Cost – £28.00 for two (Aug 2016)
Background – The Hoste is another of the places on my list that did not require booking in advance (unless you are a large group). We went there on a beautiful sunny day and were able to sit outside under an umbrella. There is also a large inside restaurant for less sunny days.
The Inn is in a sixteenth century building in the centre of the pretty town of Burnham Market near the North Norfolk coast.
Contents – 3 finger sandwiches each (smoked salmon and cream cheese, ham, rocket and egg mayonnaise), 1 medium sized fruit scone, a pot of strawberry jam and a pot of clotted cream. A small piece of orange cake, a piece of chocolate brownie, a thin biscuit and a mini rhubarb fool dessert. The tea was made with tea bags.
Comments – We were seated in a garden area out the back of the inn. The ground was covered with artificial grass which actually made it look very nice. The tea arrived quickly in a large white ceramic teapot. Unfortunately it then took over half an hour for the rest of the Afternoon Tea to arrive!
When it eventually arrived, the Afternoon Tea was presented on a three tier cake stand with round white plates.
The sandwiches were freshly made but were sparsely filled, especially the egg and rocket. In fact, we were not even sure that was what was inside the sandwich it was such a thin layer of egg!! There was a mix of brown and white bread.
The scones were fresh and of medium size. There was plenty of tasty jam and plenty of clotted cream.
The piece of Brownie was extremely rich and gooey. Very nice. However, the piece of orange cake was very small and rather boring. There was something on top that I didn’t like the taste of. The rhubarb fool was small and fiddly but quite tasty.
Service was slow. There were lots of customers but half an hour plus for a tea to arrive is too long. Also, they overcharged us on our first bill, charging us for two Afternoon Teas for one person (charged at £16 each) rather than for Afternoon Tea for two at £28! The venue adds 10% onto the bill automatically though this was removed for us when we queried the overcharging.
| Sandwiches | 1.0 |
| Scone | 1.5 |
| Jam | 1.5 |
| Cream | 1.5 |
| Cake (variety) | 1.0 |
| Cake (quality) | 1.0 |
| Tea | 1.0 |
| Presentation | 1.5 |
| Service | 0.5 |
| Value | 1.5 |
| Total | 12.0 |
Sarnies Scones and Cakes 