Time for.....a cheeky scone at Landmark London

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends!

A couple of weeks ago I was in London and had the opportunity to try some scones at The Landmark Hotel. I didn't have enough time for the full afternoon tea experience on this occasion, but did enjoy a rather lovely chocolate chip scone....

Afternoon tea scones - The Landmark

Afternoon tea is served in the Winter Garden, which despite the name is not a garden at all.....so no fear of getting wet in the English weather while enjoying your scones! The Winter Garden restaurant is located in the heart of the eight-story glass roof atrium in The Landmark Hotel - its a pretty spectacular space......

Winter Garden Restaurant - The Landmark
Photo from hotel website

But back to the scones...

We were served three scones, which were accompanied by clotted cream and strawberry preserve. The scones were served warm and were a good size - not too big, not too small. The scones cut easily and had a god texture - not at all claggy!

Please excuse the blurry photo....

Afternoon tea scones - The Landmark

All in all these were lovely scones and as you can see there were plenty of chocolate chips! I would definitely like to visit the Landmark Hotel again and this time try the full afternoon tea experience. 

Currently you can either try the traditional afternoon tea or a special chocolate afternoon tea which includes chocolate treats along with the chocolate chip scones: Coconut and chocolate macaroon, Banana, pecan nut and milk chocolate cake, Blood orange and white chocolate mousse and Pistachio and chocolate Opera gâteau

For more information about afternoon tea at The Landmark Hotel pop by their website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

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

Scones, scones, scones everywhere!

Hello there Afternoon Tea Lovers!

I hope you're well today and had a lovely Christmas! Happy New Year too!

Wow - it's been a while! Sorry we've been missing since November! Technical issues and not enough hours in the day both contributed to us not sharing any tea posts.....to be honest we haven't had that many scones either - shocking I know!

Well all that is going to change.....in fact in the last three days I've managed to eat three scones to make up for things!

First off I enjoyed a scone at home....

So, this lovely scone is an all butter and sultana scone from Tescos.....it's one of their posh scones (Finest range), sold in packs of 4 for £1.50. 

I was impressed by the rise of the scone.....

I was a little sad that no delicious scone aroma hit me as I opened the packaging and wondered whether my first scone of 2017 should have been a shop bought one. However, when I cut into the scone I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of sultanas I could see (this is not the best photo of the sultanas....there were lots honest!)....

I topped my scone with clotted cream from Langage Farm (bought at Tescos in Aldershot), made with Jersey and Guernsey milk.

I haven't come across this clotted cream in the shops before and enjoyed the creamy texture. I'd definitely buy it again.

Finally I topped my scone with greengage preserve from Tescos, which was sweet and tangy. I love greengages in the summer (you can usually only get them for a short time in August), the preserve wasn't quite the same but I enjoyed it just the same!

All in all this was a tea-riffic start to 2017!

Obviously this scone reminded me how much I love cream teas.....and so the next day I headed off to Marks & Spencers in Camberley with the lovely Alex and enjoyed another scone! 

This was another good sized scone, again full of sultanas. I enjoyed this scone with clotted cream and a summer berry jam from M&S.....all washed down with a pot of tea! Lovely!

Finally, today I decided I might as well eat another of the Tesco scones I had at home before they went stale! This time I had two different toppings....

That's a wonderful pineapple preserve on one half and a passion fruit curd on the other half.....I was clearly in a tropical mood today! Again, I washed my scone down with tea....some wonderful Lady Grey from Twinnings.

And now I'm off to the gym to try and work off some of those calories! Ha, ha!

We're looking forward to sharing lots more tea, cake and scones with you in 2017 and we look forward to seeing what afternoon tea adventures you have been on! 

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

The Sunday Scone Review - The Good Taste Bakery

Hello there,

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

It's another Sunday....so it's time to sit back and read about the latest scone that we've been trying out! This week we have a scone from The Good Taste Bakery, which I bought recently from a local garden centre along with some Dorset clotted cream and a jar of pineapple jam....

The Sunday Scone review with The Good Taste Bakery

Not heard of The Good Taste Bakery before? Well, Good Taste is an independent business, celebrating its first 20 years next year, which is owner-managed by Master Baker, Dean Wilsher, and Head of Confectionery, Debbie Wilsher. They currently produce over 40 different breads and rolls, and are committed to combining high quality ingredients with traditional craft baking skills, and twenty first century technology.

They aim to produce bread that tastes good, lasts well, is as healthy as possible – and is good value. The Good Taste Bakery is a modern, high tech space near Camberley, Surrey that is home to an impressive array of talented and proud bakers, each with their own specialities. And an interesting fact is that every single item they produce is made by hand!

So....what's their scones like I hear you say?

Well, as you can see I bought the fruity ones and I was pleased to see they had been generous with their sultanas. The scones were a good size and cut easily. 

The cream spread easily too, giving me a good base for the jam ...

The flavour of the scones were sweet, but not overly sweet - they let the flavours of the cream and the jam shine through. The texture was great too - not at all claggy. There were also only two in the pack, which I thought was great as nothing went to waste.

I also wanted to give a mention to the jam....

This is my new favourite discovery....its sweet, fruity and very tropical! The flavour is a true pineapple flavour and despite being sweet, didn't taste artificial. It also has small, delicious chunks of pineapple in the jam. It went really well with the clotted cream.....and also tastes great swirled in plain yogurt. I think its safe to say that I love this jam!!

All in all I was very pleased with these discoveries, the scones were tasty and made a great base for the cream and jam. I also loved that you buy these in packs of two - great for smaller households or if you just fancy one or two scones. If you happen to see these in a local shop I'd definitely recommend giving them a try. 

If anyone else has tried this jam and has a different way of enjoying it please can you let me know! I'd love to hear from you!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel 

The Sunday Scone Review - Sultana Scones, Rowan Hill Bakery at Lidl

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - Happy Sunday! And since it's Sunday, we're back with another scone review for you! 

This week we've tried to first of our mid-range scones.....these sultana scones from Rowan Hill Bakery,which I bought at Lidl....

Sultana scones - Rowan Hill Bakery, Lidl

These scones are the smallest scones that we've tried so far, although we did get six in the pack rather than four. The scones, although petite, are well risen and remind me of the scones my mum used to buy when we were little.

These scones cost only 75p for six.....

Although this photo doesn't really demonstrate it well, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of sultanas in the scone. The scones also had a pleasant aroma.

I also liked the shape of these scones....I'm not 100% why, but I found the these scones quite pleasing to the eye. So far so good!

I topped my scone with clotted cream and some homemade blackberry jam.

The scone cut well and held the toppings well too.

Sultana scones - Rowan Hill Bakery, Lidl

However, these scones were nothing special really - they tasted ok, and had a sweet flavour.....but they weren't really anything to write home about. 

They were also ever so slightly claggy in texture too.

Joe was disappointed by how small the scones were and after some debate we have decided to give these scones 2.5 stars out of a possible 5. If you want a bargain cream tea at home, they are a treat at 75p for six.....but make sure you have some good quality clotted cream and jam to top them with!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Joe

The Sunday Scone Review - M&S Devon Scones

Hello there,

Happy Sunday! Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends and our regular scone review blog post!

This week we've been sampling scones from the M&S range.....

Devon scones from M&S

These scones are enriched with buttermilk and clotted cream- the packaging even states "just add jam".....but me being me....well I didn't see that instruction and bought myself some M&S clotted cream too!

Let's talk about the cream first, which is Cornish Clotted Cream. It's quite unusual to find own brand clotted cream in supermarkets, so I was intrigued to try this one out. To be honest I was a little disappointed as this cream had the consistency of butter and was really hard to spread. 

The scones were also slightly disappointing in appearance, as they looked rather flat.

At this stage I still hadn't seen the "just add jam" notice and ploughed ahead with a layer of clotted cream and a dollop of strawberry jam on top....

Devon scones from M&S

The scones held the cream and jam well, but the flavour was also disappointing - they really tasted mass produced. Even worse than this.....the scones were claggy in texture.

It was at this point that I saw the "just add jam" bit on the side of the packaging....so I decided to try the scones this way....layering jam onto the scone minus the cream (which felt very odd indeed!).

Devon scones from M&S

This time the scone was a bit easier to eat, being slightly less claggy in texture. But I was still not particularly impressed with these scones.

I can't remember exactly how much I paid for these, I think it was about £1.50 for four scones (there is a red sticker on the packet offering me two bakery products for £2.50). This makes them the same price as the other "posh" scones we have tried so far - but they are definitely not my favourite. In fact I think I'll give these scones 1 star out of 5 (because they held the toppings well).

I also noted these scones didn't last so well at home.

Pop back next week to see which other scones we've tried at home!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

The Sunday Scone Review - Taste the Difference Sultana Scones

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends and our second scone review. This week we've sampled some scones from the Taste the Difference range from Sainsburys.

Taste the Difference All Butter Sultana Scones

These can be bought for £1.50 for four sultana and butter scones.

On first inspection, these scones are slimmer than the Waitrose scones we tried last week, but we were impressed with the sultana distribution....

So far so good!

The scones sliced well and had a scrummy aroma - sweet and fruity.

I decided to dress my scone with clotted cream and raspberry and violet jam from Louise's Larder.....

The scone had a nice flavour and held the cream and jam well without crumbling. I would venture to say the texture was a little claggy, which was surprising because the scone was slimmer than others we've tried.

Joe taste tested this one with me and commented that he preferred the Waitrose scone last week, as he felt it had a better texture. 

The Sunday Scone Review - cream first

We've decided to give this scone a score of 3 out of 5 stars.

If you have a recommendation for the Sunday Scone Review please get in touch!

Thank you for popping by today - pop back next Sunday to see which scone we're trying next!

Rachel & Joe

Time for Tea.....Cole's Bazaar and Snackery, Isle of Wight

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we hope you're well today!

Joe and I recently spent a weekend away on the Isle of Wight, and as you can imagine......finding a scrummy scone was on the top of our "to do"list. Well, ok.....it wasn't really on the top of Joe's list, but he humoured me and let me hunt out a new scone spot!

Little did I know that we were staying in the next town to a "scone zone"....

The Scone Zone!
Cole's Bazaar & Snackery, Shanklin - Isle of Wight

As we walked along the seafront at Shanklin we came across this sign outside Cole's Bazaar and Snackery. To be honest, the name "snackery" had first caught our eye....but then I saw the board! 

As well as plain and savoury scones, the board included banana, lemon, cherry, apricot and apple scones (to name a few). Each one paired with clotted cream and a spread or preserve.

I opted for the banana scone, served with clotted cream and chocolate spread! 

Banana scone - Cole's Bazaar & Snackery - Isle of Wight

For £3.75 I got a good size scone, which was served warm. A portion of butter, a portion of clotted cream and a portion of chocolate spread. And of course.....a pot of tea! I was really impressed with the price of this cream tea - the portion sizes were great and the service really quick.

As you can tell from the photo above, we were really lucky with the weather and I got to enjoy my scone in the sunshine overlooking the sea.

Banana scone with clotted cream and chocolate spread
Isle of Wight

The scone was really fresh and tasty, I loved the banana flavour which was sweet and subtle.  The banana went really well with the clotted cream and chocolate spread.

All the scones are homemade, with natural ingredients.

I really wish we were staying on the Isle of Wight longer, I would have loved to try all the different scones on offer! I suppose at least I have a very good reason to visit again!

What's the most unusual scone you have tried? I think banana is definitely the most exotic scone I've sampled so far!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for Tea - Ducky's Beach Cafe, Beer, Devon

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we hope you're well today!

I've realised that there was a disappointing amount of scones consumed and shared with you in June - only three blog posts! We must work harder this month to bring you more afternoon tea adventures!

Without further ado....I bring you scones on the beach! Last weekend Joe and I visited Honiton in  Devon for a wedding, as it was an overnight stay we decided to head to the closest beach the next morning and I was determined to enjoy a scone!

We stumbled upon the little fishing village of Beer by accident, but I'm glad we did. Despite it being a Sunday everything was open and there was even a local craft fair! Beer is such a pretty place to visit, with plenty of scenic walks to enjoy.....

We do like to be beside the seaside - Beer, Devon

Even better....on the beach we found Ducky's Beach Cafe! What could be better...enjoying a scone by the sea! Now, as you can tell from the photo above....the weather wasn't fabulous....but that didn't stop me (or long suffering Joe)....I was determined to enjoy my scone!

It's a very simple affair at Ducky's - lots of plastic tables and chairs and the front where you order your refreshments. There is no inside seating at all and the toilets are back up the hill...but the prices were incredibly reasonably, the choice of food was great and the views just wonderful (if you love the seaside like I do!).

Duckys Beach Cafe, Beer - Devon

As this was more brunch time than anything else Joe wanted a full English breakfast and I knew I probably needed something a little more than a cream tea (no afternoon teas on offer), so I opted to have a sausage sandwich with my scone! We both wanted tea...although Joe wished he'd ordered a mug of tea rather than a pot....as he was given a dainty teacup to drink his tea from.

The food arrived quickly, and the portions were great....

Sausage sandwich with your scones!

Everything was fresh and tasty, my sausage sandwich was hot and the tea was plentiful (we were given a pot of tea and a pot of hot water). As you can see my scones (yes there were two....I only ate one though) were served with lashings of clotted cream and strawberry jam....

Cream tea - Duckys Beach Cafe, Beer - Devon

The scone was well baked, not at all claggy and despite the rain I really enjoyed my scone by the sea!

I didn't take a photo of Joe's breakfast, but I'll admit I had a little food envy - the portions were generous and everything looked (and tasted Joe assured me) amazing. What struck me the most about this scone adventure was the value - I can't remember the exact prices of everything but the final bill came in at around £15 and we were both well fed and watered!

If you happen to find yourself in Beer and fancy a scone, I'd definitely recommend you pop down to the beach to Ducky's Beach Cafe!

Rachel enjoying a scone - cream first!

Have you enjoyed a scone in an unusual place? We'd love to hear all about it - leave us a comment or better still.....send us a photo on Twitter!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for Tea.....Lancaster London

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends, last week Lorna and I were lucky enough to be invited back to the Lancaster London for a spot of afternoon tea again.

You might remember that we last visited Lancaster London in December 2014 - in fact it was our last afternoon tea of 2014! We enjoyed Chef Ben Purton's creations so much back then and we were super excited to go back again.

As with our last visit, the service was fast and friendly - with everyone who we encountered knowledgeable about the afternoon tea. Once we had picked our teas the afternoon tea stand was brought out.

Afternoon tea sandwiches - Lancaster London

The savouries included something for every taste including the following sandwiches:

Ham & English mustard 

Piquillo pepper and hummus 

Lancaster London home smoked salmon 

Free range Barradale Farm egg and wild cress 

In addition to the well made finger sandwiches there were another two savoury delights to enjoy - a warm Coronation chicken tartlet and roast English beef with horseradish cream and watercress.

The finger sandwiches were made with fresh bread and there wasn't a crust in sight! The amount of fillings matched the bread, making them very enjoyable. The in house smoked salmon was scrummy. I also really enjoyed the coronation chicken tartlet - I might have enjoyed more than one of those!

Next came the scones - we had three each, one plain, one fruit and one apple. These were served with strawberry preserve and clotted cream

Afternoon tea scones - Lancaster London 

The scones were a good size - not too big, not too small. But to be honest two were enough as there is plenty of other treats on this afternoon tea stand. We also weren't overly keen on the apple scone.

Finally we moved onto the sweet treats - a very pretty selection indeed! 

The treats included:

Signature chocolate & honey lolly pops

Pistachio and Amarena cherry slice

Raspberry tart with vanilla custard

Honey apple cup cake

Lemon macaroon

Afternoon tea sweet selection - Lancaster London

There were two stand out items for me - the chocolate and lolly pops were amazing.....they were so good that we might have eaten them whole! Plus the mini raspberry and custard tart - the pastry was crisp and buttery and the filling light.

I wasn't so keen on the pistachio and amarena cherry slice, the flavours weren't quite right for me, but that's just personal preference. If you love macaroons, then you'll love the lemon macaroon on this plate - it's crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle!

Afternoon tea sweets - Lancaster London

This afternoon tea costs £30 per person, or if you'd like to add a glass of bubbles it's £40 per person. We were offered refills of both tea and food throughout the afternoon tea , and could change our tea choice if we wanted. Overall this afternoon tea is great value - perfect for sharing with friends.

For more information please visit the Lancaster London website.

We'd like to thank Chef Ben and his team at the Lancaster for looking after us so well, but please remember that this has not affected our taste buds and all opinions expressed in this article are our own.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna