Tea Hive, Chorlton, Manchester

On a brief visit to Chorlton last week I ended up having lunch at Tea Hive completely by chance. I was planning on picking up a few bits from Barbakan deli and it just caught my eye as I'd almost walked past, the white on black signage meaning I almost mistook it for the Marble Beer House a couple of doors down.

I'm glad I took the time to investigate further, as lunch there was very good. A flat white was well made if a little too large for my tastes. I've definitely come to the conclusion that the smaller 6oz cup size is the best, anything larger (this was an 8oz I think) and it verges into latte territory where the milkiness starts to drown out the character of the coffee. Bonus points for the novel artwork though!

My sandwich took an age to arrive, but the tardiness was acknowledged and handled well. An apology and a free drink to tide me over were offered before I'd had the chance to chase up the order.

When it did arrive, the Cheshire smokehouse hot smoked salmon with lemon mayo and rocket on granary bread was well worth the wait. Generous quantities of rich, firm fleshed, moderately smoked fish was balanced perfectly by the acidic dressing and peppery rocket.

A really fine sarnie, with one additional plus point: good butter. It's surprising how many otherwise quality sandwich shops and cafes think it's fine to use cheap sunflower spread. Don't do it. Butter or nothing at all please.

The side salad was also a proper salad, with multiple components and a balanced dressing, and as a result the £4.95 price tag for the sandwich seemed fair. The flat white was £2.35 so all in all not a cheap lunch, but a very good one, served in pleasant surroundings by nice people.


8/10

53 Manchester Road
Chorlton
Manchester
M21 9PW

http://www.teahive.co.uk

Northern Food on tour: New Year in London part 2

Here's part two of my round-up of our trip to London over new year. In addition to the meatballs, skewers, bao, bacon, coffee, pizza, pasta, French toast and fry-ups we managed to squeeze in a couple of meals in swankier establishments.


Clos Maggiore, Covent Garden

Clos Maggiore is a rare beast, especially in this part of town. A restaurant that's obviously chasing the tourist pound, but that hasn't lost sight of what makes a good restaurant in the first place: good food.

If you're lucky enough, as we were completely by chance, to get a table in the conservatory, then it lives up to the 'most romantic restaurant in London' hype. The prettiness of the room is backed up by service that's formal without being intrusive.

The food is French, but not very French if you're ordering from the set menus which could just as well be British, in that they wouldn't look out of place in any pub with aspirations to quality food. Beef cheeks, sticky toffee pud and so on.

Which is exactly what I ate for main and dessert, after a starter of house pickled herring with potato and dill salad. The herring was a fine plump specimen, bigger than any rollmop I've ever seen, pickled very assertively, the acidity balanced by a very creamy potato salad.

Across the table Jerusalem artichoke soup with a poached egg and truffle oil didn't have quite the same balance, being rich and creamy with extra rich and creamy. I only had the one mouthful, any more would have been too much for me and A couldn't manage half of it.

The aforementioned beef cheeks followed by sticky toffee pudding were both exemplary, if unexciting. The cheeks were excellent, collapsing into gelatinous shreds of loveliness at the touch of a fork.

Ice creams, served on a slightly unnerving bright green meringue, were well made as were the petit fours served with coffee. The blueberry financier was the pick of the bunch, my least favourite the pineapple macaron. There was nothing wrong with it texture wise, it just didn't taste of pineapple or anything much.

At £23.50 for three courses with half a bottle of wine (red, French, drinkable, can't remember the details) this really was exceptional value for the standard of food and service in this location. As I mentioned earlier the food on the set menus isn't dissimilar to what you'd get in a good food pub, with one notable difference: it would cost you more in the pub.

A fifty-odd quid bill was of course ratcheted up to closer to £90 by the time we'd added a couple of glasses of fizz, sides and coffees, but what the hell we were on holiday. Worth it and recommended.

8/10

33 King Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2E 8JD

http://www.closmaggiore.com




The Delaunay, Aldwych

The Delaunay, sister restaurant to the more famous Wolseley with which it shares virtually the same menu, is a splendid place at which to take afternoon tea. I would imagine it's also a splendid place to go for a burger, or for breakfast, or for a platter of oysters, or for apple strudel and ice cream, or for any one of the myriad options available. Being such a jack of all trades can be problematic, but these places are on a scale grand enough to pull it off.

Afternoon tea for us, and it was very nearly the best I've ever had, the crucial matter of the scones letting the side down. They were fresh, and very light, but sort of disintegrated into a very claggy mush in the mouth, sticking in your teeth like Wotsits (just the texture, they weren't cheesy). The strawberry jam was also lacking in flavour.

Everything else was wonderful. The sandwiches, all five varieties, demonstrated good attention to detail, and were worth the effort in their own right rather than being pre-cake filler as is often the case. Lovely soft bread, delicate fillings and high quality butter. We had an extra round of the cucumber just because we could.

The cakes were also all spot on, with some unusual variants like a rosewater and lemon battenberg and a clementine tart. If I had to pick a favourite it would have to be the chocolate hazelnut eclair, an absolutely delightful confection of feather-light choux pastry and  creamy, nutty (like Nutella only better) goodness.

At £22.50 per person the full afternoon tea isn't cheap, but is far better value than the equivalent at any of the top hotels. The quality here is just as high and the atmosphere a lot livelier and more fun than the sometimes ossified environment of a posh hotel dining room (I think they would call it refined, at times such places feel more like 'funeral parlour' to me). Exceedingly good, except for those scones.

Oh yeah, and we drank Earl Grey, which was nice, and they had cool tea strainers with the little cup to catch the drips on a hinge. Nifty.

8/10

55 Aldwych
London
WC2B 4BB

http://www.thedelaunay.com/

The Cavendish Rooms, Chatsworth, Derbyshire

Canny business people, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. The Chatsworth empire must have an economy larger than some smaller nations. What with entry fees for the house, gardens, farmyard and car park; the restaurants, cafés, garden centre, farm shop, gift shop and homewares emporium you're not sort of ways to spend a few quid.

All this could seem grasping, but I think they get away with it. The place is just so spectacular. The colossal baroque pile of a house, the extensive and intricate gardens, and the lovely natural setting: grassy valley, meandering river and wooded hills. There aren't many finer settings for a Sunday stroll followed by afternoon tea.

In practice the English summer intervened, a hefty shower putting paid to the stroll and replacing it with a wander round the pricey homewares, Duchess endorsed jams and so forth before we sat down for a not so well earned feast.

Afternoon tea is served in the Cavendish rooms, under a sort of cloister that runs around the stable block. It's not the most scenic part of Chatsworth, but it's hardly shabby with its imposing stone walls and smartly attired waitresses.

If you go for the works, the champagne afternoon tea, you get a starter before the tiered stand of goodies arrives. I had the advertised crayfish cocktail and they were happy to substitute this with a goat's cheese tart for seafood allergic AS. Both were perfectly nice but crayfish are just a poor man's prawn really aren't they? I liked the champagne but it would have been far more enjoyable if they'd remembered to refrigerate it.

On to the main event, the much anticipated arrival of the stand. Places serving afternoon tea on ordinary plates are really missing a trick as the ceremony is all part of the fun. It's just not the same without the high-rise buffet on stilts.

The sandwiches were in the 'could try a bit harder' category. Serviceable but not containing any fillings of particularly great quality. One or two of them should have found the bin rather than the plate too, being curly edged and a bit stale. Having said that they can't have been that bad as we still had a few more when offered. More tea is also offered whenever you need it. We drank Earl Grey and one pot was plenty.

Happily more effort had gone into the sweets. The scones were light and fresh, strawberry cream meringues cracked on biting to reveal soft, chewy innards and the brownies oozed rich, high cocoa chocolate. Although they were good they really ought to ditch the brownies for something a little more English. Surely a refined Victoria sponge would be more fitting with the surrounds than some gooey American upstart?

Best of all was the lemon posset. For some reason I had in mind that a posset was more like a fool or mousse, lightly whipped in texture. This was more like a lemon crème brûlée, dense and smooth, but cut through with bright bursts of zest. Delicious. Why the hell have I never eaten this pudding before?

Like Chatsworth itself, I think they just about got away with it. Lukewarm champagne and average sandwiches were countered by lovely pudding-y things and polite, generous service. It's not cheap (£16.50-£22.50 for afternoon tea) but you'll almost certainly have a good time.

7/10


Chatsworth House
Chatsworth
Bakewell
Derbyshire
DE45 1PP

http://www.chatsworth.org/shop-eat/where-to-eat

Lime House Café (and Welbeck Farm Shop), Welbeck Estate, Nottinghamshire

I've been planning a visit to the Welbeck Estate ever since I discovered it was the home of Stichelton. I struggle to find some of my favourite cheeses outside London, so when I found out that the cheese I love perhaps more than any other is made less than an hour away from home it was only a matter of time before I made the trip.

Friday was the day. I was in Nottingham for work and it's not too much of a detour off the M1 on the way home. Welbeck is one of those great big whopping country estates that's been turned over to tourism, a slightly less famous Chatsworth if you like (perhaps because it's half way between Mansfield and Worksop rather than in the middle of the Peak District). There's an art gallery, a school of artisan food, a working farm, a garden centre, a café and a very good farm shop, of which more later.

After a visit to the farm shop to pick up a few goodies I stopped off at the café for a quick afternoon tea.

A fat scone (£2.25) was fresh and light, and came served with very good raspberry jam. A pot of good tea was a reasonable £1.35. I didn't have anything else, but the sandwiches arriving on other tables looked excellent.

The room is also lovely, a spacious, airy modern conversion of a building that formerly housed part of a Victorian gasworks. The staff were nice too.

First impressions of what I've bought from the farm shop are also very good. I have a lovely looking piece of beef, a bulb of smoked garlic and some cheese. The cheese selection is exemplary, as you'd expect when it's all sourced from the Kings of British cheese at Neal's Yard.

I don't think it'll be long before I start thinking of reasons to visit Worksop more often.


8/10

Welbeck Estate
Worksop
Nottinghamshire
S80 3LL


http://www.harleygallery.co.uk/index.php?pg_id=20

http://www.welbeck.co.uk/experience/visit/farm-shop/home

Thieving Harry's, Hull

Seven months into the blog, I've finally made it to the Eastern extremity of the M62. On Saturday I went for a day out in Hull. Now before anyone thinks 'Why the hell would you want to do that?', don't be dissing Hull round here. I'm a staunch defender of Hull, primarily because I was born there. I only lived in Hull for the first 18 months of my life, but for some reason I've always felt a strange sense of allegiance to the place.

I think it's partly underdog syndrome. If ever there was a perpetual underdog, it's Hull. It's one of those much maligned places that only ever appears in the national media for negative reasons, flooding and a failing education system being two particular examples that spring to mind from over the years.

But there's plenty to like about Hull. It has a spacious and in parts attractive city centre, a pleasant marina, interesting history, good museums, an excellent theatre, and the people are nice too, friendly and unpretentious. I was pondering this as I wandered the streets, and thinking that the down to earth attitude was also part of the city's problem. Laid back and unassuming, but also a bit behind the times and lacking in innovation.

And then I stumbled upon a pop-up café, as if straight from the streets of Shoreditch, and realised my theorising was probably a load of old cobblers. The whole set-up was the epitome of urban cool in 2011. Decrepit former commercial/industrial building: check. Vintage/charity shop mismatched furniture and crockery: check. Funky name: check. Tea and home-made cakes: check. Obviously the people of Hull have their fingers very much on the pulse, and I'm an idiot.

Taking tea

Anyhow, the cakes looked good, and there were tables free outside in the sun, so I decided to stop off for afternoon tea. A colossal pot of tea and a fat slice of coffee and walnut cake really hit the spot. The cake was fresh and moist, and had what I think were caramelised walnuts in it, which was a nice touch.

Thieving Harry's

Of course this being Hull the blokes serving were characteristically friendly and down to earth, and the prices were cheap. £2 for the tea (which would have served at least 3) and £1.80 for the cake. The area around the café was interesting too, right by the marina and the Humber riverfront on a street full of half-abandoned looking warehouses. I spotted at least a couple of little art galleries in addition to the café, it brought to mind a sort of fledgling, maritime version of the Northern Quarter in Manchester.

Did I eat anything else worth shouting about when I was in Hull? Not really, I certainly wouldn't describe it as a foodie destination but it's well worth a visit for a day out.

And finally if you've got half an hour to spare before the the train home the bar at the Hull Truck Theatre is just up the road from the station and has some decent bottled beers and good olives.

Hull. Go on try it, it's great.

8/10 for Thieving Harry's, and the same for Hull in general!

73 Humber Street
Hull
East Yorkshire

Twitter: @ThievingHarrys
http://www.facebook.com/thievingharrys

Earl Grey Tea Rooms, York

York on a damp Bank Holiday. The Shambles. Probably the most touristy street in a very touristy city. Afternoon tea here could well have been rubbish, but it turned out to be very good. I'm allowed to complain about tourists by the way, I was in York with the folks and my parents live there so technically that means we're locals.

Five of us shared an assortment of goodies by ordering a couple of high teas, an afternoon tea, and some extra pots of tea. Plenty of tea.

Starting off with the savouries, the sandwiches were very good. I'm not really a fan of the overly dainty afternoon tea sandwiches you usually get (no crusts, I like crusts!), and these were a more substantial affair. Generous quantities of thinly sliced ham or chunky egg mayo on thick cut brown bread.

Next up, scones and cake. The scones were light and served with plentiful clotted cream and jam. Anything served with clotted cream is inevitably going to be lovely, and these were no exception. Of the two cakes, carrot was beautifully moist and spicy but a yorkshire curd tart was the only duff note as it was very dry.

All told a most civilised way to spend an afternoon. The tea was a good strong brew as well, and some of the food being served up to the group of Oklahomans at the next table looked appetising. Our bill worked out at £6 apiece, not bad at all. Service was pleasant too. Who needs Bettys?



8/10

Earl Grey Tea Rooms
13-14 Shambles
York
YO1 7LZ