Time for Tea....Amba Charing Cross

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we hope you're having a tea-riffic day!

I am pleased to share with you our first afternoon tea of 2018 - recently Lorna and I went on an afternoon tea adventure in London with Alex and Becca, visiting Amba Hotel Charing Cross for some tea and cakes!

Afternoon tea at Amba Charing Cross is served in an area called The Terrace, which is a light and airy space at the front of the hotel, above The Strand. The Terrace has high ceilings and lots of natural daylight, it is a lovely spot for a catch up over afternoon tea.

The afternoon tea was served on a traditional stand, with pretty floral china plates and teacups. It's modern, but very floral!

As there were four of us we had two stands for the group and we were told we could have more items if we wanted them - so no fighting over the cakes on the top tier! It was a very traditional afternoon tea with finger sandwiches, scones served with clotted cream and strawberry jam and then a selection of cakes.

There were four different finger sandwiches to enjoy...

The varieties included:
Free range egg & watercress on white bread (v)

Oak smoked salmon & cream cheese on granary bread

English ham & sweet mustard on brown bloomer bread

Aged Keens farmhouse Cheddar & onion chutney (v)

The sandwiches were fresh, and cut into easy to eat finger sandwiches. I particularly enjoyed the cheese and chutney sandwich although there could have been a bit more filling. I was a bit disappointed with the egg sandwich as it had an extra filling....

Yep....that's quite chunky cucumber in with my egg! I've encountered this once before and I'm still not sure I'm convinced that this is a good conversation. I love an egg sandwich and I feel the cucumber compromises both the flavour and the texture!

Moving up the cake stand we next turned our attention to the scones, we had two scones each....but not enough cream and jam (a pet hate when you need to ask for more scone dressings!).

The scones were a generous size - probably a little two big as one was enough to enjoy with a full afternoon tea. I also found the texture a little claggy, but not claggy enough not to enjoy the scone.

The jam that was served with the scone was ok - bog standard strawberry jam!

Finally we made our way to the top tier and the selection of cakes, which were rather appealing to look at because of the different colours...

The cakes were small and there were six different varieties to try, which was nice to see. We had already established that we could have additional cakes if we wanted which was nice to know (nothing worse than having to share the cakes so everyone tries everything!).

This selection wasn't to everyone's taste, and they weren't the most delicate sweets I have tried. But the flavours were at least interesting - there is a dense Brownie in there, a mango cheesecake (with a strong emphasis on the cheese), a red velvet cake, a green tea cake and another piece of brownie which was spiked with raspberry and peach . We liked the addition of peach pipette, which meant you could add as much or little peach as you liked. 

Overall it was a good tea, the service was friendly and the food was all fresh. There was a good selection of teas, which catered for most tastes from black and green to herbal and fruit. The Terrace is also a lovely space to be in - you wouldn't think you were so close to a train station!

The afternoon tea starts at £29.95 for a standard tea, which for central London I think represents a good price. 

For more information pop by the Amba Hotel Charing Cross' website

Have you enjoyed an afternoon tea recently? We'd love to hear all about it, leave us a comment or send us a photo on Twitter!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

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 - 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 - 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

Mother's Day Afternoon Tea 2016 - Part 2

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends where we're taking another peek at some of the afternoon tea experiences you can enjoy in London this Mother's Day!

Let's take a peek at The Modern Pantry in Clarkenwell first....

Afternoon tea - The Modern Pantry

The Modern Pantry offers guests a modern twist on the traditional afternoon tea with savouries including:

Coronation chicken sandwich, raisin chutney

Chia seed bread, parsnip, cumin & black garlic purée,

hazelnut & macadamia dukkah, sorrel cress

Spring onion & Aleppo chilli scone, Perroche goats cheese

Coconut & cardamom scones are served with gooseberry vanilla jam and clotted cream. The sweet teats on offer include: Passionfruit curd & turmeric meringue pie, Pic’s crunchy peanut butter cheesecake, caraway milk chocolate base

For something more traditional you could treat your mum to afternoon tea at the world famous Ritz hotel. On Sunday 6th March the Ritz are serving their Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea throughout the day

Afternoon Tea - The Ritz

The Afternoon Tea includes a choice of 16 loose leaf teas, finger sandwiches with a variety of traditional fillings, a selection of tea cakes and pastries as well as freshly baked scones with strawberry preserve and delectable Devonshire clotted cream.  This is a champagne afternoon tea and all mum's will recieve a Miranda Heldt opera CD as a gift.

Afternoon Tea - The Ritz

If you're treating your mum to afternoon tea this weekend we'd love to hear about your experience. Drop us a line and let us know where you went and don't forget to send us a photo!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Mother's Day Afternoon Teas 2016 - Part 1

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends. In the run up to Mother's Day in the UK this coming Sunday, we thought we'd take a look at some of the afternoon teas that have been created especially to spoil your mum with.

Let's start by taking a peek at Muriel's Kitchen who are serving a very cute afternoon tea on a mini picnic bench....and if you book this afternoon tea on 6th March Mum's will receive a complimentary glass of Prosecco!

This afternoon tea spread includes all the traditional items, including a selection of finger sandwiches, mini fruit scones with clotted cream & strawberry jam and a selection of sweet treats. All washed down with unlimited tea - you can pick from: English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Camomile, Peppermint, Chai, Super Fruit, Green Tea, Jasmine Tea, Rooibos

This afternoon tea costs £31.50 for two people, and is available at Muriel's Kitchen in Soho, South Kensington and Richmond. Pop by Afternoontea.co.uk for more information about this offer.

Another Mother's Day afternoon tea feast can be found at Sketch in London, where on Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th March  guests can enjoy Afternoon Tea & a gift for all mother's, a Dyptique scented candle, with a glass of Moussé Fils rosé Champagne for £68 per person.

This is a stylish afternoon tea....

The finger sandwiches on offer include coronation chicken, smoked salmon and Jacob's cream, cucumber and ricotta, Comte cheese panini and egg and maynonnaise, quail egg, caviar. Scones are served with clotted cream and preserve and the pastries include a passion fruit tartlet, coffee cake, pistachio choux, cassis cheesecake, chocolate and mint gateau, tangy citrus meringue and malabar marshmallow.

This afternoon tea features something for everyone!

For more information visit the Sketch website.

If you're taking your mum for a spot of afternoon tea for Mother's Day we'd love to hear all about it - drop us a line or send us a photo!

Pop back tomorrow to see some more Mother's Day inspiration!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea....Daisy May's Tea Room, Taunton

Daisy May's Tea Room - Taunton

Hello there,

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


This week I visited Taunton for work and found myself with a little spare time at lunchtime.....so I did what every afternoon tea lover does...and Goggled "tea rooms in Taunton" (that is what we all do isn't it??). I had several options to pick from, but I happened to find Daisy May's Tea Room first.


The exterior of the tea room was very cute and appealing, with lots of chairs outside for the warmer weather. Inside was just as cute with lots of wooden furniture and china. On offer at Daisy May's is a variety of  hot and cold dishes, served between 10am-4pm each day. I visited on a Wednesday lunchtime and it was very busy!






I didn't have a huge amount of time and so couldn't try the full afternoon tea experience, but I was pleased to see a cream tea option and so ordered that.


The cream tea consisted of a pot of loose leaf tea (picked from their tea menu), along with a scone, clotted cream and jam. The tea stocked at Daisy May's is Jenier Tea and there is a good selection on offer. I opted for the Lover's Leap which is a ceylon tea, medium body and full of flavour. Perfect for a chilly January lunchtime!


The staff were all friendly and despite being busy in the tearoom, the service was very quick.


When my cream tea was brought to me I have to say I was a little disappointed....some might call me greedy....or maybe spoilt by the sheer amount of scones I have consumed....but this one seemed rather....well....small....

Cream Tea - Daisy May's Tea Room, Taunton

Everything was served on pretty china and the tea was loose leaf. But the scone had something very "shop bought" about it - it definitely didn't look homemade. The servings of clotted cream and jam were adequate - although the strawberry jam was a little disappointing in flavour.

The scone itself hadn't risen much and was very small - I could have easily eaten two of them!

Afternoon tea scone - Daisy May's Tea Room, Taunton

This cream tea cost £4.95, which although not hugely expensive didn't really offer value for money as the scone was so small and the jam not the best quality. The tea however was loose leaf and there were two cups in the pot and the service was efficient and friendly.

 A nice cup of tea at Daisy May's Tea Room, Taunton

The cakes on offer looked very nice and there are lots of good reviews on the Daisy May's Facebook page, but I'm not sure I would return for their full afternoon tea experience. For more information about Daisy May's please visit their website.

Have you enjoyed a spot of tea and cake at Daisy May's Tea Room - we'd love to hear about your experience, please leave us a comment!

Thank you for popping by today.

Rachel

Time for Tea....Forest Lodge Garden Centre, Farnham

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends, last weekend I found myself wandering around a local garden centre with no plans (shocking I know). The garden centre is called Forest Lodge and as I walked through the various departments I spied the restaurant - it was one of those typical garden centre self-service affairs catering for breakfast, lunch and tea.

As I got closer I saw a stand near the front that grabbed my attention - on it was a huge pile of scones and a sign advertising a cream tea for one for just £2.99! The cream tea included a pot of tea, a giant scone, a pot of cream and a mini jar of jam. All this for £2.99 - I had to try for myself!

Cream Tea for One - Forest Lodge Garden Centre, Farnham

Just look at the size of that scone!

The teapot, although giant too, held just two cups of tea - so no need to worry about a caffeine overdose. In fact the two cups were just right to enjoy the scone with. You could pick your tea from a small tea menu - I went for a standard breakfast tea.

The servings of clotted and jam were also the right size and I was pleased to see that you could chose your jam from a selection of varieties - I opted for raspberry.

Roddas clotted cream and Wilkin & Sons jam 

I was a little concerned that the scone would either be dry or not quite baked properly in the middle due to it's size - however I was pleasantly surprised! The scone was well baked and rather scrummy!

In fact the whole cream tea was a real bargain for just £2.99 and I even managed to get a seat by the window so I was overlooking all the plants outside. The fact that you can chose your tea and jam means you can enjoy a personalised cream tea, which I think is fab!

Scones dressed the Tea With Me and Friends way - cream first!

If you happen to be in the Farnham area in Surrey I would highly recommend you pop by! For more information about the restaurant opening times pop by the Forest  Lodge website.

On my way back out I also noticed that they also offer a full afternoon tea - so I think I will be popping back soon for the full experience!

Have you enjoyed a scone in a garden centre - what was it like? We'd love to hear from you, why not leave us a comment below!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for Tea....The Old Cream Shop, Croyde

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends....if you popped by during the week you'll know that I recently stayed in the North Devon area where I enjoyed some lovely scones! This weekend I will be sharing some more photos of my afternoon tea adventures!

First stop is The Old Cream Shop which is in Croyde, and as well as being a shop has a lovely Tea Garden at the back where you can enjoy all kinds of local treats......

With a shop front like this and a sign declaring "tea garden open" of course I had to investigate further!

Once you have made your way through the shop you will find yourself in the multi-level garden which has a very relaxed feel. There is both covered and open seating, with plenty of seats.

I opted for something a little bit different, ordering a mixed cream tea (sweet and savoury) and Joe ordered a slice of Homity Pie. The portions were a good size and the food arrived quickly.

Let's start with Joe's Homity Pie which was served with a lovely chutney....

If you are not familiar with Homity Pie, its a bit like a flan I suppose....a pastry case filled with a potato, onion and leek mixture, topped with cheese. Its rather scrummy!

My sweet and savoury cream tea included one sweet scone served with cream and jam and one cheese scone served with cheese and chutney....

Look at the size of those scones!

They were served warm and were really fresh tasting. I started with the cheese scone, which is something that I don't usually go for....

I topped my scone with chutney and the sliced Cheddar cheese. The scone was light and tasty, I liked the texture which was slightly different to a standard sweet scone. I really enjoyed this!

Next came the sweet scone...

My scones were loaded with clotted cream and topped with strawberry jam. Again, I really enjoyed the sweet scone....so much so that I got a little arty with my photos....

I can't remember exactly how much we paid but I remember it being reasonable - my cream tea with a good sized pot of tea was under £7.00.

Once we had enjoyed our scones and the views we made our way back into the shop for a nose around. Inside we found all kinds of delights.....more things to eat there and then (ice-creams and take away cream teas) but also local produce such as fudge and the gorgeous chutneys we had enjoyed with our meals.

We might have taken some of the chutneys home with us....

If you happen to be near Croyde and fancy a sweet (or savoury) treat, I'd highly recommend a visit to The Old Cream Shop! As well as great food everyone we talked to was super friendly and you can't beat the views!

Don't forget to pop back tomorrow and take a peek at my post about the gorgeous Elsie May's in Tiverton.

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel

Scone Wars Alert!

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends!

Do you remember when we first started writing our little afternoon tea blog and there was a bit of a debate about the way your scones should be dressed? This subject continues to be a hot topic of conversation which rears its head whenever we introduce new people to our blog! People are very passionate about whether the cream or jam or should be put on first (I can see some of you muttering to yourselves as you read this!).

Lorna and I are firm believers that cream goes on first.....it can be spread to give a good solid base for the preserve or curd which goes on top...the jewel in your crown if you like. We know however that not everyone shares our passion (including our best friend Becca....who puts whatever she reaches first on her scones first - scandalous!).

Last weekend scone wars started all over again on Twitter....and all because I innocently commented on a photo of Philip Schofield, who had enjoyed afternoon tea at Claridges....

Now, I didn't really expect a reply from Philip...but look what happened next...

Yes....you read that right! He said jam first!

As you can imagine Lorna was outraged....

For those of you that remember Lorna has tried the jam first method on one of her scones....

Tea with Me and Friends
Scone Wars!

The result was a bit of a mess and we decided that cream first was definitely the way to go!

Scones dressed the wrong way (according to us!)

With this experience in mind I tried to make Philip see the light with a lovely scone photo.....

But it seems he was not to be swayed!! It appears it takes all sorts to make the world go around....and even celebrities get their scone dressing wrong!

The debate quickly spread as people joined in our conversation, I even got included in Tweets like this.....

I love how passionate people are about this subject....and everyone has very valid reasons for their preference! 

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel