Nothing shouts luxury and prestige more than a small handful of brands, Louis Vuitton, or LV being one of them. Its stores around the world are instantly recognisable, even if you don't know the brand, you'd stop and admire this stack of luggage trunks on New York's Fifth Avenue. This is LV's flagship store in New York currently being renovated. Instead of the ugly scaffolding, they've wrapped the exterior in their iconic monogram logos trunks making it a tourist attraction.
The LV store
In the meanwhile, LV have a smaller store a few blocks away, and today I'm going to take you there for afternoon tea in their café. I had to book one month in advance for a table, kind of crazy I know, but it was just a few clicks on the computer. It's not like I had to queue for hours outside to get in.
This temporary store was quite small by LV standards, just four floors with an atrium in the centre. Their store displays are always impressive, very museum like, great to explore as our table wasn't ready when we arrived.
Chocolate counter
We lingered around the chocolate counter outside the cafe as we were waiting for our table. The products were so beautifully made, these figurines looked like they were leather covered. You couldn't tell they were chocolate. If I remember correctly, these little ones cost something like USD70 for six!!!!
I saw many people coming out of the café carrying the iconic beigy orange LV paper bag. Probably done their shopping already. People are so rich in New York!!!
First impressions
Finally we were shown to our table, fifteen minutes later than my reserved time. Not ideal to be very honest, but I imagine you can't kick people out if they sit a little longer. I wouldn't want them to do that to me, so it works both ways. They just need to manage their scheduling better.
My first impression, the decor inside didn't scream LV. It was more of an upscale comfortable cafe.
It's only when you look closely at the table setting do you notice how they've subtly embedded their branding everywhere.
Our order
I've been in luxury stores before where the shop assistants are cold and mechanical and you can tell they're being polite because they have to. But deep down they think you are wasting their time.
Our waitress was nothing like that, she was very nice and friendly. She handed us our menu and didn't rush us to order. Eventually when she came to take our order, she asked if we were celebrating anything special. We weren't, but I mentioned one person in our party had his birthday a few weeks ago. Then she said, that's not long ago, we should still celebrate it. It's like she was looking for a reason to celebrate something, which we found out later.
The first item served was the complimentary sourdough and butter. It came with the coffee, which at $9 a cup I consider very good value given the location.
The bread was delicious, miles better than my sourdough, which isn't too difficult 😄. And the butter, what can I say - impressive. IYKYK.
The coffee
The theme continued through our afternoon tea. And the highlight was when our drinks were served. We all ordered different coffees, not deliberately, we just like different drinks. As they were put in front of us one by one, we couldn't resist a little oh and ah as we saw our own. I'm glad to say, the coffee wasn't all style and no substance.
The food
We ordered two afternoon tea sets between the four of us. It was called The Expedition and each set consisted of a marble cake
Five savoury items which are the POUPON DE LEGUMES ginger, lemongrass on they top left, and the Tuna Taco with cavier, nori confit, ponzu on the bottom left. Then on the plate, from top to bottom we have lobster roll, CROQUE-MONSIEUR croque «Louis Paris», white ham, Comté, black truffle, and roast turkey club sandwich.
There were also six sweet desserts, each on an LV logo shaped little white plate. The 12 pieces sat on the cake stand on the middle of the table. It was quite a spectacle. These look quite small because they are mini size for the tea set. They also do normal size ones which cost between $26 to $30 a piece!!
As expensive as the normal desserts are, you have to give them all the credit for creativity and technique. Just look at all the details on each one of them. If you're into baking, or any type of handicraft, you'll know the smaller the object, the more difficult it is to handle. These were made to perfection and tasted delicious.
Did you notice that last Hazelnut Flower had a little candle next to it? This was an extra complimentary piece from the waitress for the birthday celebration. A small item but a lovely gesture.
Doggy bag
Although these were dainty size food, we had finished lunch not long ago, and scoofed ourselves with freshly made sourdough, we actually felt quite full sharing a tea set. All we had left was the marble cake. It was a normal size one and it felt a little too much to finish off. We decided to take it away for dessert later on at night.
That's when we realised, the people we saw earlier on leaving the café didn't actually buy anything from the store. They had a doggy bag just like us!!!
The verdict
Was all this worth it?
Let me put things in perspective first with the price. Each tea set cost $135 which we shared between the two of us. It included one coffee so we had to order one extra drink. Plus tax and tips it worked out around $90 per person. For a normal coffee and cake afternoon tea, that's very expensive, but this isn't your normal café.
I love exploring different cafés and in particular, I love desserts, this hit both marks. The attention to detail and service was top notch. They didn't ignore the quality of the coffee, and try to divert your attention by just slapping a fancy logo on top. The food was a delight to savour, and admire. Each piece was like a piece of art. The only criticism was that they're a little dainty. Some people may find the portions on the small side.
I think as a treat and a luxury experience it's worth it. It's very instagrammable, makes a great post, and hand on heart, the food was good. Would I go again? Probably not as the novelty factor is gone. Once is enough unless I'm wealthy enough to treat it like a normal Starbucks.
What do you think of this experience? Price aside, would you have tried it?
