I visited The Tea Bar at the top of town in Basingstoke to listen to some live jazz, have afternoon tea, and drink cocktails. I liked the vintage interior of the Tea Bar with bird cage lights and colourful bunting. We were seated in front of the stage. The venue do themed evenings with different types of music (from jazz to Motown to piano to acoustic), and they also have a comedy nights every week. I have noticed the Tea Bar around for some time now, and it is right on my doorstep, so I decided to make the effort to go.
Cocktails
I decided to have a cocktail, and I was glad I did. (I honesly was not so impressed with the afternoon tea, but the cocktails made up for it.) The cocktails are served in a teapot. I had the Woo Woo, and it was perfect on the warm sunny day listening to jazz.
The sandwiches were next to arrive, and these were tasty. We had a selection to try on different types of bread. We had tea with this, of course, but it was teabag tea. Loose leaf tea does make a big difference to the tea experience.
Sandwiches
After the sandwiches were devoured, we had the sweets. These included scones and cut pastries. The scones were served with a fresh strawberry, strawberry jam, and clotted cream.
Scones with strawberries
The pastries were cut into small squares. I was not impressed with these. There was a chocolate cake one, which was very sweet. The other was a bread-pudding one and a white chocolate slice on an oat biscuit base. I did not enjoy them enough to finish them.
Pastries
Below is a photograph of the interior with the bunting.
There's a nice skylight above.
I would go back for their cocktails and I did enjoy it, even if the tea and pastries slightly let it down. But I cannot complain because the music was free and we had a nice afternoon.
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