Angelina's Tea House

       

        With it's 20'th century atmosphere, Angelina's Tea House is the perfect place for a rainy day. Waitresses bustle around in black dresses and white aprons with lace frills, the style of the 1900's. Mirrored walls reflect the petit marble tables and grey plush leather chairs with white frames and gold beading. Another part of the atmosphere, the gilded cream walls, are art in themselves. Soft music, silverware clinking, and most of all, the French chatter, make a cozy setting in this century-old tea room.

         Started in 1903, Angelina's Tea House was founded by Austrian Antoine Rumplemayer. Named after his daughter-in-law, Angelina's Tea House quickly became the Aristocratic meeting place of Paris. Many well known and fancy tailors visited this tea house, including Coco Chanel, and the famous writer Proust was a regular. The setting played a role too; looking out on the Tulleries Gardens, Angelina's is in the middle of a well visited area of Paris. New additions have been made, though; now Luxembourg Gardens has the honor of having an Angelina, as well as the amusement park in Bois du Bologne, the one in Luxembourg carrying on the tradition of a beautiful scene a l'exterior, as the French like to say. Having been to all three, I feel obliged to say that the original is the best, but only a little bit above the one in Luxembourg. I say that it is better because, only at the original, not only do they have chocolate hot chocolate, but they have white hot chocolate.

           The name Angelina's Tea House gives off the impression that this gourmet Parisian tea room is, indeed, known for it's tea. Which it is, but when people go to Angelina's, they go for their world-famous hot chocolate. You would guess, like most other people, that this drink is just a melted bar of chocolate. And indeed, it does taste like that, with it's richness and consistency that makes you want to chew on it. But I learned after a discussion with one of the waitresses that there is more. It is really melted chocolate (that part is right), milk (not cream), and honey. According to the waitress, the rest is a secret, so I guess you'll have to fool around until you get it right!


            Served with whipped cream, this wonderful beverage is a meal in itself. Thick, sweet, and rich, the sugarless whipped cream helps if you want to make a little more milky, but it won't come close to diluting the flavor. It comes in a white porcelain pitcher engraved with the name of the tea house, same as the cups. Monogrammed napkins make sure that you know where you are, and you get surprised that 'Angelina Maison Fondee a 1903' isn't sewn onto the waitresses' aprons. But the hot chocolate is worth anything, and that's the whole point, right?