St.Marys, Ontario's, newest restaurant, is a great place to go for a snack, a breakfast muffin and coffee, or a lunch. All baking is done on the premises by the owner, Anna McKechnie. Don't leave before sampling one of her brownies. You'll go back for more!
Tea Room
There are so many different kinds of loose tea (including decaffeinated) that it is impossible to name them all. Anna was born in India and knows how to make a perfect pot of tea for the discriminating palette. Manager Tom Houser helps McKechnie run the cafe.
There are any number of herbal teas, as well as the old favorites, Earl Gray and English Breakfast Tea.
Breakfast at The Darjeeling
There are some tasty items on the breakfast menu (the restaurant opens at 10 AM and closes at 5 PM), including buttermilk biscuits, cheddar cheese biscuits, blueberry streusel muffins, banana crunch muffins and sticky buns. All made by Anna, of course. These range in price from 97 cents to $1.27 each. Couple this with a coffee or tea for $1.47 and you have a nice snack for a fair price.
Lunch Fare
There is a special lunch offering, The Darjeeling Tray, which features finger sandwiches ( egg salad, salmon salad and cream cheese with cucumber) accompanied by a relish assortment and dessert for $6.77, and individual sandwiches that run from $3.97 to $4.97. These include the Mac BLT, egg salad on croissant, classic club,chicken salad, cucumber and cream cheese and tuna salad.Combine this with your favorite tea and you have a delicious repast. You may also order a bowl of the soup of the day, which is served with a biscuit trio for $3.17. Combine it with a sandwich, if you like, for $6.47.
Home Baked Desserts
Anna bakes several delicious sweets for a meal ender or afternoon tea, and they include milk chocolate toffee cookies, shortbread, white chocolate apricot oatmeal, sugar cookies, cupcakes and brownies (a great favorite) These run from 49 cents to $1.47 for the brownies. Although the restaurant opened on September 19, 2009, at the time of this writing ( a week later), it was often standing room only. If you intend to visit with a group, reservations are suggested.
The Stonetown
St Marys is also known as the Stonetown, because of the many stone buildings erected by expert stonemasons many years ago. Take a moment to see the town hall, the opera house and the library (a gift of Andrew Carnegie). There are several shops to browse in and there is a walkway beside the river.
The tea room is situated at 83 Queen St. East, and the telephone number is 226-661-0069.Enjoy!
