This piece comes from Sarah Harding, who blogs over at Bedsit Bonne Vivante. You can see Sarah’s reviews for Bristol Bites here.
Myself and a friend were cordially invited to sample the Royal Afternoon Tea being served at the Bristol branch of Browns Brasserie & Bar, available all through June and priced at £17.95 per head. I didn’t let a four-hour coach journey later in the day stop me from eating cake at Her Majesty’s pleasure, so my luggage and I marched to Queens Road to sample the Royal Delights.
Everyone knows all good afternoon teas come with something boozy, and we weren’t disappointed. We were served a “British Royal”, a cocktail made up of vodka, rhubarb and rosehip cordial and apple, and finished with Prosecco and a blackberry garnish. It was very well balanced between sweet and tart and looked very pretty.
Eventually we were served the main event: three tiers of sandwiches and cakes to be washed down with a pot of tea. The stand itself was a bit modern but each shelf was generously filled and we decided to start from the bottom and work our way up.
To start there were brioche rolls with three different fillings: salmon and cream cheese, egg and watercress and coronation chicken, a proper Royal filling. We both agreed we would have preferred a decent brown bread instead of the sweet bun, but the fillings were tasty, if all a bit rich and creamy, and I especially enjoyed the coronation chicken.
We then moved on to the mini desserts which comprised of a Pimms jelly, lemon and Earl Grey sponge, salted caramel profiteroles and a chocolate brownie. The jelly, sadly, was over-set and very bitter, we didn’t enjoy that at all. The lemon sponge was very light and fluffy with a strong lemon flavour and the Earl Grey tea came through well, I very much enjoyed mine. The brownie was incredibly moist, close to cloying but when washed down with tea was beautifully fudgey and chocolatey. The profiterole was really light with just enough salted caramel, this treat was very popular with both of us!
There were two scones each, one plain and one with sultanas. Both were a good size and there was plenty of jam (which goes on first, I don’t care who you are) and clotted cream. The scones themselves were the right side of dense and were a fabulous end to a lovely afternoon tea.
We finished full and mostly happy with the treats on offer, and would say it was a fine way to celebrate the Queens Birthday. This Royal Afternoon Tea is on the menu until the end of June 2016 – make the most of it while it’s still available!
Please note: our meal was received free of charge, but this in no way impacted on our opinion. We were not obliged to write a positive review, and the venue did not see this review before it was put up on the site.