The Hipster Tea – Tuesday 20th December 2016
The Fizzy Tarte, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria £22.50 for The Ultimate Afternoon Indulgence (including a glass of champagne)
I have been eyeing this tea up for a while on Facebook, the food always looks gorgeous, the venue is modern and aiming for stylish and elegant and there was a need for me and W to have an afternoon tea before Christmas. It was a quiet part of the day when we arrived and we had the choice of where to sit, so we chose a vantage point that let us see the whole of the venue as well as being conveniently located for toilets. There is quite a hipster vibe about the place, lots of young-ish trendy folk, and older trendy folk, and little boden family groups, and the music playing added to that feeling, being current artists singing more traditional Christmas songs.
When you book for afternoon tea you don’t have to choose which one until you get there and having had a quick glance at the extensive menu we chose the Ultimate Afternoon Indulgence because it included a glass of champagne and we were feeling in a champagne mood. The staff were very obliging and our bubbling glasses and a pot of tea were served rapidly (albeit we had to ask for milk and top ups of tea later on) and we were able to have a good look around whilst our food was being prepared. They had been a little non-plussed when we asked for no meat in our sandwiches, but managed to rally to offer extra egg and cheese instead.
A lovely modern stand was placed before us and the food was temptingly displayed, with cakes immediately drawing the eye for their beauty and size. Obviously we went straight to the sandwiches, having both starved ourselves in anticipation and these were fresh and tasty. The egg was a little dry but the cream cheese was really full of flavour and the smoked salmon had a beautifully smokey flavour and was lovely and soft to eat. They were accompanied by some salty, crunchy crisps which were very moreish.
There were 6 cakes between us, all of a sufficiently huge size to be able to comfortably split so we could try some of each. And this was very convenient for those of us who follow the Way of the Tea and Cake Strategy. We split 5 out of the six between us and tucked in following our own order. I went for the strawberry torte first, which was a gorgeous full flavoured light mousse with a plump strawberry nestled inside, on top of a light sponge. It was actually my favourite, so much for the Strategy! I then plumped for the banoffee pie, which W had gone for first (not being a banana fan). A soft sweet pastry cradled lovely ‘snotty’ banana (soft like you do for babies and my fave way to eat it), caramel and cream.
Moving on I went for the lime cheesecake, punchy in flavour with a nice thin base, W said it was her favourite but was just a bit sharp for my very sweet tooth. Next was a layered delice that W thought was coffee flavoured but I am positive was orange. Exquisitely thin sponge and cream layers topped with icing made this a real delight for me. The chocolate torte was looking a bit lonely by now so I dived in, going for the truffle perched on top. It was dense and dark, in stark contrast to the lightness of the deep layer of chocolate mousse it was perched on. Nice enough, and gorgeous to look at, but not as good as the strawberry variety.
The final cake was a profiterole tower, balanced on a shortbread biscuit. We shared out the profiteroles, a good four each, the base and a good dollop of chocolate sauce. The biscuit was crumbly and buttery and the little profiteroles were crisp on the outside but full of squashy cream. The oozing chocolate sauce was rich and gooey. A good balance.
And so the scone. There was one between us, which given we were stuffed was the right amount but could have seemed a little parsimonious if we hadn’t greedily gobbled everything else. There was a little pot of jam and a bowl of clotted cream, but no butter. You should be familiar enough with my ramblings to know my feelings on all of these, one little tiptree pot of jam is not enough even for one scone and butter is, in my opinion, de rigeur. However we shared out the scone, having half of a top and half of a bottom each and proceeded to make our best attempt at a fat scone. It did have lots of fruit but was a bit dry, but as W said it wasn’t the worst we have had by a long stretch.
As we were finishing up the lighting changed over to evening mood, and the purple tinge changed to a definite deep glow. We were glad that we had almost finished eating as it did make everything on our plates look the same colour, just in different shades, and as you ‘eat with your eyes’ it was a bit odd. Larger groups had started to arrive and staff were bustling making impressive looking cocktails, which, had I not been driving, I would definitely have sampled.
W and I slipped out to have a bit of a wander around shops winding down for the day and I did manage to find a late Christmas gift for Queenie, so I was able to feel very pleased with myself. As we headed for the car the Christmas lights were twinkling, the air was chilly and there was a definite feel of Christmas approaching in an olde worlde way. Only needed a bit of snow to round out the picture. Chione did not oblige.
Overall marks (out of 5 stars)
Service: *** prompt and obliging but we had to ask for milk/refills rather than it being spotted
Amount of Food: ***1/2 we were full but not over stuffed, generous slices of cake
Quality of Food: **** lovely flavours and beautifully presented
Value for money: *** fairly proportionate with others locally
Description: ‘very young modern feel’ ‘the cakes are all very light’
The website is here http://www.thefizzytarte.com/
They are here on trip advisor https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g190820-d10089418-Reviews-The_Fizzy_Tarte-Bowness_on_Windermere_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html and also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
And my suggested track for today’s tea is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBUSxSFf9TQ it’s a bit of a mish mash but a good flavour of the kind of songs we were listening to.
helenwedgwood 