A few weeks ago on a lovely Saturday afternoon I headed into Birmingham to meet 4 other like minded foodies for a spot of afternoon tea. Organised by Emily, and joined by Sophie, Helen & Laura we settled down at Hotel Du Vin to eat cake and drink tea and while away a few hours in one of my favorite ways.
I’ve been to Hotel du Vin in Birmingham before both to have lunch and to stay the night, and I really enjoyed both. So I was hoping the afternoon tea would follow in the same fashion.
We ate in their Bistro restaurant which is a throwback to a typical French style Bistro, and was cosy with a lively ambiance being full of people indulging just like we were.
You can enjoy this Afternoon Tea on its own, or choose to have a glass of Fizz, G&T or a cocktail if you wanted. At £15.50 for the basic tea, £19.50 with G&T or £21.50 for the one with a glass of fizz or cocktail I thought it was pretty decent value.
The tea selection was quite extensive, but boring old me as usual went for plain English Breakfast! I liked the sound of the green tea with jasmine – maybe I’ll try this next time.
The food arrived on a lovely metal stand, but I did feel they had overloaded it somewhat – all the cakes & scones for 5 people piled onto one stand. I think it would have been nice to see it more attractively arranged on 2 stands instead.
There were some classical sandwich flavours – Prawn, Cucumber & Mint, Coronation Chicken and Cheese and Red Onion. They were decent sandwiches but nothing stood out really.
Plain & Fruit scones were a little on the dry side, but still went down well with the clotted cream and jam. The cake and sweet treat selection also felt a little lacking for me – a Tea Bread, Mini Victoria Sandwich and a Lemon Meringue. It felt a little ‘cake’ heavy and I would have preferred some more unusual flavours or options. I wasn’t that keen on the tea bread or the victoria sandwich. The meringue with lemon curd though was lovely and a separate plate of little elderflower creams with strawberries were light, refreshing and very enjoyable.
The Afternoon Tea was of the more classical variety and although I enjoyed it, and had a thoroughly lovely afternoon with friends, I felt a bit more care and attention to the food element would be good. If you’re looking for a classical afternoon tea in elegant friendly surroundings then this may be the one for you, but don’t go expecting creative & innovative patisserie or knockout flavours.
If you liked this, you might like to read about Afternoon Tea at Moor Hall, Hotel La Tour or Ox Pasture Hall
Follow Me:
Disclosure: We all paid in full for our afternoon tea.
