I took The Girl on a rather decadent day out last month, and it included our favourtie Sunday past time – afternoon tea!
This time, I had booked up at Bea’s of Bloomsbury. I had heard great things about them, but never been myself. We went to what (I assume) is their original branch in Theobald’s Road.
It’s a lovely little place, but IS very ‘compact and bijou’, especially if you are sat near the counter as we were. Luckily, on a Sunday in that part of London, there isn’t much passing trade, so we weren’t disturbed. The décor is contemporary and sophisticated and a little quirky. It comes across very much as a cake shop rather than a ‘tea room’ if that makes sense.
We were given a choice of teas and brought our selection of savoury baguettes. These were 3 each of a third of 3 different baguettes. They were very nice, but a little more ‘trendy’ than the traditional finger sandwiches that you get, so The Girl wasn’t quite as keen. They did tell me what they were, but i can’t for the life of me remember – but *I* liked them. One had chorizo and peppers in, and as far as I’m concerned, chorizo makes everything better!
Then came the exciting stuff. the scones and cakes!
Oh my – this was an absolute treat, and my hips expanded about 2″ just looking at the serving plate.
Of course, there were the obligatory scones, jam and clotted cream. These were lovely and light, but obviously not the intended stars of the show. Bea’s has a display absolutely bursting at the seams full of cakes, cupcakes and other glorious baked treats, and this is where they excel.
We had 2 cupcakes – one vanilla & raspberry and one chocolate fudge. They were light, full of flavour with beautiful frosting. We then had a selection of mini meringues, marshmallows, brownies, blondies, chocolate & almond biscuits and killer brownies.
If you like your cakes, this is the place for you – they were all so well made, so full of flavour. The marshmallows were a welcome addition too – I loved those as they’re not something you usually see with an afternoon tea. however, the sheer amount of ‘cake’ became a bit much after a while, and felt a little heavy. We couldn’t finish and ended up taking some little biscuits and a brownie home for The Man. I think that a little fruit pastry or a lighter more mousse-like cake would’ve been a relief.
However, at just £17 each you can’t really complain – and if you go prepared there really isn’t anything not to like. It was all top-notch!
My London Life In Reviews 
I read yesterday that John Lewis are doing a ‘5 o’clock Jubilee tea’ this summer at their shops in Westfield Shepherd’s Bush, Oxford Circus and Westfield Stratford. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the_queens_diamond_jubilee/9235840/Diamond-Jubilee-tea-club-to-ease-London-commute.html.
I’ve promised my Mum another afternoon tea after our trip to the Tophams Hotel a few months ago and this looks great.
I shall have to look into that. Oh we DO like out afternoon tea 😀 Maybe you and Phoebe could join us!
Don’t tell my wife, she love’s afternoon tea, this sounds a good one and not too expensive.
It’s lovely, but I have heard that the branch near St Pauls is even prettier 🙂