cream-cheese-cucumber sandwiches, quiche Florentine, scones, pistachio cookies, mocha chocolate mousse and a strawberry roll cake.
Every event is different. On Feb. 5, Indulge offered a Japanese spring tea. Past events have featured lessons in Lebanese brunch, hand pies, dim sum, kimchi and a variety of teas.
Reserve online at indulgefw.com.
The 3rd Street Market and sourdough bar is open from 9 a.m. through early evening daily, with a new menu posted every day at 3rdstreet.market; 817-310-1000.
Recent menus have included specials such as a smoked turkey club, posole-spiced pork loin, pastrami or curry-roasted cauliflower, with soups such as chicken and dumplings.
The 3rd Street Market is also scheduled to open Houston Wine & Cheese, 317 Houston St., a wine shop featuring woman-owned vintners, and Hopscotch, 400 Main St., a snacks-juices-and-mixed-drinks stand on Sundance Square Plaza.
