My daughter and I recently took a trip to Temecula, CA, and spent some time with one of my good friends. During my time there, she took us to several places, including Old Town Temecula. The highlight of our time in this charming neighborhood was brunch at Corbeaux Wine and Tea House. This lovely restaurant features delicious food, beautiful decor, and an easy elegance that dwells in the sweet spot between welcoming and exclusivity. This tea house does a great job of feeling luxurious without the stuffiness that often comes with luxe experiences.

I knew, quickly, that our trip to Corbeaux had to include caviar, so we ordered the caviar tasting platter. We also got the charcuterie board, and I ordered the cucumber and apple salad for myself. It may sound like a lot of food – and it was! – but we were splitting it between three people, and we were famished. It was our first meal of the day!

Despite looking at the menus in advance, we missed the disclaimer that explained how the afternoon tea service needed to be reserved in advance. However, not one to be deterred by a disclaimer, I figured I’d gently inquire whether we could get some of the items available for tea. Fortunately, our server Tiffany explained that there was one tea tower available for a walk-in customer, and I quickly told her that I wanted it!

I was entranced by the lovely decor in the space. I particularly loved the gallery wall near the rear of the restaurant. It has some fun interpretations of classical portraits, a few still life paintings, and a picture of Marilyn Monroe’s famous subway grating moment from “The Seven Year Itch”. The wall is a blend of art styles, periods, and media, all combined together beautifully.

The decor was great, but the food was spectacular. Let’s start with the caviar. The tasting platter featured three different types of caviar: Polish osetra, Siberian sturgeon, and smoked trout roe. Hands down, the Siberian sturgeon was my favorite (though they were all delicious). It was slightly smoky, earthy and salty and did not have the strong fishy flavor that I usually associate with caviar. It also had a buttery finish that I wasn’t expecting. Oh my, it was delicious! I enjoyed the Polish osetra and smoked trout roe tremendously, too: these tasted like what I expect when enjoying caviar, with the salty, fishy flavors that play really well with creme fraiche and blinis.

The star of the meal was definitely the tea tower, along with the delicious tea served with it. The tower consisted of honey tea cakes, apple and chai caramel cream puffs, pumpkin tea shortbread cookies, rosemary lavender salted scones, mushroom quiches, assorted seasonal fruit, and three types of sandwiches: baked cinnamon apple and brie, curry chicken salad and egg salad. We ate the delicate pastries and sandwiches as we sipped on the maple cream oolong tea. My favorite sweet pastry was a tie between the honey tea cakes and the apple and chai caramel cream puffs. My favorite savory sandwich was the curry chicken salad. The entire tea menu was spectacular!

My cucumber and apple salad was perfect: crunchy, sweet, tart, and fresh. It was a great dish to balance out the carb-heavy tea tower dishes. It was light and effervescent, which was a nice contrast to the rest of the meal. I really liked that the salad incorporated miso for savory notes, and peanuts for earthier flavors.

The charcuterie board was divine: three different meats (I can’t remember each one, though I’m pretty sure one was soppressata, and another was calabrese), and three different cheeses (again, I can’t remember each one). I tasted a little of each, but I didn’t consume too much, because I had already had a fantastic time with the tea tower and my salad.

I loved our time at Corbeaux, and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Temecula. I enjoyed brunch but I saw the dinner menu and I was equally impressed with the offerings. If you’re looking for a beautiful brunch experience, Corbeaux is a must!