Royal Eagle Tea House / Restaurant

Tucked away in a Harper Woods [MI] residential neighborhood - about ten miles from my home - is St. Sabbas Orthodox Monastery.  They serve a tea luncheon on Tuesdays and Thursdays in what they refer to as the Royal Eagle Russian tea house, and dinner on Thursday evenings from 5:00 - 10:00 p.m.  when the tea house transitions into a restaurant. 

I went to a tea luncheon there in September 2010, before I started blogging, but shared the visit in June, 2012 after I became a blogger.  You can read the post here.  They've changed their menu and serving procedures since then.

A visit to the monastery is like stepping back in time to Old World Russia. In today's society where "anything goes," it's refreshing to see an establishment with a dress code - no shorts, short skirts, or tank tops.  At the entrance gate a greeter asks that all cell phones be silenced.

~ Below is the entrance to the tea house/restaurant ~

I met up with seven friends, and as you can see it was a beautiful fall day for our outing.

[Church]

[Linda and Louise]

[Barb]

[Our Servers]

Tea Menu

A peek at the interior of the tea house/restaurant.  Below is an ornate, wooden, handcarved piece. Is it an altar?  I'll ask next time.

~ Samovars galore, in all sizes and styles of metal and porcelain.  ~

We each had our choice of tea from an extensive list.  I selected blueberry black tea.  We drank from a Russian tea glass and holder called Podstakannik.  I love the Blue Willow teapot.

~ The meal began with Russian Borscht ~

~ Black Forest Ham, Cucumber and Lox, and Brie ~

~ Cucumber  Sandwiches ~

~ Tender Chicken Kabobs and Salad ~

~ Scones and Dessert ~



~ The bill was brought to the table in this box ~

~ Mural painting on an alcove wall ~

It was a lovely way to spend a fall afternoon and enjoy Old World charm.  The monastery has a gift shop, which I visited and made a purchase.  After the monastery we went to my favorite antique store La Belle's [which I've blogged about several times].  More purchases... they'll be shown in an upcoming post.  None of us left the store empty handed.