Before entering, on the border above the doorway is an aphorism about tea:
- "If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you." ~ William Gladstone
As we enter, there is a shop, full of English treats, and other English things "from home." It also has some great teaware, beautiful cups and pots, without being too girly.
The place is empty. We go to sit down, and there's no sign or other indication that provides some direction. As we go to sit, the lady there tells us that we may choose our spot. There were about 10 tables total. We chose the one on the wall, which has a lovely rural scene painted on the wall. So it's as if you're looking out the window on a British farm. This is the first charm of the place. The other decorations are nice, too.
The menu had some traditionally British items on it, like scones, but it also had a few very good meals! I had the cream of tomato soup in a "cup" which was more like a small bowl. With the tomato soup we were given soft bread and butter to go with it. My meal was a pasty, a pastry with mince meat and vegetables, which was very good. What really impressed me, though, was the freshness of the salad. It was presented on the same plate as the pasty, which struck me as odd for a second, but then I realized that it made sense: eating the salad first allowed the pasty to cool to an edible temperature, and yet the outside of it wasn't so hot that it would wilt the salad. For dessert we were a bit disappointed that our first two choices weren't available that day, so we had coffee cake (a bit odd, since we're in a tea room, but we didn't argue). The coffee cake was excellent! It had a chocolate covering on the outside (saying that it was frosting isn't right), and a couple of coffee beans on the top. I could barely eat my lunch, and I think I had about two bites of the dessert, but it was wonderful! I later had the coffee cake (when I had more room for it) with some English Breakfast tea at home, and that worked out well. It was a happy moment.
My date had merely a scone with her tea, after having the cream of tomato soup. She shared the scone with me, and it was about the best one I've ever had. Usually scones are crumbly and dry, but this was moist, held together well, and was deliciously sweet. I think it had orange zest in it, though I can't be sure. I was also very happy with that.
The teas we had were Kenya Black, which to me tasted like a Ceylon tea - the traditional, basic tea that seems to be most prevalent in the various places I've been. The other tea that my date had was Cinnamon Tea. She added sugar to it, and it still had a delicate flavor to it, and yet not sweet.
The only issue I have with the teas themselves is that age-old problem of getting the tea leaves out of the pots, because of the over-steeping problem. The pots were great and had wonderful little tea cozies on them, which helped everything stay hot.
The service was wonderful. After we ate, we shopped the little store, and bought a few things, like a cup sized tea strainer...
All in all, this was the best tea room experience that I've had, and any others that I may go to will have a hard time topping this one.
