Anyone who knows me knows how much I enjoy afternoon tea. I have been to so many afternoon tea locations, and I still can’t get enough! The last place I tried in NYC was Prince Tea House in East Village, and it was great! This time, we headed out to Brooklyn, to Kitsby Café. They had an outdoor seating right in front of it, but we decided to sit inside.

The inside was nice and bright with loads of natural light coming in from the large window facing the street. It was not a huge spot, but pretty big for a “café” in my opinion.

They had plenty of seating indoor, including counter seats facing the street. The interior was simple, clean, warm and cozy. I like the light wood used with white walls, modern and yet comforting. Kitsby Café is Asian-owned, so they serve dishes and desserts with Asian-inspired twists. How fun is that!

We visited during the Spring of 2022, and as I mentioned, we went there specifically for their Afternoon Tea offering. The great thing about their afternoon tea is that you can see the menu on their website, with drawing of the food you are getting. Very easy to understand what you are going to get. What you need to be aware of is that you have to make a reservation for afternoon tea on Tock beforehand, and make the payment at that time. The cancellation policy is a bit tricky, so make sure you read it on their website…

Another thing to note, from what I saw and still see on their website, their Afternoon Tea has two prices on their website. One fore person price, and another one for two people with slight discount. However, when you actually go through the reservation, the price available there is per person price, so no discount even if you are booking for two people… When we went during the Spring, the price was $38/person and $70/two people. We were charged for $78/two, which is $39 per person… Not sure how but that is what we got. Then the processing fee, tax, and gratuity (you get to pre-choose what percentage you want to add), it came out to be $107.50 in total. The current Summer prices are higher, so be aware of how much it REALLY is going to cost you before you make the reservation.

OK, back to our experience. Our reservation was on Friday at 2pm, so it was not busy there. I liked how they had wooden utensils, and cups for used utensils on the table. We started with choosing what tea we wanted. To my surprise, there were only two teas to choose from to with the Afternoon Tea: Jasmine Green or Assam Black. And even more surprising, they were just tea bags… Most of the Afternoon Tea places really focus on all sorts of special or specialty teas, so I was a bit disappointed with I saw the tea bags. Or, you can get it with regular coffee.

Now, to the food. Unlike most afternoon tea spots, they do not offer the food on three-tier tray, but on a bamboo tray. Everything was displayed perfectly, very pretty to look at! Everything on the tray is pre-selected, except for one main dish item on the white plate.

For the first one, we chose The OG, which is a Char Siu Pork Sandwich on Bolo-Crusted Hawaiian Bread. The pork was tender and meaty, and it had some sweetness to it from maple syrup-type flavor. The buns were fluffy yet sturdy to hold all the meat. It was a good size, nice portion.

For the second one, we chose Lava Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream, which is their best-selling dish. They come in different flavors, and we went with the Salted Egg Lava Cake.

The Lava Cake was still nice and warm. When we cut it open, the lava-effect was just perfect! The cake was sweet but not overly sweet, soft and plump, delicate and just so good! Vanilla ice cream was tasty too, you can see the vanilla bean in there, which is always a plus for me. The cookie (?) on top of ice cream was crisp, light, and caramel-y. I see why this dish is popular here at Kitsby Café.

Moving on… After enjoying the main dish, I started with the four item on a square wooden plate. Chocolate-Jasmine Steamed Cake was sooo fluffy, almost like a cloud. Nice and chocolatey.

The Steamed Layered Bun was fluffy yet almost creamy in the mouth. Simple and comforting flavor. It was almost like the flavor of milk.

Salted Egg Scone (they do a lot of salted egg here at Kitsby…) was nice and flaky. Loved those bits of salt on top. The House-made Jam and Condensed Milk Cream were very nice. The jam was smooth, but the cream was more solid than creamy, making it difficult to spread on the scone. It was tasty though.

Asiago had some bacon bits and chives, it was quite good! Light and flaky, moist and delicious.

Next up, cakes! Mocha Mousse Cake was so creamy and light, melt in your mouth. Strong cacao flavor, which was excellent.

Matcha-Almond Bar had a nice matcha flavor, a bit dense like almond paste. Fresh and sweet strawberry and berry went great with the bitter matcha flavor. It gave a nice balance by adding some sweetness to it.

The last section had four little desserts. Black Sesame Financier was great. The black sesame flavor comes through really well. The marmalade (?) on top was interesting, making it extra sweet. Dense and filling.

Chinese Almond Cookie had interesting flavors of spices. Soft and bit chewy, which is what I like in cookies, so I liked that a lot. It also had a flavor similar to almond paste. Then, the Five-Spice Shortbread. It was somewhat hard when I tried to cut it, but as soon as I put it in my mouth, it just melted in my mouth. So good! Nice and short. Great flavor with five spice. Last but not least, Black Vinegar Macaron. I thought it was another black sesame item, but this one surprised me. I never had a dessert with vinegar taking the center stage… You get a whiff of vinegar before you eat, and then a slight acidic flavor with the first bite. How interesting!

The total amount of food we received was a lot! It was super filling, we were stuffed at the end. And, my goodness they were great! Our server was very nice, polite and friendly. He took a very good care of us. Our water was always filled, and we got a refill on hot water for our tea bags. Relaxing atmosphere, we were never rushed. We had a great afternoon tea here.

Again, the actual price not being transparent was a bit annoying, and the choice of tea, and how it comes in tea bag, were disappointing. But, we still had a good time, and we enjoyed all the food and dessert items. We would definitely go back again in a future!

Kitsby Café – 186 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211