Cost – £16.50 (Mar 2016)
Background – The Hotel Du Vin in Cambridge is situated in Trumpington Street, opposite the famous Fitzwilliam Museum. The building is interesting internally, with a restaurant at one end and a bar area in the cellars below. Afternoon Tea is served in the Bar area in the cellars.
The cellars had one larger, more open area. There were also a few more private, small side areas with arched entrances.
My apologies for the particularly poor photos in this review. The area we were seated in was quite poorly lit and my phone couldn’t really cope!
Contents – 3 finger sandwiches (ham, salmon and cream cheese, cucumber), a microscopic triangle of quiche and a piece of a sausage roll. 1 fruit scone, a bowl clotted cream and a small pot of strawberry jam (Bon Maman). A triangle of tea bread, an individual Victoria sponge with jam and cream, A finger of cheesecake and a small fruit jelly. Tea was loose leaf in individual tea pots.
Comments – We eventually found where our Afternoon Tea was to be served after asking at two different places. It is served in the underground bar area of the hotel. Our reserved table was in a sort of side vault on our own. There was a low table set with pretty blue and white china and a tablecloth.
We were first brought a pretty blue and white flowered china teapot each and a jug of milk.
The Tea arrived on a pretty three tier cake stand made of black metal with loose round white plates on it.
The sandwiches were mixed with two made on white bread and one on brown. They were fresh and tasty and generally well filled. The tiny piece of quiche was extremely tasty but ridiculously small. The sausage roll piece, however, was made with a frankfurter type sausage and was really unpleasant. I couldn’t eat it.
The scones were fairly small but were fresh and well cooked. There was plenty of strawberry jam and clotted cream. It made a change to have Bon Maman jam instead of the usual Tiptree mini jars.
The cakes were very tasty and fresh. The teabread was a pleasant addition but I would have liked more of it. The cheesecake finger was a little odd as it was difficult to move to a plate and to eat! The sponge cake was very good as was the little (boozy) jelly. There was a reasonable variety of cakes without the tea being too big to finish.
There was a wide choice of teas to choose from. The tea was loose leaf and was of a good strength. Individual tea strainers were provided. There was plenty enough for several cups each. We asked for and were given a refill.
Service was reasonably attentive though we had to look for someone to ask to refill the teapots.
| Sandwiches | 1.5 |
| Scone | 1.5 |
| Jam | 1.5 |
| Cream | 2.0 |
| Cake (variety) | 1.5 |
| Cake (quality) | 1.5 |
| Tea | 1.5 |
| Presentation | 2.0 |
| Service | 1.5 |
| Value | 1.0 |
| Total | 15.5 |
Sarnies Scones and Cakes 