Afternoon Tea at The Pump Room – Bath Food Review
Posted on: 2017-01-08
Our rating:
Having afternoon tea, especially on the weekend, has been an English tradition for over a century. It’s still popular in Bath as it fits in with the Georgian feel of this historic city. Lots of restaurants offer afternoon tea but not all of them are worth your time or money so we went to try The Pump Room as it’s known as one of the best. Find out how we got when we popped in yesterday!
I already expected that my experience at The Pump Room Restaurant would be pretty special, after all I’ve walked past it enough times and gazed at the beautiful décor and the smiling faces enjoying their meals. But I wasn’t ready for just quite how amazing it would be.
Before you even get your food you can’t help but admire the stunning elegant décor of the restaurant, with hanging paintings and the famous spa water fountain. There’s a wonderful piano player to keep you entertained while you wait for your food, but in our case we barely waited at all, the service was super quick. As the afternoon tea was put in front of my dining partner and I, we found ourselves saying “wow” because the selection of cakes and sandwiches looked delightful. Our friendly waitress explained what all of the sandwiches and cakes consisted of and then we started on our mission to eat our way through it all!
The selection of sandwiches were made up of cucumber, honey roast ham, egg mayonnaise and mustard cress, roast beef and watercress. The savoury food doesn’t stop there, there’s also a poached salmon shot, which is a salmon mousse in a little pot intricately decorated, served with crispbreads. Although it sounds unusual it was flavoursome and moreish. There were mini cheddar scones with a tomato and chive cream cheese topping, which I’ve never seen on afternoon teas in other restaurants, that were light and tasty.
The scones are homemade in the restaurant and there is a mixture of fruit and plain ones, with plenty of clotted cream and although the jam was a little bit scarce the waiter asked us if we would like some more. The scones tasted fresh, they were soft and buttery. Scones are always a hit and miss with afternoon teas and some restaurants serve scones that a slightly stale, or just ones that aren’t fresh so they don’t have a nice taste at all, but the ones at The Pump Room were perfect.
The selection of cakes consisted of a chocolate and coffee opera cake, a fresh fruit tart, a raspberry choux and four different macaroons. The chocolate and coffee opera cake was rich but not too sickly and the flavour of the coffee wasn’t just an aftertaste. I think our favourite was the raspberry choux because it had the distinct bittersweet taste of raspberries, wrapped in a soft choux bun with gooey icing on top. We couldn’t fault any of the cakes, they were all beautiful and deserved their place on the top of the stand.
I’ve had many an afternoon tea in my time and I can honestly say this one was one of the best I’ve ever had and definitely one of the finest in Bath. At £25 per person it is extremely good value and we were kindly given a lovely glass of champagne. If you opt for the Champagne Afternoon Tea you’ll pay £34 per person but it’s worth every penny.
From Monday 9th January 2017 to Friday 20th January 2017 you can buy one Traditional Pump Room Tea and get another one for free! Click here for more information as well as terms and conditions.
Ratings:
Atmosphere 5/5
Service 5/5
Food 5/5
Value 5/5
Address: Abbey Chambers, Church St, Avon, Bath BA1 1LZ. Check out The Pump Room's website here for information on private hire and more.
Article by:
Born in Bath, Safia has lived on the outskirts of the city her whole life. After studying journalism in Bristol she now spends a lot of her time searching for new things to see in Bath and soaking up the beautiful culture. You're most likely to find her sipping a soya latte in a lovely little independent cafe! Call Safia on 07468 516375 or email editor@365Bath.com.
