Afternoon Tea at Tiffin Tea House, West Bridgford, Nottingham

The last time I posted an afternoon tea review was over 6 months ago! Fortunately though it hasn't been 6 months since my last afternoon tea, in fact  I've had a busy summer gorging on scones and cakes. Over the next few of weeks I will be posting reviews of different afternoon tea venues, first up is the Tiffin Tea House in Nottingham.

Tiffin Tea House is a traditional tea house which serves fresh food and homemade cakes. It is situated on Abbey Road in West Bridgford. Entering the Tiffin Tea House is like being transported to a 1950s tearoom.Tiffin is perfectly decorated with china teapots and lace table cloths, I particularly love the mismatched chairs. Tiffin Tea House is relaxed and very cosy, it gives a lovely homely feel, which i really like. It reminded me a lot of my grandma's house for that reason.

When I first visited the Tiffin Tea House I had no intention of having afternoon tea I was thinking more a long the lines of a slice of cake and a cup of tea, but those thoughts quickly vanished when we saw others with their 3 tier cake stands.

As you can see from the menu, Tiffin Tea House offers an array of things from full cooked English breakfasts to fish finger sandwiches and homemade cakes. However, their Tiffin Afternoon Tea seems to be the most popular. 

I love this cake stand!

As you can see from the picture the Tiffin Tea House afternoon tea is a real treat!

It includes a large selection of traditional sandwiches such as cheese and pickle ones, nothing too adventurous, nice and simple.

It wouldn’t be an Afternoon Tea without some warm scones!

The cakes we tasted were all homemade and consisted of a carrot cake, walnut cake and a chocolate brownie and a mini Victoria sponge. They were all yummy, my favourite had to be the walnut cake.

Afternoon Tea at the Tiffin Tea House is reasonably priced at £11.95 per person. I don't think there's one bad word I could say about Tiffin Tea House, we had a lovely time indulging and will definitely be going back very soon. The staff were all so friendly and helpful. 

Next time I will be reviewing Afternoon Tea at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel in Leicester Square, so keep your eyes peeled for that in a fortnight's time.

See you next time for more of my ramblings!

xx

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The Cheesecake Shop, Nottingham

I have always wanted to go to the Cheesecake Shop and the other day I was asked by a friend where they could get a nice cake from, as the helpful person that I am I sneakily suggested the Cheesecake Shop and even offered to accompany them for directions (obviously I had a hidden motive *wink*) so off we headed to the Cheesecake Shop on Daleside Road in Nottingham.

A bit about the Cheesecake Shop...

The Cheesecake Shop is a franchise set up in 1998, it was founded by Warwick and Robert Konopacki. It began in Australia and has slowly made it's way around the world, with 6 shops here in the UK.

The Cheesecake Shop specializes in 'cheesecakes' (surprise surprise). But also offers a range of other desserts, they have 5 different torte's: Black Forest, Choc Cherry, Honey and Cinnamon, Tirimisu and a Strawberry Fields one. They sell 8 different baked cheesecakes and 8 different continental cheesecakes.  

Below are some of the cakes I thought looked particularly yummy (basically the whole shop)...

My inner (or not so inner) child came out when I saw that minion cake! 

The shop itself is nothing to write home about, but the cakes speak out for themselves and are definitely the 'stars of the show'.  

How good do these cheesecakes look?!

There is an option to dine in the shop with your choice of cake and hot drink or you can buy a cheesecake to take way. A full cake can be purchased for around £11.60, while half a cake costs £6.50. 

As I'd come all that way I thought it would be rude to leave empty handed. So then came the diffuclt choice - should I go for the strawberry shortcake or the mango and passion fruit cheesecake? Eventually I opted for the mango and passion fruit cheesecake, which I wasn't disappointed with. It certainly isn't an overstatement to say that this beats the cheesecakes I've had from supermarkets and earn's it's place as the best cheesecake ever (until my next trip to the cheesecake shop). 

Well if you insist...

Have you ever been to the cheesecake shop?

See you next time for more of my ramblings!

xx

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The Treat Kitchen Confectionery in Nottingham*

Last week I was kindly invited to visit The Treat Kitchen in Nottingham, a sweet lover's paradise. This was one offer that could not refuse!

So what is the Treat Kitchen I hear you ask? Well the Treat Kitchen is a traditional sweet shop with a modern twist which is located on Wheeler Gate in Nottingham City Centre. If you are from Nottingham you may well have passed by it a few times, as it has been open since last September.

Although, I have walked past the Treat Kitchen on several occasions, yet I have never had the time to go in (shame on me) So this was the perfect opputunity to 'Treat' myself.

Before my visit I decided to do some research about the Treat Kitchen. So like I mentioned the shop has been open since last September when the owners Martin and Jess moved back to the UK after living in Australia for 3 years,. The Barnett family have been in the confectionery business for over 100 years!! Martin and Jess both felt like their was a gap in the market for a modern version of the 'Ye Olde Sweet Shoppe'.

When I arrived I was greeted by Jodie, the marketing assistant. Jodie explained  that the Treat Kitchen was designed to give a modern twist to the old fashioned sweet shop. To achieve this they decided to include huge glass windows, clear jars/pouches, white shelving and walls to make their brightly coloured sweets speak for themselves. This is indeed the case, the rows of colourful jars were visible from across the street!

The packaging doesn't just make the sweets and shop look pretty they actually help the environment! As all the jars and glass milk bottles can be reused for absolutely anything your heart desires. You could use the jars as makeup brush holders, candle holders, pen pot's or even a plant pot!

Despite the modern look of the Treat Kitchen they still have all the favourite traditional sweets from Sherbert Lemons to Pear Drops, in fact they actually have 300 varieties of different treats (wowie that should keep you going for a few months weeks days)

The Treat Kitchen actually have their very own sugar free range which is aimed at Diabetics, but if you are trying to be a bit healthy but still want to sample the delights of the Treat Kitchen they are perfect for you as there is no compromise on taste! The sugar free range has 10 varieties, including sugar free chocolate limes and sugar free chocolate eclairs.

The Treat Kitchen also have a new range of gourmet dessert boiled sweets (!!!) The range includes 4 different dessert flavours: Lemon Meringue Pie, Strawberry Cheesecake, Banoffe Pie and Rhubarb Crumble! So, now you can have dessert at any time of the day (who's complaining?) 

If you're brave enough then there is also a brand new radioactive range of sweets, which include 12 different flavoured hard boiled sweets that are covered in malic acid. The sour taste from the acid coating lasts about 30 seconds in your mouth, then you can enjoy the hard boiled sweet. Although I was too much of a wimp to try them, I am obsessed with the packaging of the radioactive range, I love how they are packaged chemistry beakers...they remind me of school so much!

Chocoholics needn't turn the other way...the Treat Kitchen also stock yummy chocolate pizzas from the local family run 'Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company'. Their chocolate pizzas are made with Belgian milk and white chocolate. Personally, I think these are great for a quirky gift for any chocolate/pizza lovers!

Another great thing about the Treat Kitchen was the fact that they have 140 vegetarian flavours and their Jelly Bean range is gelatine free. Normally when I go to sweet shops or am wanting to purchase sweet's from the supermarket I get slightly disheartened by the fact that none of them are suitable for vegetarians as the majority contain gelatine, which is a shame. So the fact that they have sweets suitable for veggies is a real bonus. The Treat Kitchen definitely put a lot of thought into their products and seem to cater for all dietry needs.

I have to mention the fudge counter. The Treat Kitchen have a total of 30 fudgetastic (I apolgise for my failed attempts of being witty) flavours, Martin's dad who is a retired chemistry teacher actually hand makes the fudge in store. I was lucky enough to try some fudge, all the flavours looked amazing but I opted for Salted Caramel, it was delicious

Finally, Jodie kindly said I could take some sweets away with me. So I happily left the shop with a jar of the 'Crunchy Rhubarb Crumble' boiled sweets from the dessert range.

I highly recommend you check out the Treat Kitchen for your sugar fix...you will not be disappointed!

However, if you don't live in Nottingham don't feel disheartened by the sheer fact that you aren't close to the Treat Kitchen  you can actually order online!! (thetreatkitchen.co.uk/)

The Treat Kitchen will be opening a new store in Derby soon located in the Intu Centre. The Treat Kitchen will be hosting their grand opening on Saturday the 12th of September. The shop will be open from 9am - 7pm but there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony by the Mayor of Derby at 11am. Jodie tells me they will be handing out 75,000 sweets on the day to celebrate! So make sure you all go and check it out :)

Finally I just want to say a big thank you to Jodie for showing me around and thank you to the Treat Kitchen for letting me sample all those lovely sweets!

See you next time for more of my ramblings! 

xx

*I received gifts from The Treat Kitchen for the purpose of this review, however all views are my own. 

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Afternoon Tea at Thoresby Hall, Nottinghamshire

A couple of weekends ago I had the pleasure of sampling a lovely afternoon tea at the beautiful Thoresby Hall.

Thoresby Hall is set in the magnificent Victorian grounds of the Throesby Hall Estate in the Nottinghamshire countryside and is a stunning setting for a peaceful Sunday afternoon. The beautifully decorated Great Hall, where the afternoon tea is served, is fitted with magnificent chandeliers and has several large windows which allow you to take in the stunning views of the estate as you dine.

Very grand indeed! I momentarily felt like I’d stepped on to the set of Downton Abbey!

All the staff at Thoresby Hall were welcoming and friendly, right from the waitress serving our table to the hotel receptionist who greeted us when we first entered. Those of you who have been to Thoresby Hall before, will probably appreciate how enormous it can appear to a first time visitor and we did get ‘slightly’ lost trying to find the Great Hall, but the (several) staff we asked for help along the way were really approachable. In fact, even during the initial booking phone call I was impressed by how friendly and professional the staff were. Top marks from me for customer service :) 

So now onto the important bit…the food…

Immediately, after serving our teas (I opted for a traditional English breakfast tea this time) the waitress brought over our cake stand, which included the sandwiches, cakes and a separate tray of warm scones…

For the sandwiches we of course requested the vegetarian selection. While all the sandwiches were nice, I felt the fillings were a little on the unimaginative side consisting of standard cheese, cucumber or egg mayo fillings on white bread. Nothing to write home about, but I guess I should be grateful that there was a veggie selection at all!

As for the cakes they were scrumptious! We received a  Shortbread, Chocolate cluster slice, Lemon Meringue pie, Caramel slice and Blueberry cake. 

All the sweet treats were well made and a very reasonable size! My favourite one had to be the lemon meringue pie and followed by the more basic chocolate clusters, which are an all-time favourite of mine.

There was a selection of strawberries with cream - a surprising, yet pleasant addition to the  afternoon tea!

The selection of plain and fruit scones were equally generous and delicious. Unfortunately, I could only manage one as I was well and truly stuffed after gorging on the sandwiches and cakes. The waitress offered to pack our leftover scones in a box for us to take home, a really nice gesture and something which most hotels don’t do. A definite 10/10 for service! However, by that point we couldn’t think about having any more food, so we turned down the offer - thinking about it now I could really do with a cream tea while writing this post!

I just love how traditional the hotel looks, reminds me a bit of an Agatha Christie novel for some reason!

The waitress also told us we were free to stay and explore the hotels grounds after our tea experience. Thoresby hall has 30 acres of gardens, making it the perfect opportunity to shed some of those extra calories accumulated during the afternoon tea. But surprise surprise due to the British weather the outdoors felt more like you had been transported to Antarctica (I may be exaggerating a little) It would have been lovely to walk the hotel grounds on a spring or summers day, but unfortunately I couldn’t face an outdoor stroll on that particular day given the freezing weather conditions. I did, however brave the cold for a split second so I could take some photos! 

I admit ever since I went to the ever so posh Langham for afternoon tea I have become rather snobbish when it comes to afternoon tea. Yet, I genuinely think Thoresby Hall’s afternoon tea experience is just as amazing and much more reasonably priced. In terms of pricing I believe it is £39 for two people to enjoy the tea. If you want to go for a filling traditional afternoon tea located in beautiful quintessentially English surroundings then this is a perfect place!

See you next time for more of my ramblings 

xx

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