Cost – £12.50 (Jan 2017)
Background – I found Houghton Tea Room by following a vague reference on the internet. It proved to be a good find!
Houghton Tea Room is the smallest venue we have been to. There are just three tables, one of which only seats two! There is also a magnificent display of freshly homemade cakes and pastries on the counter. And prices are pretty good too!
Houghton is an extremely pretty village not far from St Ives in Cambridgeshire. There is a water mill there which is owned by the National Trust. Houghton Tea Room is right in the middle of the village just on the village square.
Contents – six finger sandwiches each (three of each between two of ham, egg mayonnaise, cheese and tuna mayonnaise), a mini cheese quiche and three small sausage rolls. A medium sized plain scone, a bowl of strawberry jam, and a bowl of whipped cream. A lemon cupcake and a mini chocolate sponge cake. The tea was made with tea bags in a china teapot.
Comments – This Afternoon Tea needs to be pre-booked as the venue is very small.
We were served in the tiny tea room at one of only three tables! The table was laid ready for us with a tablecloth and pretty blue and white china.
The tea was brought out first in a pretty matching blue and white patterned teapot. The afternoon tea followed quickly, served on a spindle type three tier cake stand with round white plates.
The sandwiches were well filled and unfussy. There was a mix of both brown and white breads. They were all freshly made. The mini cheese quiche was very tasty, so were the homemade sausage rolls. It was a really good savoury selection.
The scone was fresh and homemade. It was of a good size and tasty. There was plenty of jam but it was of a commercial type (fairly solid with no strawberry bits in evidence). The cream was whipped (we could hear it being done!) but there was plenty of it.
The cakes were freshly homemade. There was not too much squidgy gunk on the top of the lemon cupcake which I was very pleased about. The mini chocolate sponge cake had a layer of chocolate through the middle as well as on top. They were both tasty with my favourite being the chocolate cake. However, the owner runs a company making cakes and there were several delicious looking cakes on the counter and, delightful though the cakes we had were, I would have liked to have had a decent slice of one of the large cakes on display with my Tea instead. We ended up taking something home each from the selection!
The tea was of a good strength for us. We were offered refills and had the pot refilled once.
Service was quick and very friendly. The owner was happy to either chat with us or leave us to eat. The tea room felt comfortable and friendly to be in.
| Sandwiches | 2.0 |
| Scone | 1.5 |
| Jam | 1.0 |
| Cream | 1.0 |
| Cake (variety) | 1.0 |
| Cake (quality) | 1.5 |
| Tea | 1.5 |
| Presentation | 1.5 |
| Service | 2.0 |
| Value | 2.0 |
| Total | 15.0 |
Sarnies Scones and Cakes 