Flagler Museum opens tea room
This is “Small Bites,” a South Florida Sun Sentinel feature with tiny tidbits on the food and beverage scene — because we know that sometimes you just don’t have room for a long article. You want a little news brief instead, an amuse bouche of information, if you will. Enjoy!
What: The style isle of Palm Beach has a new hot spot. Railcar 91 Tea Room opened at the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum the day after Thanksgiving.
The gourmet Gilded Age experience features a prix-fixe high tea menu served alongside the private train car of 19th-century captain of industry and Standard Oil founder Henry Flagler. The museum was formerly Whitehall, Flagler’s 75-room, 100,000-square-foot mansion — constructed in 1902.
“This is the actual railcar that Henry Flagler was aboard when the first train arrived in Key West on Jan. 22, 1912,” says Mark Johnson, manager of both the tea room and the museum’s H.M. Flagler & Co. Store. “We are proud to carry on the tradition of afternoon tea on Palm Beach, which dates back more than 100 years.”
Johnson’s team has been working on the project throughout the summer. The new venue is located in the museum’s Flagler-Kenan Pavilion and replaces Café des Beaux-Arts, which shuttered last year.
The menu: To drink, visitors will enjoy the Whitehall Special Blend Tea, which is a black tea blend developed as a collaboration between the Flagler Museum and Harney & Sons.
“We were careful to choose teas for the blend that would have been available during the Gilded Age, and possibly enjoyed at Whitehall during the period,” Johnson says. “The tea is available to take home from the H.M. Flagler & Co. Museum Store.”
To eat, there are items such as an English Cucumber Sandwich, Salmon and Herbed Crème Pinwheel and French Tuna Salad with Capers and Cornichons on Rye. Sweets include fresh-baked scones and Tropical Macarons from Paris.
“Our Afternoon Tea leans toward the traditional,” he says. “We are proud this year that our table accoutrements are Florida-sourced, including our sugar cubes, guava jam and orange blossom honey.”
When: The tea room is open through March 31, 2024 (Thanksgiving to Easter). Seatings are available at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon and 2 p.m. Sundays.
Where: Head to Flagler Museum, 1 Whitehall Way, Palm Beach.
Cost: Tickets are $66 per person and $53 for children up to age 12 (includes tea service, tax, gratuity and museum admission). There are special prices for museum members.