By Alissa Bridges
Victorian Grace Tea Room opened its doors more than nine years ago and became the first tea room in the Brandon area. Originally owned by two sisters, Loriane Paul purchased the Tea Room with a friend in 2006.
“My friend Greeta and I visited the tea room on several occasions and when we heard that it was going to close, the idea of not having a special place for ‘girl time’ prompted us to purchase Victorian Grace,” said Paul.
Recently, the Osprey Observer was looking for a tea room to host the baby shower for Assignment Editor Jennifer Silverstein. After stumbling upon a couple of unforeseen obstacles, Paul not only took our party with only four days notice, she also kept the tea room open past business hours to give us a private party.
“I am always happy to stay open for larger parties,” said Paul. “Evenings and Sundays can be arranged for parties of 20 or more, anyone interested can call to work out details,” said Paul.
The Victorian Grace Tea Room has a total of five rooms to accommodate party sizes ranging from three-30 people. The main dining room can seat up to 30 people and then there are four smaller themed rooms for customers to choose from. The Garden themed room seats up to four people, the Rose room up to six, the Lavender room up to three and the most requested room, Gone With The Wind themed, can seat up to nine people.
Food and tea options that can be found at Victorian Grace throughout the year include The Tea Room offers Afternoon Tea, A Duchess Tea, Princess Tea (for kids ages 10 and under) and lunch selections on the weekdays.
“The flavor of our to-die-for scones is changed around daily to ensure that our regular customers enjoy the variety that we have to offer,” said Paul. “These flavors include orange cranberry with white chocolate, pineapple with white chocolate and fresh blueberry with white chocolate, to name a few.”
There are also different foods offered that vary on the time of year. Since our event was in September, we were treated delicious fall themed treats, such as pumpkin soup and caramel apple with white chocolate scones with caramel flavored Devonshire cream. In the upcoming holiday season, the tea room will offer delicacies such as its red and green maraschino cherries with white chocolate scone in December.
The tea room holds seasonal events throughout the year as well. These events include a Christmas Tea each Saturday in December which features its warm spiced cider, a Valentines Tea in February and a Mother’s Day tea in May. “I definitely recommend booking reservations for these events a couple of weeks in advance. Our Mother’s Day tea, for example, gets completely booked weeks in advance,” said Paul.
A fun atmosphere and delicious food and tea is not all that Victorian Grace has to offer its customers, there are also several gifts for purchase in the gift shop. “We carry a wide selection of loose leaf tea, tea accessories, tea cups, Royal Albert tea pots, books, jewelry and more. We also carry gift certificates that can be purchased for any dollar amount,” said Paul. Victorian Grace also carries the New Horizon ornaments.
No matter the occasion, the Victorian Grace Tea Room provides an ideal location. The Osprey Observer could not have asked for a better experience or a more perfect way to celebrate Silverstein’s baby shower.
Victorian Grace Tea Room is located at 616 N. Parsons Ave. in Brandon. For more information or to browse menu selections, call 653-2662 or visit www.victorian-gracetearoom.com.
