There are days when only the finest tea and perfect Parisienne delicacies will do.

There are days that cry for civilized behaviour to counteract the brute reality of life.

On days like this? One must raise their pinkie in sheer chi-chi defiance of all things base and banal and hustle on over to Soirette Macarons & Tea.

It’s a lovely new place down on that lonelier western end of Pender Street. It is Paris and modern and crisp and yes, it is focused. Unlike drugstores that sell bananas and grocery stores that sell pharmaceuticals, this little place knows what it’s about.

And it’s all about tea, quality loose-leaf aromatic teas and of course, macarons, those heavenly meringue-ish confectionaries that make me think I’m eating a pastiche of air and sugar and love.

I tried the Mumbai Chai.

Ahh, India! It was a swirling concoction of all the best smells of that perfumed land; a heady fragrance of cardamom, cinnamon and those heady oils that are only released in the finest of teas.

It was a liquid incense, my body, the temple. I sipped and reflected on all the best things in life while nibbling on a pistachio macaron, and then, I confess, a lavender macaron…there might have been a caramel fleur de sel after that and yes, it’s possible I indulged in the violet one as well. Who’s to say for sure…

But by the time I left Soirette, my world felt prettier, fairy tales more possible and life much, much more gracious.