Afternoon Tea with a Twist

I dont think afternoon tea gets any more special than this.... my boyfriend and I arrived at the Ideal Home Show to find they had an area called the Central Marina, where they offered afternoon tea. As you must know by now I'm addicted to going to different places for afternoon tea. The setting was stunning and definitely not what you expect at a home exhibition.The special bit was that it was on water!! ^^

The menu was actually very good and only £15....

The only let down was the sandwiches, they were a little dry and with little filling inside, but all the ups made up for the only down. The scones were moist and not dry at all.... scrumptious! The cakes were impressive and very yummy too!!

 From right: Chocolate coffee cake, Chocolate Cream Eclair, Lemon Curd Cake, Strawberry Custard Tart

Fruit scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam

The Montcalm Hotel Afternoon Tea

I had never heard of The Montcalm Hotel until I got an email from Groupon about a deal for afternoon tea here. (http://www.montcalm.co.uk/afternoon-tea-126.html)
The deal was very good value, afternoon tea for two for only £12. You cannot beat that bargain. Very rare to even be able to pay £12 for afternoon tea for one person, so off I went. Here's the menu, usual price for this set is £19.50.

 Traditional Afternoon Tea

Your choice from a fine selection of JING loose leaf teas served with 

the Savoury Tea Finger sandwiches, plain and fruit scones with clotted 

cream and strawberry jam, and a selection of pastries and 

fruit tartlets from the Sweet Tea.  

 Menu doesn't sound too bad does it? Although I must say it is not the best afternoon tea I have had. We had three finger sandwiches each, these were not bad, they looked and tasted fresh. We had a scone each, the scone was quite nice, it was moist and not too crumbly, which made spreading the clotted cream and jam very easy. However the big disappointment was the cakes. Very often when I go to afternoon tea, I never finish the set, as it is very filling and difficult to eat some many sweet things in one go. But nevertheless the excitement from seeing the tea set is the cakes on the top tier. You want to see pretty and delicate cakes that look too good to eat. However the cakes at The Montcalm, it was a disappointment. The display failed to generate any impact or reaction. The cakes did not taste that brilliant, but from the photo you can see the appearance of them are a let down, the top of the cakes are cracked and crumbling.

For the price of £12 for two I cannot complain too much, but if I had paid the full price of £19.50 per person I would not have been happy about it. Needless to say I will not be going back to her again... so the search continues ^^