Cost – £14.00 (Aug 2019)
Parking and Access – There is a public car park nearby in the Market Square. However, parking is limited to an hour here. There are three steps up to the main door, however, access on the flat is possible via a back entrance. There is flat access to the toilets from the cafe.
Background – I spotted a mention of this new venue in an article on Afternoon Teas. The cafe had only opened in December 2018. It is named after the owner’s grandmother, who had always wanted to open her own tea room.
The cafe is located in an attractive building dating from the 1920’s, which was originally housed the local electricity company’s showroom.
The lighting in the café makes interesting use of modern bulbs to reflect this past.
Contents – Four triangular sandwiches (two of each of smoked salmon with cream cheese and ham and cheese) plus a small amount of salad. One very large scone (one plain and one fruit between the two of us), a small bowl of strawberry jam, a small bowl of clotted cream and four small wrapped butter pats. A chocolate chip shortbread biscuit, a small piece of chocolate brownie, a cupcake and a small pile of berries and grapes. A pot of tea.
Options Available – This Tea is also available with a glass of gin and tonic or with a glass of prosecco. There is also a savoury Afternoon Tea available.
Comments – We rang and made a reservation for our Tea earlier in the day, so a table was waiting for us in the window of the café. The table was laid with round white pottery plates, a knife and a paper napkin. We were asked straight away what we would like to drink. We both chose a standard tea.
The tea arrived quite quickly in a small china teapot with a metal lid, accompanied by a cute bronze coloured mini milk churn of milk. The tea was quite strong. We later asked for a refill and were given one. The tea was made with loose leaf tea held inside a cage in the teapot.
The Afternoon Tea arrived shortly after on a plain metal three tier cake stand with round white plates.
The sandwiches were well filled and freshly made. There was a mix of brown and white bread, with the smoked salmon sandwiches on brown bread. We were also given a small amount of salad to eat with the sandwiches.
The scones were very big and had been warmed up. As there was one of each between the two of us, and they were so large, we cut each one in half so that we both had both plain and fruit scones. Otherwise, I would prefer to have two of the same for two people, so that we don’t have to argue about who gets which. Both scones were fresh and tasty. However, they were a little crumbly and it was difficult to spread the slightly stiff jam on them without the scone falling apart! There was enough of both jam and clotted cream. We didn’t use the butter.
We started the cake part of the Afternoon Tea with the cupcake. This had a nice light sponge and not too much gunky icing on the top. The biscuit was fresh and tasty. I would have liked another of these as they were not that big and they tasted good. Finally, the piece of brownie was, unusually, the weakest link of the Tea. It was rather sweet and not very chocolatey tasting. There was also a small pile of berries and grapes each, which was a nice addition.
Service was ok to start with but the staff tended to stay behind the counter, meaning when we required a refill of our teapot, we had to go to the counter to ask for it.
| Sandwiches | 1.5 |
| Scone | 1.5 |
| Jam | 1.0 |
| Cream | 1.5 |
| Cake (variety) | 1.0 |
| Cake (quality) | 1.0 |
| Tea | 1.5 |
| Presentation | 1.5 |
| Service | 1.0 |
| Value | 1.5 |
| Total | 13.0 |
Sarnies Scones and Cakes 
Never heard of this place despite going to St Neots quite often – so thank you!
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