Cost – £12.00 (Aug 2019)
Parking and Access – There is a small public car park just by the River Kitchen. It is also accessible from the river, with some limited moorings available for day visitors.
There are a couple of steps up into the building.
However, there is a large outside terrace next to the river, which can be accessed on the flat. The toilets are found inside and are on the level, but there are still the steps into the building to negotiate.
Background – We were visiting the Norfolk Broads area with family for the weekend. So, naturally, I decided to research somewhere we could all have an Afternoon Tea together. We decided on Wroxham for the search, and found a few venues. The River Kitchen was chosen mainly because of its lovely position overlooking the river.
We did think about travelling there by boat but in the end we drove as Wroxham is incredibly busy with boats in the summer.
The River Kitchen is situated near the centre of Wroxham, not far from it’s famous bridge. It is in an interesting pavilion type building, backing onto a decked area which juts out into the river beyond. Inside, there are several wooden tables and chairs, plus a counter displaying some yummy looking cakes and tray bakes.
Contents – Three rectangular sandwiches (ham and piccalilli, cheese and pickle and egg mayonnaise). One medium fruit scone, a mini jar of strawberry jam and a mini jar of clotted cream. A mini lemon and blueberry sponge layer cake, a square of chocolate brownie, a half piece of mini Battenberg, a macaroon, a cube of coconut ice, a very small finger of millionaire’s shortbread, a small fruit jelly and a small piece of fudge. A pot of tea.
Options Available – There are no options available.
Comments – We had booked our Afternoon Tea in advance.
On arrival we had to join a queue to say we had arrived. It took some time to get our presence noticed, despite there being six of us and several staff present. We were finally shown to a table that had been reserved for us in the middle of the room.
The table was laid with pretty, non-matching vintage china, a paper napkin and a cake fork each.
Unfortunately, some of the china cups were not particularly clean!
Our drinks order was taken straight away. We asked for a pot of tea, one cappuccino, one cola and a glass of milk.
The drinks all arrived quickly. The tea was in a traditional round style blue teapot, along with a milk jug. The tea was made with tea bags. We did later ask for a refill, which we received. Water was also available from large containers on a sideboard.
The Afternoon Tea arrived shortly after on three three-tier spindle type stand with round white plates. Each tier contained the sandwiches and cakes for two people.
There was also a two-tier spindle type cake stand with round blue and white plates containing the scones, jam and cream for all six of us.
The sandwiches were fresh, tasty and well filled. They were all on brown bread and were accompanied by a small amount of micro salad.
The scones were of a medium size and were fresh but were a little rustic! They were a bit flat and crumbly, making it a bit difficult to cut them in half.
However, they were tasty and had been warmed up. Unfortunately, there were scones available on the counter behind us that were a bit bigger and much better shaped, less rustic, than those we were served.
There was plenty of both jam and clotted cream for each person.
Butter was available to those who wanted it – in matching mini jars to the jam and cream.
There was a very good variety of cakes. However, they were a little bit variable in quality.
The mini sponge cake was tasty and of a good size. It was liked by everyone. The brownie was also universally popular, though it was very rich and very squidgy, which made it hard to eat without getting covered! The Battenberg was nice but was too small. A whole slice of a cake this size would have been better.
On the top layer were the smaller items. The macaroons were non matching and, I suspect, probably not locally made. The piece of millionaire’s shortbread was ludicrously small. So small that it would have been better not included. It was just silly! The jelly was ok but we could not tell what flavour it was meant to be.
Coconut ice was something that divided us all. Half liked it and half hated it. It was good to see something different that we had made during our childhood and I personally enjoyed it. However, it is incredibly hard to eat much as it has a serious drying affect on the mouth!! Also, for some reason, it was bright purple!!!
Finally, there was a small piece of, what we decided was, fudge. However, it was very hard, making it difficult to eat, even though it was only very small.
Service was ok. Everything arrived promptly. However, we had to go to the counter to ask for butter and for the teapot to be re-filled. Also, some of the cups were not well cleaned.
| Sandwiches | 1.5 |
| Scone | 1.0 |
| Jam | 1.5 |
| Cream | 1.5 |
| Cake (variety) | 2.0 |
| Cake (quality) | 1.0 |
| Drink | 1.5 |
| Presentation | 1.5 |
| Service | 0.5 |
| Value | 1.5 |
| Total | 13.5 |
Sarnies Scones and Cakes 