The Purple Door
At least once a year, before Covid, my friend, Barb, and I would enjoy an incredible lunch at Annabelle’s Tea house in Kingsville, Ontario, when I would come to visit.
Unfortunately, it appears that Annabelle’s may have been a ‘covid casualty’ as it is permanently closed much to our chagrin.
So as a treat for both our birthdays this year (which are a week apart) Barb sought out another place for tea and she found a gem in Detroit , Michigan!
After our lovely self guided tour of the Little Flower Shrine we drove over to “The Purple Door” for our first visit at this little tea house establishment.
Our first impressions were ones of the place being overly decorated with a bit of a mishmash of themes ( for example theatre masks on walls as well as every manner of hat and assorted paintings.)
But, we were comfortable, I found a chair with arms (so I could stand up more easily) and we noticed that there was soft music playing (unobtrusive) and a charm in the colour scheme . Somehow everything worked.
Soon our pre-ordered meal (thanks again, Barbie-Pooh) arrived in courses starting with a yummy , warm, little blueberry scone with a dollop of whipped cream. We both chose English Breakfast Tea which arrived in our own teapots.
Next up was a fabulous mushroom soup followed by a delicious pear salad with homemade croutons and raspberry vinaigrette . We were able to take our time and never felt rushed. There was also another table of 4 ladies near us and they enjoyed themselves too without being loud. It was just the nicest setting.
Speaking of settings, every dish came out in some form of beautiful antique glassware. You can see below how pretty our finger sandwiches were but the taste was even better than the looks: classic cucumber sandwich, turkey and cheddar sandwich, a warm tomato biscuit, and tuna on an apple slice.
Finally, the lunch culminated in a fruit compote with a wee frozen yogurt scoop to compliment the buttercream cake with sinfully delicious, thick icing. Wow!
Our servers were 2 gentlemen (who thoughtfully wore masks and plastic gloves.) They served us with utmost decorum and class. For example, they placed a chilled fork beside our plate for the salad portion of the lunch. When I mentioned that in my experience it was unusual for men to run a teahouse they said that it used to be their grandmother’s and that they wanted to keep up the place in her honour.
I also noticed a lot of original art and they said that she used to own an art gallery and that every single decoration was from her as well.
We enjoyed our experience so much that there is a possibility of this becoming our ‘new Annabelle’s’.
If you are in the Royal Oak area of Detroit and would like to experience this fabulous lunch yourselves you can book at :
https://www.teamap.com/place/2288/the-purple-door-tea-room.html