Time for........a Cream Tea in the Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa, Chester

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - I hope you're well today.

This week I spent at night at the Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa in Chester as part of a work event. I arrived at the hotel late afternoon and decided to indulge in a scone as I caught up on some work emails so I headed to Ciro’s Brasserie.

Ciro's Brasserie is a Mediterranean style restaurant, which serves food throughout the day. The Mediterranean style extends to the decor and feel, think lots of warm tones and stonework....

Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa

As well as the full afternoon tea I was pleased to see a cream tea on offer, as well as a good tea selection. I plumped for the cream tea, which cost £7.95 for a pot of tea and tea scones. After a confusing start which saw me with a cup of green tea instead of a cream tea I was very pleased when everything was served.....

Cream tea - Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa

The scones were huge! This probably could serve two people, although you would need more tea. You also got a serving of clotted cream and a great selection of jams and preserves....

As well as traditional strawberry jam you also had raspberry and blackcurrant varieties, plus honey and marmalade - really something for everyone there.

And just how cute is that carousel?!

The scones were both fruit ones and were served warm.

Cream Tea - Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa

The texture and flavour of the scones were good - no clagginess to report here at all!

All in all this was a lovely afternoon treat and I would love to return to try out the full afternoon tea experience. It was late afternoon when I arrived and there weren't many other guests around, but the restaurant still felt warm and welcoming. The staff were all friendly and service was quick.

Cream Tea - Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for Tea....Oddfellows, Chester

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea review from Tea With Me and Friends. We hope you've had a tea-riffic week! As you'll remember if you popped by last week, I recently spent a wonderful weekend in Chester with Alex and her sister Louisa. As well as enjoying a rather special afternoon tea adventure at Gladstone's Library, we also squeezed in a visit to Oddfellows.

Afternoon tea - Oddfellows
Alex deciding what to eat first!

Now, you might be able to spot the rather lurid coloured profiteroles on the bottom tier....lets face it they are hard to miss! But before we get there, we need to investigate the top tiers of the stand....

Afternoon tea sandwiches - Oddfellows

Now, we weren't actually told everything that we were eating...and the eagle-eyed of you will notice that although there are three sets of sandwiches, there aren't equal flavours! We think we enjoyed some egg mayonnaise, some ham, some chicken and some cheese and pickle (we found cheese strands on nearly every sandwich!).

The sandwiches were fresh....but they weren't quite crustless....

Oh dear - is that a crust I spy??

Once we finished with the sandwiches we moved onto the middle tier and those wonderful looking scones....

Afternoon tea scones - Oddfellows

These were giant - I was quite pleased that there was only one each! They were served with little pots of jam and clotted cream. We requested extra clotted cream, which was brought out with no issues at all. The scones were tasty, but they were large!

It's worth noting that there isn't a choice of tea at Oddfellows, and a teapot is not left on your table. The small teacups are filled up on demand by the waiting staff from a communal teapot! Not the best experience as you are reliant on the waiters seeing that you need a refill and we were left without tea......

Scones - dressed the Tea With Me and Friends way!

Finally we made it to those sweets....

Afternoon tea sweet treats at Oddfellows

Again, we weren't actually told what the sweet treats were, but an educated guess (and many afternoon teas consumed) came up with the following....

Pistachio profiteroles

Vanilla cupcakes

Raspberry macaroons

Chocolate and Orange tarts

The profiteroles were light and tasty....but that green icing was rather bright! The cupcakes had a strong vanilla flavour, but the macaroons were rather disappointing as the only raspberry element was a small blob of jam in the middle. The tart was rich and chocolaty.

Oddfellows is an unusual building, full of quirky features...including an indoor tree!

Oddfellows

There are also various other spaces, including "The Grown Up Bar" and the Secret Garden. If you are looking for somewhere a little bit quirky to enjoy a cheap and cheerful tea with your friends Oddfellows definitely will be a talking point!

This afternoon tea costs £17.50 each and you can add a glass of bubbles for just £7. For more information visit the Oddfellows website.

Have you enjoyed an afternoon tea adventure in Chester? We'd love to hear all about it!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel