Bourgee, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Note – This venue has now closed.

Cost – £15.00 (Sept 2017)

Background – I had spotted this interesting looking Afternoon Tea during a trawl of the internet. It was of particular interest to my husband as he knew the building (Cupula House) from his childhood. It had suffered a major fire in recent years and had now reopened as the restaurant Bourgee.

 

There are four Bourgee restaurants, all in East Anglia. We were visiting the one in Bury St Edmunds, which is right in the centre of the town near the market square.

The building was looking very nice both externally and internally.

I found this particular Afternoon Tea very difficult to score as it is so different to the usual Afternoon Tea. As a result it has a relatively low score. However, we really enjoyed the tea and would definitely recommend it.

Contents – Two small open lobster bagels, one steak with caramelised onion open sandwich and a piece of warm sausage roll. Two fruit skewers with two small pots of dip (tropical fruit and chocolate), Three mini cinnamon coated chocolate doughnuts and a small piece of raspberry mousse cake. The drink choice was one of tea, coffee or a jug of cloudy lemonade.

Comments – This Afternoon Tea was described as Afternoon Tea on the lawn. A title that mystified us to start with as there is no outside area at this venue.

We sat just inside the restaurant near the bar area. There was only one other table in use when we arrived but another two couples came in later. There was music playing which we found to be a little intrusively loud.

We were asked what drink we would like soon after arrival. We both chose the cloudy lemonade, which, far from being ‘a jug’ was served in a single serving wine carafe glass. It later turned out to be a glass of Fentimans cloudy lemonade, which is a fizzy drink. It is very nice and was served good and cold.

The tea took some time to arrive but as it was being cooked we had expected this. When it arrived it was presented on a wooden tray with a piece of artificial grass on it topped with a paper napkin. We realised this was the ‘lawn’!

The savoury section was really good and very enjoyable. We had two small bagel halves topped with lobster topped with cheese. I was a little apprehensive as I am not a big seafood lover but was willing to give it a try. It was delicious! I would gladly have had several more! We also had a piece of brioche topped with sliced steak topped with a small amount of caramelised onion. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered it had a thick layer of mustard under the steak. As you probably know, I am not keen on mustard. Luckily, I was able to scrape most of it off. The steak was good but I would have liked a little more caramelised onion on top. Finally, there was a piece of sausage roll. This was a whole sausage roll cut in two for the two of us. It was really tasty and I would have really liked a whole one each!

This Afternoon Tea did not contain any scones as it was a different concept to the usual Tea. Instead we had two fruit skewers each. Each skewer contained a small piece of pineapple, a slice of banana and half of a strawberry. These had been grilled with a small caramelised sugar coating. There was a small pot of tropical fruit dip and a small pot of chocolate dip. Both were very sweet. I personally preferred the fruit dip whilst my husband preferred the chocolate. We enjoyed this course but, again, would have liked there too have been more skewers as there was so little fruit on each one.

The mini cinnamon coated chocolate doughnuts were presented in a paper bag. Each one had a tiny centre of sauce. As with all of the previous items, these were warm. I thought the doughnuts were very tasty and very much enjoyed them.

Finally, there was a square of raspberry mousse cake. This was the only cold item of the Tea. Again, the ‘cake’ was very tasty but rather small. Also, the menu had stated ‘cake!’

and we felt that, although the word was not in the plural, one small piece of mousse cake did not match up to that description.

We asked for an extra lemonade, which we shared between us. We were charged £2.80 extra for this.

Service was reasonably attentive.

 

Savoury	2.0
Skewers	1.0
Dips	0.5
Doughnuts	1.5
Cake (variety)	0.5
Cake (quality)	1.0
Drink	1.5
Presentation	1.5
Service	1.5
Value	1.5
Total	12.5