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Monday 14 July 2014

Café review: Pettigrew Tea Rooms

If you've read my latest blog post on my hen weekend, you'll already know that I have a new favourite place in Cardiff... Pettigrew Tea Rooms!

I'd never heard of Pettigrew Tea Rooms until a few months ago when I started researching the best places to go for afternoon tea in Cardiff. It had excellent reviews on Trip Advisor and was rated the 9th overall place to eat in Cardiff (out of 873!) so I thought it was definitely worth a try for my hen weekend.

Liz booked a table for afternoon tea last Saturday at 3pm and we were seated upstairs. As I mentioned in my last post, I walked in to find a beautifully decorated table with lots of Disney Princess goodies, confetti and bubbles!








The lady who served us was very friendly and accommodating right from the start and explained what came with the afternoon tea package when we were all settled in - a drink of your choice, a selection of finger sandwiches, a scone with cream and jam, and a slice of cake of your choice. So much food!

It's well documented on my blog that I don't like tea or coffee so I went for a gourmet hot chocolate. I was not prepared for the sheer volume of cream on this beauty...




I'd like to think the others were jealous of my spectacular drink but they all seemed to be enjoying their vast array of exotic teas. I've never seen such a big selection of tea in my entire life.

Back to my hot chocolate... I was starting to wonder if there was any actual hot chocolate in the mug when I hit the copious layer of marshmallows underneath the cream!




The hot chocolate was so beautifully indulgent, rich and delicious... I'll probably never have one quite like that ever again (until I go back to Pettigrew Tea Rooms, of course). In the meantime, I should probably go back to ordering my regular skinny hot chocolate with no cream or marshmallows for the sake of my waistline. I do have a wedding dress to fit into, after all!

Around ten minutes after our drinks were served, the finger sandwiches were brought out on little tiered stands. We had three different stands between us, along with one stand of gluten free sandwiches. I sampled a beef sandwich and a ham sandwich... I didn't want to eat too many as I knew I needed to leave room for my scone and slice of cake! The sandwiches were very elegant with a generous filling and tasty dressings. We couldn't finish all the sandwiches so the waitress boxed them up for us so that we could finish them later in the day. A nice touch!




Our scones were on the top tiers of the stands, so I eagerly tucked into mine as soon as someone else started theirs. The scone was lovely and light with a generous helping of currants (just the way I like them), and the jam and cream were just perfect. There actually seemed to be two types of cream on the table... one was more runny than the other. They both tasted great so the consistency didn't bother me in the slightest. Are you a 'cream then jam' person, or a 'jam then cream' person? I'd genuinely like to know.




I didn't think I'd have room for cake, then I remembered that my stomach always has room for cake. The waitress showed us the wide range of cakes they had available and again I was really impressed with the variety of choice on offer. I eventually went for the lemon drizzle cake after being extremely tempted by the carrot cake and changing my mind at the last minute. Who isn't tempted by carrot cake whenever they see it on a menu? Anyway, when my cake arrived I was very pleased with my choice. The lemon curd and buttercream filling was absolutely out of this world, and the sponge itself wasn't bad either. I also loved the 'bride to be' icing detail on my plate... so thoughtful! Again, a few people couldn't finish their cakes so they were boxed up so that they could take them away.




The afternoon tea was £14.95 each which was well worth the price. Just look at the sheer volume of food we ate! The experience was so lovely and we were made to feel very welcome throughout. We stayed there for three hours and weren't made to feel rushed at all. It's worth noting that I also love the cosy atmosphere and decor at Pettigrew Tea Rooms. It won't surprise you to find out that I'm a big fan of pink floral bunting!




I'm already trying to figure out when I can justify my next visit to Pettigrew Tea Rooms... I can't recommend it highly enough!

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