PoetsHouse1

Cost – £30.00 for two people (Jan 2017)

Background – I have mentioned before that one of my favourite places to eat locally, for any meal, is the Old Fire Engine House in Ely. The food there is just delicious. Because of this we had never visited the Poet’s House which is almost opposite. We decided we had to try the Poet’s House eventually (for completeness sake you understand!!), so we booked up for their Afternoon Tea.

There are two main eating areas in the Poet’s House, which is also a hotel. There is a restaurant at the front of the building and there is a bar area, where Afternoon Tea is served amongst other things, to the rear of the building.

The Poet’s House is just a short walk from both Ely Cathedral and the main street. Ely is a pretty town and the cathedral is magnificent. The town stretches down the hill to the attractive river area at the bottom. It is only a small town and is easy to walk around.

Contents – 4 finger sandwiches each (Coronation chicken, smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese and egg mayonnaise). A medium sized fruit scone and a medium sized plain scone, a mini Tiptree jar of blackcurrant jam and a dish of clotted cream. A small piece of each of chocolate mousse cake, banana cake with clementine stuff on top, raspberry macaroon, mini chestnut filled profiterole and a mini panna cotta. The tea was made with tea bags.

Comments – We were sat in the bar area of the hotel, which is called The Study, at a low reserved table which was laid ready for us with linen napkins and white china. We sat on comfortable armchairs and sofas.

The tea arrived first in a white monogrammed china teapot with matching milk jug and sugar bowl. The rest of the Afternoon Tea then arrived on a three-tier cake stand with round white plates.

The sandwiches were made with mixed brown and white bread. There was a good amount of filling. The cucumber was daintily sliced for once. The Coronation chicken was not the usual sweet tasting curry flavour, it was more spicy than sweet. It was still very good.

We were offered a choice of jam flavours. We both chose blackcurrant and asked for three jars between the two of us as it would be a struggle to find enough jam for two scones each in just one tiny jar.

The scones were both fresh and of a good size given that there were two each. They were both tasty and looked homemade rather than mass produced. The scones had been warmed. There was just enough jam, even with the extra jar, but there was a good amount of clotted cream.

All of the cakes were small. The macaroon was tasty and sticky which was a surprise as macaroons are not usually my favourite. The Chocolate mousse cake was much tastier than we expected and had a really tasty base! The panna cotta was described as being with honeycomb but was actually with some sort of nutty biscuit.

The tea was of a good strength – just right! However, the pot was a bit small and only held enough for two small teacups each so we asked for the pot to be refilled twice.

The service was polite and helpful and was fairly quick to respond to requests. However, it was sometimes hard to find anyone around to ask for anything.

 

Sandwiches 1.5
Scone 2.0
Jam 1.5
Cream 1.5
Cake (variety) 1.5
Cake (quality) 1.0
Tea 1.5
Presentation 1.5
Service 1.5
Value 1.5
Total 15.0