Talk of Tea - Brighton

A small trek (the last bit up hill, a feat after traipsing around Brighton all day) from the last café, is the final visit of my trip, here at the beautiful Talk of Tea, another one who’s name intrigued me.

With mismatched…everything, fairy lights and tea lights hanging all over the place, a lovely comfy sofa in the corner and at least ten potted plants dotted about  this is the most chilled café I have ever been too, more like someone’s living room than a café. In this gorgeous little shop everywhere is comfortable and everyone seems to know each other but far from making be feel like an outsider, they make me feel welcome and this adds to the lovely homely feel of the café, everyone’s up for a chat and a laugh, sat here with these lovely people and a cup of tea I could be at a friends house. Listening to the conversations around me (its impossible not to in the cosy space) I have discovered they have regular games night and even a book club. I think I have found my happy place! If I lived in Brighton I would be here more than at home!

The tea is lovely though I am a little suspicious of the sugar, which I am told comes from Germany and is small rock-like shards in various shades of brown (at least I hope it’s sugar, either that or it’s the best practical joke ever and I just put stones in my tea!) The cake, which is dished out in really generous chunks looks delicious but I am way too full and can’t even finish my tea, instead snacking on the sugar-rocks (or really tasty stones) shh, don’t tell them!

I really could sit in this beautiful relaxed tea shop all day if allowed (and honestly, I don’t think they would mind) and I know I would definitely be here for the games nights, dragging a large bag of games with me and it’s the lovely feeling of friendliness and charm that is the reason (one of them anyway,) I really recommend this beautiful place to anyone and everyone and am thinking of moving to Brighton now!

Twitter:@talkoftea

Website: talkoftea.co.uk

Addrress: 26 Spring Street, Brighton, BN1 3EF

The Mock Turtle Tearoom - Brighton

As excited as I was to visit the famous Blackbird Tearoom and the others I have been to on my trip today, this particular tearoom, tucked away on a little street just off the sea front, made me especially excited not because if its delicious tea but because of its name! When I think of the Mock Turtle from Alice in Wonderland, two portrayals spring to mind: Gene Wilder’s adorable rendition of ‘beautiful soup’ (the words to which I can still remember even though I haven’t watched it in years) and the strange bovine/turtle cross from America Mcgee’s ‘Alice: Madness. So I was just a little disappointed to come in the tearoom and find no turtle references at all, let alone nods to Alice in Wonderland (unless the café’s blue-green colour scheme is a really subtle reference… probably not.) However, this tearoom is the oldest in Brighton and looks amazing for its age!

What I did find was a café positively covered in willow pattern! Old style, new style, some with Japanese characters on them, on the walls, the tables, holding the (separated) white and brown sugar and even hanging from the celling in the window. Behind me there is even a shelving unit boasting twenty-nine willow pattern or willow pattern style teapots beautifully displayed. Even the menu imitates the blue and white pattering around its edges.

After having had a cake, a toasted muffin and a meringue already today I didn’t really feel like eating anything from the bake-sale-esque table of cling-film-wrapped cakes, doughnuts and muffins in the window but the tea I had (The Mock Turtle Blend – a lovely breakfast tea) was really nice and even came with an extra jug of hot water, a sure sign of a pot of tea expected to please. Almost as if to make up for it though, I was given a really small, low jug of milk and they charged ten pence to top it up! Needless to say, I’m not overjoyed about that but the tea is reasonably priced, so I suppose its alright. The waitresses are very smiley and relaxed here, after the black and white uniformed ladies of Blackbird Tearoom and The Little Tea Shop in the Lanes, my waitress here, in a ‘Levis’ t-shirt is a stark contrast!

The mis-matched teapots and milk and water jugs look a little strange next to all the willow pattern but they also bring a homely feel along with the cling-film-wrapped cakes and relaxed and friendly staff, the combination of which creates a lovely, relaxed atmosphere (if only the waitress would stop popping her head around the corner right in front of my table, I’m sure she’s just checking this section of the room but it feels like she watching me!)

Not the place to be if you are looking for Alice in Wonderland references but lovely tea and tasty (looking) food makes it a good place to visit for lunch, worth a visit if you are in the area!

Address: 4 Pool Valley, Brighton, BN1 1NJ

That Little Tea Shop In The Lanes - Brighton

This bright, higgledy-piggledy space is a stark contrast to its neighbor round the corner, The Blackbird Tearoom. Light blue and white walls, grinning, chatty young staff and upbeat music give this café a more fun, (slightly) more modern feel to it. The bright room is full of knick-knacks, pictures of Brighton then and now, tin signs advertising all sorts from Brylcreem to coffee and teapots in all shapes and sizes (including houses and a cabbage!) Everyone, customers and staff seems to be smiling and chatting happily, a lovely feeling to be surrounded by, only enhanced by the occasional comedy song (‘Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud’ currently) coming out over the sound system.

My usual order in a café or tearoom is breakfast tea and a slice of cake but here everything on the menu looks so good and when I saw toasted muffins I couldn’t help but order one smothered in butter. Coupled with the ‘That Little Tea Shop’s Brew’ tea, a lovely breakfast tea (though I have my suspicions, as the teabag is pyramid shaped!) made for a perfect light lunch. I followed these with a really delicious meringue with cream and strawberries, finally something right for the glorious weather outside and it looked so tasty it inspired a woman across the café to order one as well! The best thing I have eaten in Brighton!

That Little Tea Shop is a truly happy and bright place to be sitting here in the sunlit window with a nice cup of tea and a gorgeous sweet meringue with strawberries, listening to Noel Coward I am the most content I have been in a while…lovely (even if my tippy table threatens to spill my tea!) 

Packed neatly into the lanes and named so well, I love it here and would recommend it to everyone. This family friendly restaurant (that caters to vegetarian and gluten free!) is divine!

Twitter: @teashopBTN
Address: Meeting House Lane, Brighton, BN1 1HB

Blackbird Tearooms - Brighton

After my trip to Canterbury to visit to three cafes in my one of my favorite towns in one day was so fun and such a success, I decided to take my notebook elsewhere, Brighton! I haven’t been to Brighton since I was 16 and I have never been by myself so the whole trip is an adventure! After an…interesting train journey, first boxed into a claustrophobic corner by an elderly woman with endless bags of cheese and onion crisps (I almost died from the smell, I swear!) then opposite two seventeen year olds who had the strangest conversation (I only understood half the words, if that, it made me feel so old…) I finally arrived!

The place most people recommended to me when I asked people about the best places to go in Brighton was the gorgeous traditional tearoom, The Blackbird Tearoom, so that was where I had to head first.

This quaint little tearoom sits on the corner of Ship St and is lovely, even from the outside. Its black and gold front stands out from the surrounding shops and on a warm enough day, the open door invites you in. The front room consists of six tiny, round, wooden tables squashed in front of an old fashioned wooden counter. In fact, everything in here seems to be a bit small and squashed, from the tiny plate my delicious cake barely fits on to the FIFTY or so small, framed pictures on the wall in front of me and continuing up the stairs (yes, I tried to count). Though it feels a little cramped in here I actually have all the space I need for my notebook, tea, cake and flowers on my table and room to spare! The whole place has a lovely vintage feel to it, the wall behind me is full to the brim with shelves of beautiful old tea and coffee tins and sitting here in the window is like being transported to the past, I almost expect to see a beautiful classic car drive by.

The huge slice of cake in front of me is the house special, the ‘Blackbird Cake’ a Victoria sponge cake using blackberries instead of strawberries and it is delicious, possibly the best cake I have ever had (and that’s saying a lot!) I almost want another slice but one is definitely sweet enough. The breakfast tea, like all the teas here (and like all tea should be) is loose-leaf. Of course, I didn’t realize that until I poured it, THEN I found the strainer that the waitress had hidden (accidentally I’m sure) behind the milk.

I really love the feel of Blackbird Tearooms, the vintage atmosphere, the lovely waitresses dressed so smartly and the ever so slightly crammed feeling created by its eclectic decorations. I also love the sign over the counter which says ‘Dispensing Dept’ and all the lovely crockery displayed beneath it. The whole feel of the place is welcoming and worn, as any well done vintage place should be, I feel like I could sit here in the window for hours and just enjoy the feeling of time passing and this gorgeous place connecting the past and present so neatly.

Thank you so much to everyone who recommended The Blackbird Tearoom to me, I it is a really beautiful place for relaxing and letting the world outside go by with lovely tea and delicious food. I certainly pass the recommendation on to anyone visiting Brighton and looking for a tearoom, a nice place for lunch or something a bit different for a bite to eat. One day I might even return in vintage dress!

Twitter: @blackbirdwitter
Website: blackbirdtearooms.com
Address: 30 Ship Street, Brighton, BN1 1AD

Chocolate Cafe - Canterbury

This is another café that was around when I lived in Canetrbury but I never visited. I think I thought it was a restaurant and so I didn’t bother to check it out properly. Now I’m inside, I am sorry that was the case. With delicious crepes on the menu and my tea beautifully served in a glass mug it’s a shame I didn’t visit sooner.

I got a ‘hello’ before I had even entered the café from a member of staff coming out as I was going in, and this really set up the rest of my visit. All the staff were so friendly, even finding me a table next to a plug so I could charge my phone, though I felt really rude for asking (… sorry!) I didn’t want to be stuck miles from home without a phone (though in my beloved Canterbury, I think I’d be ok).

So here I am staring out of the window upstairs at the street below, Canterbury is really beautiful if you just sit back a watch... Anyway, inside here there is 80’s music blaring just a tad too loud but fine because it’s good music. I love the way the food and drink is presented, I have a cup of lovely breakfast tea in a glass mug, so I can see the sugar cubes (yes more than one) swirling around inside and a gorgeous lemon and sugar crepe with a slice of lemon for extra juice on top! The only thing I will say about the crepe is that you need to eat it fast because if you leave it to chat of look at your phone or… write a blog… then it will cool and get a bit tougher and less enjoyable (but enjoyable all the same).

As I said, the staff have been really friendly and accommodating to my phone-charging needs and sitting up here surrounded by art work everywhere, on the walls, on the floor and above the doors, there is even a lovely painting of a couple having tea painted on my table (the varnish over which made the table a bit sticky…), a glass covered installation of a masquerade mask in the floor made me jump because I thought I was going to fall in! All this is like a metaphor for how eclectic this place is in itself, the design is all over the place but somehow it all fits together in a huge mad pattern and the customers are the same. Around me there are school students, university students, mums and daughters, families and even dates and they all seem to be regulars, rushing for a favorite table or seat and relaxing like it was home. I highly recommend this beautiful place, who doesn’t love tea and a crepe!

Twitter:@the_choc_cafe

Facebook: facebook.com/cafeofcanterbury

Website: cafecanturbury.co.uk

Address: 1 Guildhall St, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 2JQ

Tiny Tim's Tearoom - Canterbury

Today, as you will know if you read my last post, I ventured back to Canterbury, I went to university here and I lived here for two years so its nice to come back and see how it has changed. Its hard for even me to believe but there is one tearoom that was there when I lived there then that I still haven’t visited and so, haven’t written about. I’m not sure what stopped me from visiting it back then apart from the fact that The Moat Tearoom across town (which I wrote about here: time-for-tea-blog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/the-moat-tearooms-canterbury.html?=1 ) was my favorite at the time and I went in there every few days and nowhere else! Tiny Tim’s is the only tearoom/café that I have planned to visit today but I will have a wander around and discover other spots to write about (not to mention lovely pasty places that tweet me lovely messages!)

I remember just after I left uni, I was talking to a friend, who was a local, about Tiny Tim’s and he was really surprised that I had never visited it in my time in the town, especially because we used to visit The Moat Tearoom quite frequently. Sitting here in the tearoom now, I can understand why my friend was so confused about my not visiting before, he told me I would love it and I do. It’s perfect and the minute I stepped in the door and saw the flowered wreath above the fireplace, decorated with teacups and encircling a red and white polka dot cut out of a teapot, I knew I was going to feel right at home. The smart staff in their black and white outfits were quick to help me when I came through the door and I was seated right away.

On the way to my seat I couldn’t help but notice certificates on the wall including a ‘Tea Guild Award of Excellence’ showing that you don’t have to take my word for how amazing they are! Tasting the amazing, slice of sweet, moist Lemon Drizzle cake in front of me, I can see why. That, coupled with a lovely, smooth cup of their very own breakfast tea, and I feel like giving them an award myself.

Everything from this lovely set to the tables is laid out so beautifully and looks so neat and tidy. Behind the counter, there are large letters spelling out ‘The Cake Cupboard’ which, confusingly are over the top of three wooden cabinets full of tea, crockery and…wine. However in front of that on the counter is a gorgeous display of homemade cakes from a lovely lemon (the one I am devouring as I write) to a huge FOUR LAYER Victoria sponge cake! I really love the teacups, mugs, milk jugs and teapots, all decorated with the tearoom’s name that fill the ‘cake cupboard’ though. I am REALLY tempted to buy a teapot...

If you  manage to climb up the two floors to the bathrooms you will also be faced with The Ghost Room, full of pictures and lots of information about the building, supposedly the most haunted in Canterbury and how it used to be, not to mention some of the ghosts who might still haunt the building today. The building is even a stop on the local ghost tour!

I really love the duel fireplace in the main room downstairs which is in the centre of the room and has a hearth on both sides, just one of the many beautiful features this gorgeous building has. I can’t fault this beautiful place but for one point. Wicca chairs are not the most comfortable to sit on… at all… (but putting a coat down solves that, no problem). The staff, the atmosphere of a traditional tearoom and the gorgeous décor of part bare brick and part beautifully patterned wallpaper all work so well together. Not to mention the delicious cake and tea make this place one of my favorites I have ever visited (I’m going to have to re-think my top 5…) and somewhere I would recommend to anybody and everybody for a lovely meal, a snack or just a cup of tea!

Twitter: @Tinytimstearoom

Facebook: facebook.com/tinytimstearoom

Website: tinytimstearoom.co.uk

Address: 34 St. Margaret’s Street, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 2TG

West Cornwall Pasty Co - Canterbury Branch

I know what you’re thinking, this is not the kind of place I would usually write about but after what happened to me today I really couldn’t not write about them.

It started when I was on my way to Canterbury, on the train. I haven’t been back for almost two years and was looking forward to seeing all of my favorite places and discovering some new ones. Halfway there the West Cornwall Pasty Co followed me an Twitter…with both it’s accounts (weird enough, as they aren’t a café or tearoom, so how did they find me anyway?!) So I replied, as I try to always do, with a thank you and mentioned that I used to love their pasties and was upset when my local branch closed. We had a little back and forth, they were telling me all about their loyalty card, lovely coffees and delicious menu with so many great things on it (I swear they didn’t do cake before!) Then as I was waiting for a train from Ashford my phone lit up again with a message from Heidi at their head office which said “I’ve just spoken to the [Canterbury] store and there’s a free pasty for you if you’d like one!” Now I’m not exactly a hungry bottomless pit, like some eaters but I know not to turn down free food!

My train arrived and I wooshed to Canterbury, trying to remember the name of the person I was supposed to ask for when I got to the pasty shop (Maria, Maria, Maria…) To tell you the truth I was a bit worried about just going into a shop and asking for free food whether I knew the managers name or not. Could I actually do it? More importantly would they have a pasty I wanted? As a notoriously fussy eater, I can be hard to please! Its turns out I didn’t have to ask, the second I stepped up to the counter a server with a HUGE smile on his face said “oh I know you! You’re here for your free pasty! High five!” (which, of course, I gave) from that moment on, all of the staff were really nice to me.

The store, which has been re-fitted beautifully since I was last in it about four years ago is lovely, all gleaming and modern-looking. I especially love the exposed (but tidy) pipes above the counter and bare wood and brick throughout the rest of the shop. My pasty, a wholewheat vegetable one, was lovely and warm and though it wasn’t exactly like the ones I used to have all those years ago, its sliced vegetables, warm pastry and just the right amount of herbs made it delicious and tasted, to me, like the best memories.

The wonderful staff were really great to me and all the customers and the atmosphere in store is light and positive (and the room is full of delicious smells!), I really could have sat there all day.

I’m really grateful to Heidi, Maria and all the staff of the Canterbury branch of West Cornwall Pasty Co for making me feel so welcome and giving me the best lunch I’ve had in a while. It was a lovely experience and really added to a great day back in one of my favorite places!