So I first started my Halloween with a late lunch. I mean really late, like 2pm. Why so late? It's not because I woke up at 1pm or studied till 1-2am last night, no no no. So...why? I met up with EU and she suggested Meloty in Richmond.
I am no stranger to Meloty. I think it is probably the only "high-tea" place in Richmond. I have tried Secret Garden at Kerrisdale before (posts here and here) and I really like it. Honestly, who doesn't love hightea? ;D It is always great to sit down with friends, enjoying savoury and sweet goodies, and spend almost the whole day at a restaurant. So I have no reason not to give Meloty a try...
Meloty
#1161-8328 Capstan Way, Richmond BC
Ratings
1:Yucks! 2:Improvement needed 3:So-So~ 4:Good 5:Very good 6:Heavenly
Food: 5
Price: 6 (only on their Deluxe High Tea)
Service: 5.5 (actually it is almost 6, but since there is not enough waiters so the service is a bit slow)
Ambiance: 6
Overall: 5.5
- Tue-Sun 11am-11pm
- Dine in
- Parking is available. It is located at the same mall where Richmond Sushi and Lucky Fortune Seafood Restaurant are at.
- Owned by Taiwanese (lady?)
- All products are freshed baked in house daily. Their desserts change from time to time (not sure about their savoury products though).
- I used to think they focus on hightea or dessert but actually they are focused on the main meals (lunch, dinner).
- They have salads, soups, sandwiches, wraps, pasta, pizza, rice....basically any Western food you can think of.
- For afternoon tea, which starts at 2pm and ends at 5pm, you can choose:
i) English Special Tea For One $12.99-includes a beverage + a dessert
ii) Deluxe High Tea $25-includes a beverage + all-you-can-eat hightea
iii) Waffle Power Zone $15.99-includes a beverage + a waffle/puff pastry - For the afternoon tea time, I think it will be better for you to make a reservation. I thought not many people knew Meloty but I was totally wrong. More people came in the late afternoon and don't forget: people LOVE to spend time chatting, eating, and reading magazines right? ;)
- Talking about magazines, Meloty has a wide selection of magazines (mainly Chinese) for customers to choose from. All of them are placed near the washrooms.
So EU and I decided to go for the Deluxe Hightea. Yes, an ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT deluxe hightea. For $25, I think it's a quite reasonable deal. You can eat as much sweet and savoury baked goods as you want eh :D Here's the plan, after we ordered the beverages, they would serve the savoury goodies first. After that, you can choose to have another round of savoury or you can go for the sweet ones.
EU and I chose to try their desserts then went back for some savoury foods. After the second round of savoury, we finished our meal with their desserts. Sounds good? ;)
Jordin Bleu-3.5/6- Included in the Deluxe Hightea set
- The tea is supposed to be "Citrusy + Strawberry" but honestly, I could only taste/smell a hint of strawberry :/
Here is out tier tray! The one at Secret Garden definitely looks better and prettier, but the food here looks much bigger than Secret Garden's.
Top Tier: Mushroom Pocket Pies & Tuna Sandwiches
Tuna Sandwich-4.5/6- First the tuna. There is nothing I can say about the tuna...I mean I didn't expect anything special from some regular tuna salad.
- Next the focaccia. It was soooo good! The outside was a little bit crusty but the bread part was super soft. It was still a bit warm when I ate. I believe it would be better when I ate this first.
- I ordered this again after I had their desserts :)
Mushroom Pocket Pie-6/6- Just talk about the smell. Once I cut a small opening on the pie, the herbed smell of the mushroom and the onions already rushed out immediately.
- It was very hot when I ate. The crispy puff pastry with the nicely flavoured mushroom and onions--heaven.
- We loved this so much that both of us chose to order this again in the 2nd round.
Mid Tier: Pizza Waffles
Pizza Waffle-4.5/6- I have to admit for some reason, the waffle is the dessert/food I was most looking forward to try at Meloty. So I really appreciate how they give "pizza" a little twist and turn them into waffle! :)
- The waffle overall was done nicely. It was still warm inside and crispy outside. They probably added some lemon and/or orange zest into the waffle mixture because when I cut the waffle into pieces, I could surely taste and smell a bit of tangy aroma.
- The only part to complain about was the centre part of the waffle, where the toppings were laid on. Imagine some warm, just cooked ingredients are put on a warm waffle, what will happen to the waffle? That's why the centre part was a little soggy but was still acceptable.
- Again, given that EU and I are both waffle-lovers, we ordered this again in the 2nd round.
- On the ingredients, they have bacon, bell peppers, onions, and cheese. No doubt, it looked appealing and tasty...but maybe too tasty. Both EU and I found the toppings were too salty for the waffles.
Low Tier: Herbed Scones & Beef CroissantsHerbed Scones-5/6
- It was very strong in herbs aroma! Even though I am not a fan of scones, I really like this one.
- EU said maybe they didn't add as much butter as the regular scones because these textures looked more like bread than scones. Good or bad, well it really depends how much butter you like ;) I found them alright as I like a more bready texture.
Beef Croissant-3.5/6
- If you are a meat-lover, I will have to say this croissant may not be satisfiable. The beef was very thin, and the fillings were mainly lettuce and cheese. However, since I cannot eat beef, a thin slice for me is just fine ;D
- Does the cheese look weird to you? EU and I would like the cheese to be a bit melted rather than this more solid version.
- The croissant was very crispy and crunchy. EU loved it so much so she ordered it again afterwards.
Garlic Butter
"Intermission": Almond Biscuits & Almond Crisps
Almond Biscuit-2/6- Although this looked better than the Almond Crisps, it did not have any almond flavour at all. It was simply a cookie with amond bits on the outside :/
Almond Crisps-6/6- These were so good! I didn't expect to be that good. As you can see, every bite of the crisp has almonds and it wasn't sweet at all. The best thing to have while I was having an intermission, where I was getting ready to try their desserts.
- We re-ordered these again later! They were seriously addictive!
Dessert Round #1: Crème Brûlée, Caramel Pudding (not pictured), Mango Panna Cotta & Blackberry Panna Cotta
Crème Brûlée-3/6- It was served cold, so the top was actually a thin slice of (burnt) caramel candy.
- I don't really like crème brûlée, and the top tasted bitter. I did not like it.
Blackberry Panna Cotta-3/6- The blackberry jam on top tasted weird. It was a bit tart at first but then it tasted more like medicine afterwards.
- I could not taste anything actually because the blackberry jam was more overempowering than the panna cotta. The jam just did not match with the panna cotta.
Mango Panna Cotta-5/6- This tasted waayyy better than the blackberry one. The mango tasted more "normal" and it went well with the panna cotta.
- I loved this so I ordered it again afterwards.
Caramel Pudding-3/6- Basically all the flavour from this dish was from the liquid (caramel). Other than that, the pudding tasted quite bland...
Dessert Round #2: New York Cheesecake, Peach Cheesecake, Tiramisu & Blueberry Cheesecake
Blueberry Cheesecake-6/6- This was the best and was my favourite among all the cheesecakes. The blueberry flavour was very strong so the cheesecake tasted more tart than sweet.
- It also got blueberries in the cheesecake.
- The cookie base was a bit moist but it did not affect the cheesecake.
New York Cheesecake-2/6
- There was not much flavour in this cake; only a teeny bit of cheese flavour.
- It was basically moist cheesecake without the cheese flavour. I definitely have had better ones in other places...
Tiramisu-2/6
- Again, except the top with cocoa/espresso powder had some flavour, the mid part of the cake did not have any flavour at all.
- At first I thought the small cake in the middle would taste something different; however, it was also flavourless.
Peach Cheesecake-3/6- What a weird combination. This was my first time having a peach cheesecake and was also my first time seeing one.
- The colour was actually very interesting; it didn't look appealing nor real at all! But we still decided to give it a try...
- Similar to the Blueberry Cheesecake, this also had peaches in the cake.
- Surprisingly, it didn't taste that bad! The cake did taste peachy, but not strong, and was a little bit tart.
- This cheesecake was very watery for some reason. The cookie base was crumbly and moist, and the top part was slightly liquidy.
After these, we ordered some savoury to balance out our taste buds. We were already very full at that time. About 4pm, the waiter suddenly brought us another tray of dessert and told us that was the last round. There were Strawberry Cream Tart, Lemon Tart, and Green Tea Red Bean Tart. I wanted to try both Lemon Tart and the Green Tea one, but I ended up getting...
Green Tea Red Bean Tart-6/6- This was probably the best dessert on that day. To me, I like green tea in desserts to taste bitter, and this Green Tea Tart was just right. The green tea flavour was very strong, I enjoy it a lot.
- There was red bean paste under the green tea cream. Again, they were the pre-made red bean paste so there was nothing to comment on it.
- Another thing I like about this tart was the tart was stored in the fridge before serving, so the tart shell was firm and unexpectedly went so well with the red bean paste.
Will I come back again? Of course, I still want to try their waffles! I cannot wait to spend one day here alone/along with someone, enjoying their foods again, reading books, chilling with their beverages... :) Next time when you want to worthier hightea, you can come to Meloty instead of Secret Garden or Adonia (also at Kerrisdale). Or if you have tried either/both Secret Garden and Adonia, give Meloty a try then. I'm sure you won't be disappointed ;)
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