Over Easter weekend in April, I visited Betty's Tearooms in Harrogate. I know that the tearooms would be popular (as they are well-known), so I booked ahead in order to get a table. I was fortunate that I did because everyone else had the same idea; the day was wet and rainy, and I think that this was a popular choice because of the bad weather. The queue was actually going around the side of the building, so it was a great feeling to walk straight in without having to wait.
Actually, before I entered for afternoon tea, I checked out the window displays first. I last visited Harrogate at Easter of 2004 or 2005, and I remember the beautiful displays of giant chocolate eggs in the windows. I loved the beautiful chocolate easter egg display this year, with the beautiful flowery egg and an egg with a golden egg in the middle. They also had biscuits.
After taking a look at the window displays, I walked up the stairs for afternoon tea in the upstairs lounge (known as the Imperial Room). I choose the Ceylon Blue Saphire tea, and the bloke had Lapsang. The Ceylon Blue Sapphire is a black tea with a honey flavour and cornflowers. The tea was very good.
We had champagne to start to make it extra-special. We were excited to be going away for the long weekend, and I'm not sure when the next holiday will be, so we wanted to make this a little extra special.
The upstairs area was busy when we arrived but nearly empty by the time we left, and the windows face the gardens in Harrogate.
Our afternoon tea arrived fairly quickly for us to enjoy, and it is set over the three-tiered plates.
We had a selection of sandwiches, including prawn and salmon, chicken, and ham. The ham sandwich was the most delicious, and I could have had more of these. Besides the ham sandwich, I did not think much of the others.
Next up were the scones, served with strawberry jam and clotted cream. These were okay, but they were not nearly the best scones that I have ever had.
Next up are the pastries, and I must say that the pastries were delicious. We each had a selection of three, and we tried a little of each one that we wanted to try between us. My plate came with the chocolate macaroon, Victoria sponge, and a chocolate dessert with the Betty's logo on top.
The bloke's came with a chox bun, fruit tart, and mango-flavoured pastry.
On the way out, I went to the toilets, and I loved the vintage wallpaper there.
The pastries were the best part of the afternoon tea experience. If I could choose a favourite, it would be a toss-up between the fruit tart, chocolate slice with the logo on top, or the Victoria sponge. Let me know what you think if you have been to Betty's Tearooms.
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