Afternoon tea at Hotel du Vin Bristol: Review

A three-course afternoon tea at Hotel du Vin Bristol for just £20 per head? I’m sure you’ll agree, that’s not a bad price at all – and if that’s not enough to tempt you, I’m sure the photo above will. Afternoon tea is one of those great British traditions, and Hotel du Vin do it in style: the beautiful surroundings of the old sugar house that houses the hotel make it feel like an elegant and decadent place for a treat – and you’ll find that the food that you’re served is a little different from the norm too…

Taking walk ins as well as bookings, the new Hotel du Vin afternoon tea is served from 12-6pm – according to the team, they’re seeing not only those treating it as a traditional afternoon tea, but also those on their office lunchbreaks enjoying it as an indulgent lunch. Me? Well I was there with a group of Bristol’s bloggers, on an afternoon where we were not only treated to afternoon tea, but also had a chance to explore some of Hotel du Vin Bristol’s bedrooms.

Rather than simply sandwiches, scones and cakes, this is a three-course affair, beginning with a savoury plate starring no fewer than five different items.  The Severn and Wye smoked salmon and cream cheese mini bagel was lovely: the bagel itself perfectly chewy, and with a good ratio of salmon and cheese to bread. It was great to have the added dill included for extra flavour too. The egg and cress mayonnaise brioche was a little confusing with the sweetness of the bread, but the filling was lovely and rich, without an excessive amount of mayo. I wasn’t a huge fan of the goat’s cheese and spinach quiche (a bit too eggy for my liking), but the heritage tomato and tapenade galette was lovely: beautiful to look at, great savoury notes from the olives and messy to eat but lovely and crisp. Finally, the ham and Gruyère croissant which was lovely and buttery, and just generally awesome.

For the rest of the food pictures, you’ll see Hotel du Vin’s official pics – as it was a blogger event, we were served en masse rather than having the dishes presented as they normally are! Well, that’s my excuse – I also didn’t take photos as I was too busy eating…

Next up, the scones: one fruit, one plain, served warm with clotted cream, Lescure butter and Bonne Maman jams. These really were beautiful: nice and crumbly, surprisingly generous and the perfect vehicle for lashing of cream and jam (yes, in that order…)

Finally, the sweets, again very different to the mini fruit tarts, chocolate cakes and other standard fare you’ll find elsewhere. Personally, I preferred the savouries and the scones – but everyone’s different! The mini G&T sorbets were mouth-puckeringly citrusy, but the lemon meringue pie was beautiful: lovely and tart with a thick lemon layer and perfectly soft meringue. The filling of the mini rhubarb and custard doughnuts was delicious, but the dough itself was a little dry, while the raspberry and dark chocolate teacakes were certainly a novelty, packed with raspberry jam and topped off with rich dark chocolate – which was lovely, but it was so dark that the flavour of the marshmallow was a little overwhelmed.

Sadly I didn’t get a chance to try the candyfloss that topped the whole thing off, but that’s probably a good thing – this is certainly a generous afternoon tea, and combined with the choice of Twinings teas available to accompany the meal (or the champagne/gin upgrades…), it’s certainly a big eat.

After eating, we were taken on a mini tour of the hotel where we were given the chance to see both standard rooms (which start from £115 per night on a room-only basis) and Hotel du Vin suites, such as the Veuve Clicquot room you’ll see in the second and third pictures below (from £229 on a room-only basis). The rooms really are beautifully styled, taking the history of the building into account, and I’d quite happily have claimed squatter’s rights for the evening if I’d had the chance…

Priced at £20 per head, the Hotel du Vin Bristol afternoon tea really is fantastic value for money: great quality food in fantastic surroundings, and with a menu that stands out from the crowd. While not all of it was to my personal taste, it’s definitely somewhere that I’ve earmarked for visits with parents and in-laws in the future.

Please note: our meal was received free of charge as part of a blogger event, 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.