The Remedy Tea Shop - Southend-On-Sea

As much as I enjoyed Utopia Coffee Lounge for its crazy interior design and innovative cake flavors, The Remedy Tea Shop is much more me. The minute I walked through the door I felt calmer (not least of all because Google Maps was NO help getting here!) and a big smile appeared on my face, I think the drastic change in expression may have taken the poor man sitting opposite the door by surprise and he gave me a funny look, well, if you will sit opposite the door…

On the wall opposite me there are not one, not two but thirty-five paintings interspersed with mirrors of varying sizes. There are tea pots in all sorts of shapes all over the tearoom, which I love to see because my collection is closing in on twenty and still growing! All in all it seems to me like The Remedy Tea Shop is a lovely warm bubble of relaxation, a true remedy to and shelter from, not only the drizzly mess of today’s weather but life generally, a haven, always  there when you need it.

My tea, a lovely breakfast tea (of course) is a gorgeous assam-rich, full flavored brew which it just perfect for relaxing inside after being outside in the drizzle! I also opted for crumpets, a nice change for me, when I saw them on the menu they just seemed right, they came warm with jams and butter and are delicious! The menu, which includes anything from small bites to large breakfasts and lunches, all looks amazing. The array of cakes, sandwiches and baguettes, jacket potatoes, omelettes and full breakfasts are enough to make anyone’s mouth water (as mine is, at home typing this up!)

The staff, all smartly dressed in black with grey aprons, are lovely and helpful but it wouldn’t hurt them to smile once in a while, I know I would if I worked in a place like this! I love the lace tablecloths on every table and the menu holders that look like cute flowery teapots. It’s the little details in a place like this that really make me smile. The small chain hanging from my teapot (which came with its own tea cozy, a marvelous idea) and the rows of glass jars behind the counter tell me that the tea in that pot is loose leaf tea. Perfect.

This beautiful tearoom is tearoom enough to be a lovely place to come for afternoon tea but café enough that you could bring anyone here for lunch, friends, family, partners, anyone! I feel calm and at home in a place like this, a proper tea room with loose-leaf tea, beautiful works of art and a gorgeous display of cakes and this place has it all.

Website: theremedyteashop.vpweb.co.uk

Facebook: /theremedytearoom

Address: 57 High Street, Southend-On-Sea, SS1 1HZ

Utopia Coffee Lounge - Southend-On-Sea

After a  two hour train journey, I am finally here, my reason for travelling all this way today! Years ago (lets not say how many!) an old friend brought me here, to Utopia Coffee Lounge for a cup of hot chocolate. I don’t really remember much from that trip, I dropped a piece of his jewelry into a white hot chocolate and almost fell down the stairs but I do remember really enjoying being here though, it was fun and different and I was at the beginning of discovering my love of tea and cafes and tearooms. I like to think that this place, along with The Nutmeg Tearoom, started the wheels turning for this very blog years before I put pen to paper to review for the first time.

Being back in here, its every bit as bright and fun and exciting as I remembered, every inch is covered in art, whether in a frame or painted directly on to the walls (like the wall opposite me with the name of the café on it in huge graffiti style letters) or even hanging from the ceiling. In the upstairs section, (where I have decided to sit because the downstairs is full to bursting!) there are garlands and flags and even a canoe hung from the walls and ceiling. All the furniture is mis-matched and huddled around tables of varying types from small dining tables and low coffee tables to the crate at the chairs next to me and the old-fashioned television that serves as my table (yes, really!) I particularly like the gravity-defying golden syrup cans hung from the ceiling that have fake flowers ‘growing’ downwards from them.

I’m really curious about the nine clocks that hang above the stairs, all identical but showing different times…interesting. I have to say, as much as I love the way this mad collection of colours and shapes looks,  the not one, not two but three open umbrellas hanging from the ceiling makes the superstitious side of me a little uncomfortable.  However, like everything else in here, they just seem to fit and pull the look together. With its brick, but certainly not bare, walls and high metal ceilings, the Utopia Coffee Lounge could have a rustic, almost warehouse-ish feel to it so easily but full off colour, art and expression as it is, its more of a hippie haven than a dull cube.

My tea, a breakfast tea from Pavillion Garden is lovely but the cake is a real  masterpiece. At a glance it looks like your average absolutely gorgeous three layer Victoria Sponge cake but actually it’s a taste explosion (a phrase here used with 100% honesty and no irony) of blackcurrant and lime, lime! It is really delicious and the slice they gave me, the last slice, is far too big, I wish I had a friend here to share it with me! This is just one of the amazing cakes on the serving counter downstairs, they are all a different, Blackcurrent and lime, peanut butter and white chocolate and many more!

The décor is so colourful and different from anywhere else I have ever been. The staff are smiling and friendly and up for chat and the food and drink are delicious. I can definitely see meeting friends here once a week for a catch up and to try all the exciting cake flavors on the counter, if only I lived closer…

Facebook: Facebook.com/Utopiass

Address: The Royals, High St Unit 2, Southend-On-Sea, SS1 1DG

Swirls - Tunbridge Wells

Standing outside the brand new café ‘Swirls’ in Tunbridge Wells, I’m immediately struck by how shiny and professional it looks and walking through the door (grateful that its slightly warmer in here than the FREEZING outside!) I am only further impressed, the grey, black and pink colour scheme is very trendy looking. One of the staff greets me as soon as I enter and ushers me to a table before explaining the menu to me, what service! Its’ only let down today is that it is completely empty! The poor staff outnumber me four to one! Unfortunately that’s what happens when you open in January and your logo is gelato.

The space is well used, the tables in the window have comfy looking sofa-seats and there are cute tables for two lining the walls. The back wall is covered in little alcoves that each house a sweet jar, almost like an old sweet store but each has its own shelf and spotlight, very classy! (I wonder if they’d mind me having one… or five…). That’s just one of the many little details I love about this place, the napkin holders that look like ice cream cones are another and the tables upstairs who’s tops have pictures of ice cream and sprinkles on them! There are screens on each floor playing music videos and proving that if you put a screen anywhere near me I will absent-mindedly look at it, even if I have to crane my neck to see it…

Beautiful as this place looks, it was only on my second visit, when I took a closer look that I noticed what they really have to offer. For example, how HUGE their selection of gelato is, it takes up half the counter… and then goes around the corner! A quick peak at their very informative (if in tiny text) website tells me that they sell 20 flavors of gelato and 4 of sorbet, that’s enough to get anyone drooling! Don’t worry though, I know what you’re thinking, “Georgie, just now you said it was FREEZING outside, how can you possibly want gelato?!” and you’re right, of course. Coming in from that cold winters day, only a few days after it snowed here in Tunbridge Wells, I did not fancy gelato, I did however fancy a nice pastry and Swirls were only too happy to oblige, with a great selection on their menu of crepes, waffles, danishes, croissants, cinnamon rolls, cakes and much more I was spoiled for choice.

I settled on a ‘Nutella Swirl’ crepe with banana topping and a pot of tea (of course!). When it arrived it actually turned out to be two crepes with a healthy dollop of Nutella in each and some extra with cream  on the side I was a very happy girl! The first time I was in the warm-ish crepe cooled down really fast (and we all know a cold chocolate crepe isn’t as nice as a warm one!) but the second time it arrived on a hot plate that melted my cream everywhere but made the crepe stay warm and delicious all the way though. I don’t know about you but given the choice between a cold plate and in-tact cream or hot plate and warm melty chocolate crepe? I think I prefer the hot crepe, who cares about the melted cream! The tea, a gorgeous Clipper Everyday Brew is lovely and perfect to warm me up on a cold day like both of the days I visited (incidentally, I ate and drank the same things both times, I know what I like!)

Swirls is lovely, the kind of place I can see bringing a boyfriend or chilling in with my girlfriends maybe even visiting to collapse after work for a crepe and cuppa in winter and Gelato and… a cuppa (obviously) in the warmer months. Honestly though, what more proof of Swirls’ excellence do you need than the fact that after visiting the first time I liked it so much I took my brother there for lunch THE NEXT DAY! Though I really shouldn’t, as my New Year’s Resolution is to eat more healthily, I will certainly be back to Swirls soon! With plans to open stores in Tonbridge, Sevenoaks and Crawley, it looks like Swirls is here to stay!

Twitter: @SwirlsCafe
Facebook: facebook,com/swirlsgelatocafe
Website: Swirlscafe.co.uk
Address: 40A Camden Road, Tubridge Wells, Kent, TN1 2PT

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