The First Festive Tea 2017 – Saturday 9th December 2017
The Daffodil Hotel and Spa, Grasmere, Cumbria £22.50 for Festive Afternoon Tea
Christmas is fast upon us and my Facebook feed is laden with images of festive Afternoon Teas. What better excuse do I need to pile into the care with W and A and head up to The Daffodil at Grasmere to sample their gloriously pretty offering? Plus, and I must say this was not obsessing me for two weeks AT ALL, there was a special festive cocktail menu and the Mince Pie Martini looked right up my street.
It was a cold drive up, lots of threats of snow and sleet, and being the careful driver I am I didn’t go too fast as I was keen to get there rather than have an accident! Due to my impeccable skills I got us there in plenty of time and we had a spare few minutes to admire the surrounding hills wrapped in their frosty shawls.
This is the second time I’ve had a Tea here and this time we were in a small ante-room rather than the main dining area, but it was still decorated in keeping with the theme (lots of photos of British stars from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s) and the table was set with the jaunty addition of Christmas crackers which were soon cracked to get us in the spirit of the season.
We all ordered a Christmassy drink as well as our tea, and whilst the pots of tea arrived rapidly the drinks took a little longer. I personally didn’t mind the wait as my much anticipated Martini did not disappoint. Fruity, spicy and warming, and a great addition to my food. Pots of tea and refills were plentiful and brought in rapid succession throughout the meal by helpful, jolly and interested staff who tried hard to meet every request.
All of us requested a non-meat Tea, but A and I are both partial to a bit of smoked salmon so we asked for two with the fish part left in and W asked for a completely fish free serving. After recent disappointments with the standard of veggie savouries I was hoping for a better selection here, and the arrival of the food was hotly anticipated.
As the food was set down we were given brief tour of what to expect and we were left to dive in. Given the variety on offer I adopted a savouries strategy to help me pick a way through, so I started with a smoky salmon and cream cheese roll which was a perfectly balanced combination of the two. W’s roll was goats cheese and pesto which she enjoyed but said could possibly do with a tad more seasoning. Two sandwich fingers were next, both on fresh bread and generously filled with egg mayo, which could have done with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and a lovely balanced cheese savoury that was rich with red onion flavour. I moved on to the warm cheese scone, which had a good cheesy flavour but definitely needed butter, which we had to request. Finally, the star of the savouries, was a warm cheese and caramelised onion tart. Crisp pastry with a filling that was not too overpowering. A great culmination to the savoury section.
Our greedy eyes turned towards the cakes now, and what a beautiful display it was. Plenty to choose from so the cake strategy came into play. I began with a mouthful sized mince pie, crisp short buttery pastry, warm fruity filling and an absolutely lovely start. Next was a firm set pannacotta in a shot glass topped with a fruity tart jelly and redcurrants. I found it a bit thick for my taste but A thought it was just right. We all went for the cake pops afterwards, there was a light fruit cake, that was a bit dry and a coconut and white chocolate sphere with an oozing white chocolate centre. Neither I would have said was a cake pop but both perfectly nice. Moving on I went for a mincemeat macaron, and again I would not say it was what I expected from a macaron. The filling was the right buttercream type of consistency but the shells were too crisp and meringue-y, not chewy on the middle and far too sweet.
Still, we were only half way through and whilst we weren’t slowing down we were certainly feeling we had had a good variety of sweet things so far. The next thing that took my eye was a frangipan tart, the lovely pastry from before filled with a warm, soft, flavourful frangipan. The fruit layer underneath not too overwhelming but tart enough to cut through the sweetness. This was swiftly followed by a slice of chocolate log that was wrapped in layers of rich chocolate buttercream, the cake itself was dry but I thoroughly enjoyed the cream. The two delicacies I had been saving until last were the meringue snowman and the chocolate mousse Christmas tree. Both beautifully decorated and very Christmassy. The snowman was a powdery meringue with an overriding taste of the strawberry lace scarf he was wearing and not as good as I had expected, but the Christmas tree was delicious and a good choice to finish with. It was beautifully made and tasted of a strong bitter chocolate, W was not so keen on it but I found it just right.
And so we arrived at the scones, a plain and a cranberry one each. The little pots of jam and cream were barely enough for the three of us, and as we had asked for butter earlier we still had some left, otherwise we would have had to ask for it. Given the amount of accoutrements, fat scones were not in order, and the scones themselves were not overly sweet and a bit chewy. It was a bit of a lacklustre end to the tea really.
Now I’m not sure if we are just very greedy, or other people are politer than us, or after all this time we have a pre-tea strategy of starvation, but there was not much left at our table, whilst the next table had boxes of stuff to take home. We were full, but not unpleasantly so, and comfortable enough to not feel queasy on the drive home.
Equally I don’t know if we are seen as demanding guests or if venues are trepidatious when someone tells them I write a blog (looking at you A, the poor waiter turned a bit pale and went off to have a look mid way through the afternoon) but when we had finished they were keen to tell us that snow and freezing fog was forecast and the journey home might be tricky. Perhaps I am over thinking good service, perhaps I am paranoid.
Overall marks (out of 5 stars)
Service: ***1/2 Attentive but slow at times
Amount of Food: ***1/2 We weren’t over full, just pleasantly so
Quality of Food: *** A savoury triumph with a less strong sweet range
Value for money: ***1/2 A definite festive treat
Comments: ‘lovely artistic spread’ ‘ so pretty’
The website is here https://www.daffodilhotel.co.uk/ they are on Trip Advisor here https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186324-d3331515-Reviews-The_Daffodil_Hotel_Spa-Grasmere_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html
They are also on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram
And my suggested track for today’s tea is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VfYKmJkxl0
helenwedgwood 