Quirky coffee shops in Chichester
Tilly’s Tea Room
Try some of the best home baked cakes in Midhurst and the South Downs
Found in Hill House on Rumbolds Hill the homemade soups, savoury tarts, scones and biscuits are just as good.
Tilly’s of Midhurst is a small family run tea room where they always add a little extra to what they do.
Afternoon tea
In Eastbourne afteroon tea at The Grand Hotel is a local institution.
There are different themes throughout the year including the tennis in June.
Known as ‘The White Palace’, the Grand Hotel is one of Englands most famous Victorian era Hotels offering spectacular views out to sea and the cliffs at Beachy Head.
Tea is served in the Great Hall a stately double-height lounge complete with a grand piano, potted palms and a roaring log fire for when it is a bit colder. It can also be ordered in any of the lounges as well as on the Chatsworth Terrace overlooking the pool.
Spoilt with a choice from a menu which includes a selection of freshly made cakes, bakes and traditional pastries
Sweet and savoury treats. A Pork & Apple Sausage Roll with ‘Grand’ Piccalilli. Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese & Chive sandwiches, Egg Mayonnaise with Watercress, Chicken & Tarragon Mayonnaise or Cucumber with Cream cheese.
Or for something sweeter, their freshly baked Freshly Baked Scones with Strawberry Jam & Cornish Clotted Cream
Leicester
Four cake layers
A four layer chocolate fudge cake
Part of an artful display of cakes, chocolate and lashings of cream that is difficult to ignore.
These cakes at the Riviera Cafe in Selsey are big, bold and totally decadent
Home baked
I generally associate cupcakes with those predictably dull office snacks that merely serve to remind one of another wasted year. But that was until I stopped at The Two Sisters Cake Shop and Vintage Tearoom in North St in Chichester.
Milk tarts
Biltong & Bangers in Havant serve the creamiest homemade milk tart in the south of England.
An iconic South African dessert from the kitchen at Ikhishi Bakes in Bournemouth. A home-based bakery supplying desserts and puddings to local pubs and restaurants.
All prepared in Tracy Coopers home kitchen in Bransgore.
Born in Zimbabwe and brought up in South Africa she started at a young age, watching and helping her Gran at work in her kitchen.
A simple start to a journey culminating in a business in the UK.
Specialities include koeksisters, plaited dough twisted into shape and soaked in golden syrup,
Cape brandy pudding (tipsy tart), an indulgent dessert packed with dates and pecan nuts and then covered with a spicy brandy sauce
Lastly those melkterts, sprinkled with cinnamon. So much more creamier than regular custard tarts.
She is assisted in the kitchen by her daughter, Lauren, and fellow bakers, Sam and Thelma.
The local pub
The last place I ever expected to find carrot cake was in a pub
But there it was. What could easily be the best carrot cake in Chichester. As you come through the door and into the Woodmancote Pub. Nestled up next to the pork scratchings. Looking just like it belonged right there, beneath an array of wine bottles.
But then they do most things differently. Almost verging on the bizarre.
Good food and hospitality that is slightly more expensive without being too offensive. I like different.
Tea in the Cotswolds
There is a ritual to making, pouring and enjoying a cup of tea. Add pretty vintage china and a proper teapot and you get the ultimate tea experience.
Diversitea Café in Cirencester’s Corn Hall Indoor Market, is a family – and – friends – run business with a personal touch and good old fashioned hospitality.
Where you might be lucky enough to find the freshest Victoria Sponge cake in the Cotswolds.
As well as delicious home-baked treats such as this luscious lemon ripple cake which just so happens to also be vegan friendly.
There is a choice of speciality teas as well as locally roasted coffee, sandwiches, toasties, paninis and indulgent afternoon teas.
Irish Biscuits
Well it all started with a statement like….”Remember when you used to bake those oat flapjacks ( we called them Crunchies ) … yeah and the choc chip cookies, and butter biscuits !!!”
“Why don’t we try them on the stand at the community market ?”
Well the rest is history
Fully approved by the health authorities, packed in cellophane bags to preserve freshness and with all the sell by dates and allergens detailed on the packs we now battle to keep up with the orders…….
We now do Chocolate Crunch which is two biscuits with a chocolate filling and supplied in a 100 gram bag
Chocolate Chip which is a sugar snack biscuit topped with sprinkling of chocolate – also in 100gram bags
Butter Biscuits – 100 grams with a warning – if you open the bag, they all disappear VERY fast
Big Smartie Biccies – Big Butter Biscuits with a sprinkling of Smarties.
Oat Flapjacks ( Crunchies ) coconut and oat biscuit with a crunch. Lovely with a cuppa or on their own. !00 gram bags
Then we have added Fudge… 2 bags please ! Again supplied in 100 g bags
Hide them away if you want some. that is my advice to you !!