The Old Bakehouse, Broadstairs

Back in March during the coldest spell on record, the girls and I spent a week at my Mum’s newly purchased caravan in Deal, on the Kent coast. We spent the two weekends with Glen, and my friend popped down for a few days but we had a few days on our own too.

I don’t drive, but I never let this hold us back in exploring and so one of the mid-week days, the girls and I (buggy and all) hopped on a Southeastern train from Walmer (the little hamlet of Deal where we were based) to Broadstairs.

I’d long wanted to visit this seaside resort, having heard great things, but I must admit in the cold and slightly drizzly weather it wasn’t quite what it might be at this time of the year, I don’t like to use the word bleak, but having walked around the entire town, on and off the beach, and the few open shops, it wasn’t as inviting as I’d expected. 

I will return over the summer as the sandy beach looked great and I'm sure we'll have a completely different kind of day in the sunshine.

Bridget enjoyed a few of the photographic opportunities – such as climbing in this boat, and posing by the sea, but there wasn’t tons here to do with children in the cold weather. They had a small amusement arcade which we popped into for half an hour. You'll see what the weather was like from these few pictures...

Bridget on the boat at Broadstairs

Trying to keep warm at Broadstairs

Bridget on the beach at Broadstairs

Searching for somewhere to eat, that would be accommodating with a 3 and a 1 year old with buggy in tow, we stumbled upon a few options – Bridget was quite taken with an ice cream parlour on the front, but freezing cold and slightly damp, I was looking for something a little warmer and whilst there were a few fish and chip shops, we’d already enjoyed some that week from Hythe Seafood Bar.

We had a peek in the Royal Albion Hotel, on the sea front, and whilst the children’s menu looked good, we walked in and aside from the fact there were about four wet dogs in there which immediately put me off, nobody approached us to offer a table in five minutes and I got fed up so we retreated back to the high street.

By sheer chance we stumbled upon The OldBakehouse – I saw the bakery first and thought worst case, I can grab us some sausage rolls, but then spotted the little tea room which is an annex of the bakery, I enquired if there was room for the buggy and couldn’t have been more welcomed.

Quaint and comfortably furnished, with meme signs (my Mum is obsessed with these so we felt right at home) and little nods to Kent, The Old Bakehouse was also a warm and welcome retreat from the cold. 

The staff were super friendly with the children too, which is always the most reassuring, especially if you’re eating out alone with them and they were in possession of a high chair too.

We quickly ordered some Welsh rarebit (cheese on toast) and juice for the girls and a cheese ploughman’s for me with a latte.

Hearty, comforting fare indeed and served with a smile, I really couldn’t fault it at all. 

My cheese ploughman’s came with a generous wedge of Cheddar and Brie, salad, coleslaw, pickle, chutney and a basket full of bread which the girls helped me with. For the £4.95 it was reasonably priced for great food – not fancy or refined, but exactly what you’d want in a tea room and I really enjoyed it.

Plougman's at The Old Bakehouse, Broadstairs

As a treat and to allay Bridget’s requests for ice cream in the aftermath of the ‘beast from the East’, I ordered us some homemade scones with clotted cream and jam as a dessert. They were exquisite. 

Scones at The Old Bakehouse, Broadstairs

Bridget loves a scone anyway from a few afternoon teas she’s been to with me, but this was Beatrice’s first ever cream tea, and she 100% approved, you can see the jam all over her in these pics.

Bridget's cream tea, The Old Bakehouse, Broadstairs

Jam face Beatrice, The Old Bakehouse, Broadstairs

I had change from £20 from our little jaunt here and warm, fuzzy memories of an hour spent happily in the warm during our cold little holiday.

The Old Bakehouse is an absolute gem of a find and I’m sure I’ll return with my Mum when we visit over the summer months. I’d thoroughly recommend.

A Vegetarian Afternoon Tea, Hix at Selfridges

My friend Larni and I are going to New York in a mere five weeks for six days of fabulousness and we have been doing a lot of shopping to prepare for our Big Apple wardrobe, a lot! A recent West End retail jaunt on a Sunday was completed by taking in a pre-arranged vegetarian afternoon tea at Hix Restaurant & Champagne Bar at Selfridges.

We planned our shopping trip to finish up in Selfridges and then relax over tea and cake  and as I’m not a vegetarian, I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy a selection of savouries minus the meat, but I needn’t have worried as it was all very appetising.

We each got our own stand filled with treats and at the price of £21.50 per person, it  represented really good value for money. There was a good selection of teas to choose from, although Larni and I are not the most sophisticated when it comes to our tea and just opted for an ordinary breakfast blend. I was a little disappointed that we were presented with chipped tea pots that I felt should have been replaced, but this was the only down point we noticed at Hix.

The savouries included finger sandwiches with a duck-egg mayonnaise, Larni really enjoyed these but I bypassed as I don’t enjoy eggs unless they are baked into a cake. We also each had a naughty but nice mini cheese toastie which was lovely and it was nice to have a little hot savoury alongside the other cold options.

The other two savouries included a tomato crostini topped with a sliver of hard cheese – not the most creative, but certainly tasty. And finally, my favourite - a little sourdough toast topped with delicious homemade guacamole – wonderful.

Onto the sweets,  the most exciting part of the tea – five portions of utter deliciousness. Firstly we each had half of a plain and a fruit scone topped with the obligatory clotted cream and some strawberry jam. The scones were cooked perfectly with the perfect balance of sweet and savoury and were offset beautifully with the accompaniments, they were, for me a very welcome introduction into the sweet coma I was about to enter.

We had been advised to eat one of the treats quickly – this was basically the equivalent of a fancy Tunnocks Teacake  but with a twist. It had a biscuit base, was filled with a glorious pistachio ice cream and then encased with delicious dark chocolate and then finished with some sweetened pistachio shards. Unusual but divine and great to have something I’ve never encountered when having afternoon tea elsewhere before.

We had a mini lemon meringue pie too which was equally impressive. The pies were tiny little pastry confections filled with a rather fluid citrus centre, only a couple of bites to eat, but the kind of bites where you really savour the flavour. The meringue topping was OK as a contrast in texture but was a little bland.

The final confection was the finale for both Larni and myself, and what a showstopper. A rather perfectly portioned wedge of rich chocolate cake, that was moist, unctuous and almost gooey in texture, with a gorgeous flavour of chocolate and topped with a silky chocolate ganache. This is the type of cake that usually I would have a dollop of cream with, but you just didn’t need it, it was pure poetry on a plate – perfection.

Service was perfectly polite at Hix and we were seated with a view down onto the ground floor of Selfridges which was great for people watching and there’s nothing better than enjoying an indulgent afternoon tea at your own, slow pace whilst watching the world frantically go by.

 

Cream Tea at Home

Home-made Raspberry Jam and Plain Scones

After my fruit picking experience last week I was left with a rather large quantity of raspberries and decided I would make some jam.

Tying in with my ambition to bake more, what better opportunity than to bake some plain scones, a firm favourite served with lashings of cream and a generous spreading of jam.

After all no afternoon tea would be complete without deliciously buttery cream scones with jam.

Raspberry Jam

800g Caster Sugar
800g Raspberries, washed
1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp Lime Juice

This makes enough to fill two 400g jam jars - which will need to be sterilised.

Pre-heat oven to 180C and place a small plate or saucer into the fridge to cool.

Place sugar on a baking tray and place in the oven for 8-12 minutes till it's warmed right through.

In the meantime pop the raspberries in a large saucepan and put on a low heat till the fruit has softened.

Once the sugar is warm pour into the fruit and add the vanilla extract and freshly squeezed lime juice.

Cook up to a boil and then simmer quite vigorously for 30-40 minutes.

To sterilise the jam jars remove the lids and place upside down in the hot oven for 15 minutes or until the jam is ready.

To test if the jam is ready, take the cold saucer from the fridge and get half a teaspoon of the mixture and pop onto the plate. This will be very, very hot, so leave for two-three minutes to cool, then press against it with your finger. If it starts to wrinkle up and feel firm, then it's ready. If not, keep on the heat for a further five minutes and test again. Repeat until ready.

Once ready pour into the jam jars and place a round of baking paper over the top and an elastic band. Once this has completely cooled down you can put the proper lid on.

This makes for a gorgeously sweet jam and is perfect for spreading on toast, crumpets, scones or for use in baking such as jam roly poly or jam tarts.

Plain Scones

225g Plain Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
30g Caster Sugar
150ml Milk
50g Butter

In a bowl mix the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt and then use the rubbing in method to mix the butter in. Using only your fingertips after a few minutes you should be left with a breadcrumb mix - similar to that of a crumble topping.

Slowly add the milk, bit by bit till this forms a firm and pliable dough.

Turn out onto a floured side, making sure your hands are floured too and flatten out into a circle, which should be over 1cm thick.

Cut out the scones. (Traditionally these are made round, but I made heart-shaped ones).

Put onto a tray lined with greaseproof paper which has also been greased.

Brush the tops with a little reserved milk and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

Place on a wire cooling rack and allow to cool.

To serve cut in half and layer on some extra thick double cream or some clotted cream and a generous helping of the raspberry jam. Not mandatory to have tea with your scones however from my point of view - advisable.

Cream tea in the comfort of your own home - wonderful.

Afternoon Tea on a Budget

Bea's of Bloomsbury
Last week my best friend, Larni and I celebrated becoming another year older (she is a whole three days younger than me) with a week-long marathon of fun and frolics. This tradition began 11 years ago and we are reluctant to give it up. This time around we found that food and alcohol featured highly, as did the fabulous West End show Legally Blonde and yet more alcohol.

We naturally celebrated with our own family and group of friends too, but our first treat, was just for the two of us and just about sums us up together - Champagne Afternoon Tea - in other words an afternoon of cakes and sweet things with a good glug full of bubbles - perfect.

It has to be noted that we were actually planning on doing outdoorsy, sight-seeing activities, mainly visiting the Tower of London, but good old England in June let us down and on the morning as the rain came and came we wondered what to do instead. Afternoon tea was suggested but I was doubtful we would find a slot anywhere, early, being so last-minute, and I didn't want to go for a late sitting as I was booked in to eat at Les Deux Salons on the evening.

As luck would have it, I had noticed a few days previously something on Twitter about Bea's of Bloomsbury doing Afternoon Tea, so I called, and we were in. I've long been a fan of Bea's, having previously worked just off of Theobalds Row, where the original resides, so I was quite keen to try out the newer addition to the family in the new shopping centre at St Pauls, One New Change.

I was delighted to find the decor modern, quirky and stylish. There was a brown theme throughout with the odd splashes of colour, and the ceiling was adorned with various lampshades in the guise of teapots, ingenius.

Many visits to the original had been on seriously stressed out days when only the thought of a coffee cupcake, a cup of tea and a natter with one of the girls could get me through the day, it almost represented a safe haven for a certain trio of friends, and the friendly staff at this branch with the delicious array of cakes was one of the reasons why we often returned.

I was immediately impressed that the owner of this establishment have clearly kept their staff selection skills up to scratch, the waitress who served us was accomodating, friendly and informative. We ordered our tea and informed her that Larni is a vegetarian, and she immediately went off to check if all of the cakes were veggie-friendly and to change the savoury sandwiches of hers to meat-free.

The sandwiches were actually small sections of crusty, white baguette and mine were a chorizo and cream cheese with a little green leaf. They were lovely, the smokey saltiness of the chorizo was complimented perfectly by the cream cheese.

One small complaint that we had was that actually, the meaty sandwiches were side by side with the veggie ones, to the point that one of them was actually touching the other, while this may seem a trifle point, let's face it if it was an allergy we were talking about, those wouldn't have been placed on the same plate at all, and really I don't think this should be treated differently. However as we were laden down with goodies, we ploughed on, I had the offending sandwich and found it didn't offend me in any way. It was a buffalo mozarella with tomato and a basil pesto - the pesto had seeped into the bread a little and given a magnificent flavour. It was like a little sandwich taste of Italy, lovely.

Next was a plain scone, the original, quintessential part of any respectable afternoon tea. It was lovely, buttery, light and crumbly, had a good moist texture and excellent seasoning so as not to be so sweet, which I often find scones can be. These were lovely with our pot of fresh clotted cream and strawberry jam too. They were however rather large, and I only eat half to make sure I had room for all the other goodies.

Two signature cupcakes were included in the tea, and as I've tried a number of these before, I was pleased to see two that I'd yet to try. One was a vanilla cupcake with a cassis topping, beautiful to look at with a pinky-purpley icing. The other was a chocolate base with a pistachio cream finish which was the minty green you would imagine, side by side they looked so pretty, it was almost a shame to crack into them. Somehow we found the strength though! We halved them both so we could try everything, and found that not only did they look good, they tasted great. The icing on both was immense, the kind where you'd happily stick your finger in and eat a little minus the cake. The cupcakes were both light and fluffy and in keeping with my favourite coffee ones of old.

The top layer of our tea was a selection of brownies and marshmallow. The marshmallow were just for me as these contain gelatine, which our friendly waitress kindly informed us of. They were lovely, the stuff of childhood memories, only better.

The final three treats I've deliberately left till the end - brownies. Those who know me will know I'm not a fan of brownies, I find that whenever I'm confronted by one they tend to lack flavour and be quite dry. I have been known to voice my irritation when they seem to always end up on dessert menus these days in some format too. However I will openly admit defeat where neccessary, and after trying this trio of brownies, I can say that I may be fast converting to the brownie-lover brigade.

The first was a Valrhona, or in other words a rich chocolatey affair, which I can vouch was very, very far from dry. The dark chocolate flavour was lovely and for the first time ever, I was left wanting more. The second was a Belgian Blondie, or in other words my favourite flavour of any cake - white chocolate! It was heavenly. I kept awaiting the moment where I could nod to Larni and say 'See this is why I don't like brownies!'. Perhaps it would come with the final treat - a peanut butter brownie - perhaps not. This was actually my surprise dish of the day, it was incredible. Not only was it not dry, it was creamy, it was chewy, it had a glorious nutty flavour running through the almost caramel like texture with chocolate, this was like food heaven. It reminded me a Snickers bar, but a bite size portion in glorious, wonderful cake format and all in one perfect texture.

On top of all of this wonderful confectionary we had a pot of Jing tea, and to mark the occassion of our birthday a glass of Moet & Chandon - we felt it'd be rude not to.

We both thoroughly enjoyed this very English tradition and it has to be said that if anyone is looking to experience a real Afternoon Tea without the expense of The Ritz and the like, this is a top-notch, quality alternative.

We had the Champagne Afternoon Tea which at £22.50 is very cheap for the capital. However if Champagne is not for you then it is only £15 per person for the standard Afternoon Tea - definitely a bargain.

Bea's of Bloomsbury's is a quirky, sophisticated venue with cakes to die for and great service. I'm hoping to see more of these around the capital, and hope they retain their excellent staffing and high quality food.

One final note: if like Larni and myself you enjoy the Champagne Afternoon Tea at Bea's and find that one glass of bubbles is just not enough, copy our style and pop a few doors along to Searcy's where you can enjoy one of their Champagne cocktails. They have daily deals on, but as we were feeling flamboyantly decadent after our fun afternoon we ignored these and went for a Strawberry Bellini and a classic Kir Royale and both were fantastic.

http://www.beasofbloomsbury.com/

http://www.searcys.co.uk/one-new-change-champagne-bar/home/