During the holiday season I had the opportunity to experience afternoon tea at The Bruce Hotel located in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. They kindly gifted me tickets to this special event and I have been eager to write a review ever since. Stratford, Ontario is Canada’s most renowned theatre town. The Stratford Festival presents everything from classic Shakespeare productions, to modern interpretations of Shakespearean works. The Bruce Hotel is just steps away from the theatre and they put on some fabulous culinary events of their own that pair wonderfully with a theatre filled weekend.
About The Bruce Hotel
Established in 2014, The Bruce Hotel is a 25 room luxury hotel sitting on six acres of land that is by the Stratford Festival.
Owner Jennifer Birmingham named this venue after her beloved late father. She owned two other award winning Bed and Breakfasts in Ontario before her journey led her to creating The Bruce Hotel.
Out of the 25 luxurious guest rooms, 4 are suites that overlook the gardens and bee meadow. The other guest rooms overlook the same or have a wonderful view of the city.
Like the city it’s located in, The Bruce Hotel has a Shakespeare theme. The wings are named after Shakespearean plays and the rooms are named after characters. For example, I stayed in the “Celia” room on the “As You Like It” wing. Other Shakespearean elements can be found throughout the hotel, too.
Guest rooms are clean and thoughtfully decorated with glass chandeliers, pristine furniture, premium mattresses and comfy linens that will have you drifting off in a matter of no time.
They also come equipped with an electric kettle and a french press with complimentary coffee, tea and water. Plus, there is a really cool feature that you’ll find on the phone in your room called “Cookie Hotline”.
Simply press the button and you’ll be directed to a staff member who will ask you what kind of cookies you’d like, plus tea or coffee. Before you know it, there’s a knock on your door and a tray of teapots, teacups and delicious cookies just for you!
Entering The Bruce Hotel
The adventure begins at the entrance with the brown double doors. Behind those doors are high ceilings, large windows, hardwood floors and greetings from the front desk staff.
The kind front desk staff directed us to The Restaurant location. But, not before we could take a peek at the beautiful decor in the lounge area which is located to the right from the entrance.
White and brown striped chairs provided seating in the space. The wall to the right was covered in a world map, while the wall straight ahead had a cozy fireplace.
Since Christmas was near at the time of my visit, decorations were placed on the fireplace mantle and coffee tables. A large Christmas tree was lit in the corner with gold and red ornaments and ribbons.
Music could be heard from the baby grand piano located in the lounge area, just waiting for guests to dance their fingers on the keys.
Located to the left when entering the building is a hallway that will lead to The Restaurant at The Bruce.
Afternoon Tea in The Restaurant
Breakfast, lunch and formal dinners are served in The Restaurant at The Bruce. In addition to these daily dining options, they hold special events like Afternoon Tea.
The hostess took our reservation information and directed us past the bar and into a bright room with a vaulted ceiling and floor to ceiling windows. The walls were painted cream and clean white and the flooring was lined with a mix of dark and light grey carpeting.
The tables were set with white tablecloths and linens, silver cutlery, stemmed drinking glasses, vintage teacups and a pine cone centrepiece.
We took our seats in the white and grey cushioned chairs while our glasses were filled with water and we were directed to the menu.
Tea Menu
The Bruce Hotel offers a selection of loose leaf teas sourced from a local tea sommelier, Karen Hartwick. Karen is the owner of Stratford Tea Leaves.
The tea menu consisted of 1 white tea, 2 green teas, 2 black teas, 1 oolong and 3 herbal teas. 4 of the teas were pure while the rest were blends.
It’s always great to see the country of origin listed by the tea as well as personal tasting notes. The Bruce Hotel even had their own tea enthusiast welcome the guests and offer tea suggestions.
Normally, I would have gone with a black tea for afternoon tea. But, I stayed at The Bruce Hotel overnight and enjoyed their breakfast tea, The Bruce Blend, that morning. So, I decided to go with a lighter tea and order the Organic White Peony. My husband did the same.
This Chinese white tea was described as “light body, sweet melon flavour, low caffeine”.
The loose leaf tea was served in a fine mesh infuser basket that sat perfectly inside a porcelain white tea pot. The server brought this out along with a timer that consisted of 3 small hourglasses, meant to time the steep process. The server suggested which hourglass to follow based on the steep time recommendation for a specific tea.
When the time was up, we removed the infuser basket from the teapot and placed it on a small dish that was provided. This kept the table mess free.
I appreciated that The Bruce Hotel thought of many little details to make steeping loose leaf tea stress-free and easy.
Food Menu
The food menu is not available ahead of time, at least not that I noticed. Also, keep in mind this was during the Christmas holidays, so this particular menu had a holiday theme to it.
I assume the afternoon tea menu may change depending on the time of year the event is held at The Bruce Hotel.
The food menu is the same for everyone. However, with advanced notice, The Bruce Hotel can accommodate any allergies or dietary restrictions. They provided my husband with vegetarian options.
Brandon Clemens is The Bruce Hotel’s Executive Chef. Before joining the team in 2020, Clemens gained experience in Europe, England and even at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada.
The last afternoon tea review I wrote was actually from the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. So, I was very much looking forward to seeing how this one compared.
After our tea had some time to steep, the staff brought us a 3-tier stand with savouries, scones and sweets. They also took the time to point out and explain each item on the tiers.
Being an afternoon tea nerd, The Bruce Hotel got bonus points from me for presenting the food in the proper order for a traditional afternoon tea service.
Savouries
The savoury portion of the menu was listed as Sandwiches. It consisted of 4 finger sandwiches.
This included Snow Crab with Celery and Shallot, Brie with Apple and Honey, Flat Iron with Horseradish and Cheddar and Turkey with Quince and Rosemary.
The finger sandwiches were made with a variety of breads. I think the staff may have mentioned the types of breads used for each one when going through the 3-tier stand. However, it would have been helpful to see it listed on the menu as well.
Each was presented beautifully, and I enjoyed every bite. My favourite from the savoury portion of the menu though was the Turkey with Quince and Rosemary sandwich.
My husband had a couple different sandwiches for vegetarian options that were just as delightful. This included cucumbers and beets.
Scones
I always get so excited when I see an afternoon tea menu list 2 types of scones per guest. The last thing I want to do is make the difficult decision of which scone to order!
In this case, the scone portion of the menu consisted of a 1 sweet and 1 savoury scone. A Cranberry White Chocolate scone and a Red Pepper Goat Cheese scone.
Since we were each given 2 scones, I was very surprised by the size! Usually when more scones are on the menu it means they are smaller. That wasn’t the case at The Bruce Hotel.
Each scone was quite large, but a bit flat in shape. However, the flavours were still on point and that crumbly texture was there.
Every bite of the Cranberry White Chocolate scone was filled with tart and creamy flavours. While the Red Pepper Goat Cheese scone was pungent, salty and just downright amazing!
Without a doubt, the Red Pepper Goat Cheese scone was my favourite of the two. In fact, I felt like the floral notes and honey-like sweetness from the Organic White Peony tea I was sipping paired best with this scone, too.
The scones were served with clotted cream and jam. I enjoyed these accoutrements on the sweet scone, but didn’t use them on the savoury scone.
Sweets
The sweet portion of the menu consisted of 4 bite-sized desserts that seemed to be perfect for the holiday season, too. This included Gingerbread Cheesecake, Black Forest Cake, Choux au Craquelin and Peppermint Bark.
I’m not a huge fan of Black Forest Cake. Also, I was a bit surprised to see Peppermint Bark on the menu as I’ve never seen pieces of chocolate served at afternoon tea before, unless it was an extra item. But, I was very excited for the other sweets.
The Gingerbread Cheesecake was my favourite from this portion of the afternoon tea menu.
Price
Afternoon Tea at The Bruce Hotel in Stratford, Ontario costs $55 per person plus applicable taxes and gratuities.
This event is typically offered once a month. View their event calendar to learn about upcoming Afternoon Tea dates.
Overall Thoughts
The Bruce Hotel did a fabulous job putting together their afternoon tea service. It was evident that they put a lot of research and thought into the tea selection, menu and even extra little details like a Sugar Plum Fairy Ballerina performance.
Near the end of my afternoon tea seating and the start of the next, there was about a 5 minute performance for guests to enjoy with their sips and bites. It was a lovely holiday touch to an already spectacular event.
Afternoon Tea at The Bruce Hotel will make you feel at home, at ease and like royalty.
Watch my video reel of this event here.
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Visit The Bruce Hotel:
89 Parkview Drive
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
https://www.thebruce.ca/
*Visit The Bruce Hotel’s event page to know when their next Afternoon Tea event is held. Tickets should be purchased in advance.
**Prices and tea/food options may change. All were accurate at the date of this tea room review.