The Rupert Brooke, Grantchester, Cambridgeshire.

Cost – £11.00 (Aug 2017)

Background – It was National Afternoon Tea Week (14th to 20th Aug 2017) so we just had to get out there and eat some Afternoon Teas!![

We had seem that The Rupert Brooke in Grantchester had recently started serving Afternoon Tea so we thought we should give it a try.

Grantchester is a pretty village just outside Cambridge. It was made famous by the poet Rupert Brooke after whom the pub was named. It has also recently featured on the television in the series Grantchester. Unfortunately James Norton and Robson Green were not in evidence.

The Rupert Brooke is a large pub restaurant that is situated on a junction in the middle of the village.

There are several different areas for eating including a garden, roadside terrace and an upstairs sun terrace.

Contents – three finger sandwiches each (smoked salmon, cheese and tomato and beef with horseradish), a piece of sausage roll and a circle of puff pastry topped with coronation chicken. One medium fruit scone, a very small pot of strawberry jam and a very small pot of clotted cream. A finger of chocolate orange cake and a mini pavlova topped with strawberries. The tea was made with loose tea leaves.

We were served with extra smoked salmon sandwiches instead of the beef with horseradish as we don’t like horseradish. It was not possible to have the beef without the horseradish.

Comments – We had booked our Afternoon Tea ahead but were told it is not usually necessary. We could choose where we wanted to eat so we chose to sit on the upstairs outside terrace in the sun.

The tea arrived first. It was served in interesting glass teapots with an integral strainer. The milk was in tiny individual milk churns. The tea was the perfect strength for me and the teapots held two good cups each. My husband had his tea refilled.

The Afternoon Tea arrived on a spindle cake-stand with three layers. The layers were made of round slate. The food was all very attractively displayed on the stand and it all looked very appetising.

The sandwiches were fresh and were reasonably well filled. I felt there was rather too much tomato in the cheese and tomato but I am not particularly keen on tomato so others might not agree. The sausage roll was delicious and tasted slightly herby.

However, the best part was the coronation chicken pastry. It was seriously good. The textures were excellent with the crisp pastry base and plenty of chicken on the top. I would have been very happy to have had several of these pastries plus a sausage roll!!

The scone was homemade, tasty and fresh. Unfortunately, there was barely enough jam and definitely not enough clotted cream.

There were only two small cakes on offer but they were both good.

The service was pleasant but a little slow in serving us in the first place and in bringing the tea out. However, the tea refill was delivered promptly.

 

Sandwiches	2.0
Scone	1.5
Jam	1.0
Cream	1.0
Cake (variety)	1.0
Cake (quality)	1.5
Tea	1.5
Presentation	2.0
Service	1.0
Value	2.0
Total	14.5