Now, there are afternoon teas; and afternoon teas. There are also afternoon teas, cream teas, high teas and probably all kinds of teas which we are yet to try!
So far we have tried an afternoon tea, a scone and cream and a cream tea with sandwiches and cake.
Here we go!
First up, The Boating Lake - Southwold
This was our afternoon tea. Unfortunately the welcome by the owner, we think she was the owner, was less than enthusiastic. Bit of a less than happy demeanour. However, the young waitress was charming and did her best. There was no sandwich selection just a choice of four different sandwich fillings but you could only chose one. The egg mayo sandwich was very nice when it arrived but it would be nice to have a variety. The scone was lovely, a good size and warm, together with some chocolate cake which was also very nice. Only one cake so no Victoria sponge which we always look forward to so slightly disappointed. The biggest problem, however, was with the cream. Whipped cream, and on a warm scone it just disappeared! I think clotted cream is a must and anything else is a bit of a cop out. The jam was also out of a prepacked pot and quite jellylike, impossible to spread, especially on rapidly melting cream.
Not great but not all bad.
Overall Score 5 out of 10
Next up H & J -Gelato and Cafe - Southwold
Just scone, cream and jam. No sandwich option here although great selection of ice cream and other items including churros and freshly made cakes. The scone was lovely, good size and slightly warm. Clotted cream was a pre packed small tub but very nice and good fruity jam not from a small pot which always seems nicer. Biggest problem here was the length of time to get served. There was a queue out the door which, despite there being three people serving, just took forever to take orders for ice creams as well as sit in food and drinks. Had we not already had a table to sit at we may have moved on which would have been a shame as the scone was worth waiting for. The waitress was very pleasant but seemed unconcerned with the lack of urgency in getting the customers through.
Lovely shop worth a visit but try to find the quieter times.
Overall score 6.5 out of 10
Last up. The Swan Hotel - Southwold
This started out as a cream tea, no sandwiches, and ended up as a full afternoon tea!
We made the booking for a cream tea as the chef needed 24 hours notice to make a full afternoon tea but once we were there we were able to order a Croque Monsieur and some sandwiches from a choice of four fillings. The sandwiches and Croque were lovely and, although not a conventional afternoon tea, it worked really well.
The scone was nice but perhaps not as good as the two previous examples,a little dry, fresh clotted cream, but jam in an individual prepacked pot, not our favourite but still very nice. Two cakes as well, a home made Bakewell slice and a very rich chocolate cake. Service was very good and looked after us well.
Very good afternoon tea as we were expecting just a cream tea!
Overall score 8 out of 10
#afternoontea#southwold#foodies#suffolkfood
Comments