Showing posts with label cakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cakes. Show all posts

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Hidden Lane Tearoom - West End in Glasgow

Just as we have all recovered from BBC British Bake-Off completely, Emily invited us for a tea and a cake deal at this rather a bit quirky and cute tea room tucked away from a busy Argyle Street in West End of Glasgow.  This is aptly named The Hidden Lane Tearoom (http://thehiddenlanetearoom.blogspot.co.uk), situated at Unit 8 Argyle Court (The Hidden Lane), 1103 Argyle Street, Glasgow, G3 8ND.

Yes, it's literally hidden, so you need to look for a wee lane off Argyle Street, I think it was quite near to Crab Shack seafood restaurant.

Look out for this sign at the entrance of the lane off Argyle Street


You just keep going to the end of this lane and turn left, until you are wondering if you are really in the right place...


And, yes, here is is! The tearoom is at the end of the street!!



Despite the horrible weather with strong wind and rain earlier in the day on one Sunday afternoon, the place was very busy for 3.30pm.  At least Emily booked the table for us so no problem for seating.

As we walked into the tearoom, we saw a young couple having bowls of tomato soup that was emanating wonderful aroma.  Whilst I was distracted by the tomato soup, the staff started to explain to us what cakes were available for the day. There were lots of varieties of cakes, such as chocolate brownies, sticky toffee puddings, chocolate oranges, cupcake, scones and Guinness cakes which look like Guinness.


The tearoom has quite a good selections on the menu, including sandwiches and soup, notmentioning selections of loose tea.  Craig chose this milky Indian (?) spiced tea (sorry, the name has just escaped me ... was it Masala Chai tea...?), my husband and I chose Darjeeling and Emily had cold apple and mint tea.  All came in lovely cups, saucers and pots, individually matched that add quirkiness.





Craig ordered orange chocolate cupcake. Indian tea was milky, sweet but had kick with spices. I tried it a little just to taste it. I would have liked it if I did not have lacto intolerance. 


Craig's Chocolate orange cup cake -  looks yummy!

My husband had chocolate brownie and I had sticky toffee pudding cake, which was really yummy and moist.


Emily had Guinness cake; it's named so as it looks like Guinness.  Despite the thickness of cream on top, it was not overly sweet, it was light and delicious.



Guinness cake
We asked the staff if we could get our pot of Darjeeling tea topped up with hot water, which was no problem and got it for free of charge too.

We looked around us and saw others enjoying afternoon teas with delectable looking cakes on cake stands. We could not resist trying something more, and decided to opt for something savoury.

Having remembered the wonderful aroma of tomato soup earlier, My husband and Craig decided to order the tomato soup each. In fact, I think it was a roasted pepper and tomato soup. Emily and I decided to share hummus, carrots and beetroot sandwich between us.


Emily enjoyed this sandwich so much she decided to make her own for lunch at work the next day - spread of hummus, grated carrots and some beetroot in brown bread.

Hummus goes so well with carrots and beetroot in lovely and soft brown bread! 


We really enjoyed our afternoon.

Despite how busy it was, I thought the service was very good, food was very nice and everything was reasonably priced. I would like to try their afternoon tea sets next time. They looked really delectable!!!

I know it's a cliche but the Hidden Lane Tearoom is a hidden gem indeed.

That's all forks.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Razzle dazzle in Randazzo - sweet experience near Mt. Etna

We are in Randazzo, a lava-built medieval town closest to the volcano craters of Mt. Etna. It's a small town yet has so much history with different influences from Norman, Greek and Spanish occupations in the past, which you would easily miss if you don't explore on foot.

Santa Maria Cathedral - built in a 13 century
Anyway, our local guide Natale has taken us to a wonderful Pasticceria Arturo on Via Umberto for a lovely coffee and sweets after exploring the town.  Apparently this is a historic coffee house with a beautiful Art Nouveau interior, serving delightful pastries, cakes and sweets, all handmade of course!



There were so many choices and all looked very delectable. Natale selected some for us to try; these were Pasta di Mandorla and Pasta di Pistacchio (small cakes/soft cookies made of almonds and pistachio - these are really nice and soft inside), cannoli (filled with sweet ricotta cheese) and white chocolate with pistachio nuts. There is also a small green ball which, I think, is made of almonds and pistachio paste and covered with chopped pistachio nuts.  All these are really delicious and go very well with strong Sicilian espresso!!!


We met the pastry chef, took a photo with her and managed to say from my Italian phrase book, 'I really enjoyed it' in Italian to her to compliment her wonderful cakes and sweets. Note, many people around here do not speak much English so the phrase book comes really handy!!!

We then went to the local Enotecca - wine shop with delicatessen near the town's main square, Il Buongustaio (www.ilbuongustaildipipocala.it).  The owner has poured two different types of lovely Etna Rosso for us to try each, with different types of Sicilian cheese including the one with pistachio nuts in it too. Both bottles were fantastic but 2010 Rosso was really marvellous and it's 15%!!!  Well, being a perfect or model consumer and feeling so happy with lovely sweets and vino, we ended up buying the bottle to take home - one day we shall open this bottle for reminiscing the wonderful time we were razzle-dazzled in Randazzo!!!!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

The Intoxicating Tea Room at Saint Judes


This afternoon, my daughters, Emily, Maria and I went to Saint Judes for an afternoon tea.....



We started off with a cup of Rose Prosecco each ...


 and then we each had lovely cocktails.

Left: Sailor Jerry Daiquiri (rum, fresh lime, cinnamon syrup & pressed apple juice)
Middle: French Martini (vodka, chambord & pineapple juice)
Right: Rosie Lea Martini (gin, elderflower liqueur, rose syrup, fresh lemon juice & pressed apple juice)
Maria's Sailor Jerry Daiquiri
 Then comes mini sandwiches, scones and cakes!







Service was great, loved Rose Prosecco, cocktails and mini cakes!
We could do that again!!!!