About seven years ago my sisters in law and I stumbled across a Chinese tea shop in old Montreal, across from Notre Dame. I remember spending quite a bit of time there, stocking up on my favorite teas.
I’ve been thinking of Ming Tao Xuan since then and put it at the top of our list when I made a quick trip to Montreal with my kids last week.
My memory served me well! Ming Tao Xuan was just as wonderful as I’d remembered. I bought canisters of shou mei, white peony, long jin, and a Chinese red tea. Along the sides of the tea shop, people were seated at square tables for afternoon tea. I inquired about a waitlist and the owners told me that there was no list, but we could return in an hour and they could seat us then. So we went into the snow and shopped for an hour (not hard to do!). When we returned a little over an hour later, a table was waiting for us!
We each had our own pot of tea. Two of us had the same, so I’m only showing the three different sets.
We also ordered from their vegetarian menu. The chicken skewers are not really chicken, and the bao are filled with vegetables. It was all delicious, but we probably liked the mango salad the most.
We spent a lovely hour and a half drinking tea, talking, and eating. It was a perfect way to warm up and escape the snow for a little while (before ice skating outdoors). The owners are very nice, and I loved reminiscing about Hong Kong with them. Spending time at Ming Tao Xuan was really special and definitely a highlight of our magical trip to Montreal.
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