A Piece of Cake. Coltishall, Norfolk.

Cost – £23 per person (May 2024)

Parking and Access – There is a small car park right next to the entrance of the building. The entrance to the café is on the level. There were a few tables on this level. The rest were up a staircase.

The toilets were on the ground floor level, and were accessed without any steps.

Background – We were off to Norfolk again, but this time, we would be nearer to Norwich, rather than the North Norfolk coast. I had a vague memory of seeing the tearoom in Coltishall at some time in the past. So, it was on to the internet to find out about it. Luckily, the place had survived the covid shutdowns, and was still in existence. Better still, it still served Afternoon Teas.

We phoned up the tearoom to book our Afternoon Teas. They wanted us to decide in advance, what sandwiches, scones and cakes we wanted. We chose our options, and awaited our trip.

Contents per person – Six finger sandwiches (three each – choose two fillings from a choice of nine. I chose cheese and pickle, and egg mayonnaise). Two small scones – choose two from plain, fruit or cheese (I chose one fruit and one cheese), a mini jar of Tiptree strawberry jam, some mini pats of butter and a small Rodda’s clotted cream. Two cakes – choose two from a choice of nine (I chose a millionaires slice, and a brownie. My companion chose carrot cake and flapjack). Two hot or cold drinks from the menu (I chose two raspberry lemonade drinks)

Options Available – There were no options available for this Tea.

Comments – The tearoom is in the heart of the village of Coltishall, next to the pretty River Bure. It is in a building that is also used as a church on Sundays.

We were shown to a table right by the door of the café.

The table was empty, apart from salt and pepper pots, and a sugar bowl.

We were asked for our choice for our first drink. I chose a raspberry lemonade. This arrived quickly, in a can, accompanied by a glass. It was nice and cold, and very refreshing.

We were also given a pretty plate with an autumnal edge of leaves and corn. This was accompanied by a knife and fork wrapped in a paper napkin.

The Afternoon Tea arrived next. On a three-tier cake stand, with non-matching round plates.

The sandwiches were all freshly made and were extremely well filled. There was enough pickle with the cheese, and the egg mayonnaise was well made.

The scones were, unfortunately, rather disappointing. On the counter behind us, there were some massive, well fruited scones. There was also a sign beside another plate of huge scone, announcing that they were made with local cheese and pear. I had seen on the website, that they did interesting types of scones, and had chosen one fruit and one cheese because of this. Sadly, what we got was a very small sultana scone, and a very small standard cheddar scone. We were very disappointed.

The scones were alright. They were small, and cold, but fresh. We were given a Tiptree jam each, and a small Rodda’s clotted cream pot each, plus several small packets of butter. There was enough of each of these.

Finally, I’m afraid the cakes were also a bit disappointing. We were given two smallish pieces of cake each. However, behind us on the counter, were the full- sized versions, whilst we had much smaller pieces. The size would have been fine, if we had had, at least one more piece of cake each. But with just the two pieces, it looked, and felt, a bit, a bit mean.

Service was interesting. I don’t think I have ever been in a tearoom with so many young staff members, just standing around, trying to look busy when they clearly weren’t! They appeared when we needed them. We were given our second drinks. But they were all very young and really hadn’t the experience to know what to do to be useful.

We felt that, whilst this was a nice Tea, it was very overpriced for what we received. It was a real shame to miss out on the special scones the place offered, and there was not really enough cake for the price. Everything was fresh, and tasted good. It just could have, so easily, been done better.

Savoury	1.5
Scone	1.0
Jam	1.0
Cream	1.5
Cake (variety)	1.0
Cake (quality)	1.5
Drink	2.0
Presentation	1.5
Service	1.0
Value	1.0
Total	13.0

All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The photographs are all my own.

I remain completely anonymous and always pay for my Afternoon Teas. They are never gifted to me by the businesses reviewed.

I am the legal copyright holder of the content and images on this blog.