My first underground restaurant experience: Bakelady59′s afternoon tea
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
You’ve pretty much got to have your ears and eyes taped shut not to know about underground restaurants and I’ve longed to attend one for a while. Since living in Leeds I haven’t had an awful lot of opportunity to meet people who aren’t my work colleagues or a friend of my boyfriend’s, so this was the perfect opportunity to find people with a similar interest in a relaxing environment.
Saturday was the perfect day for the tea party and we were brought straight into the garden to sip on some wonderful iced tea and nibble on some seeded cheesy biscuits. The iced tea was refreshingly fruity, the likes of which I’d never tasted before, even in my travels across asia where pretty much every drink is an iced tea. The cheese nibbles not only looked pretty but packed a real cheesy punch and being fond of strong cheeses (although I do draw the line at Roquefort!) these went down well and I had to resist filling myself up on these before the main event!
Lynn introduced everyone and although we didn’t have time to play her “getting to know you game” it soon became clear who was who and whilst it seemed we all have diverse career paths, we all had one common denominator: food! We split into two rooms and I sat with a couple of bloggers: Rachel who writes http://www.ramblingsofadrunkenspinster.blogspot.com and Katie who writes http://www.leedsgrub.blogspot.com and her friend.
We were served our afternoon tea on beautiful vintage china and we had a selection of teas to choose from and could have milk or cream with it. We all happily tucked into the savoury tartlets and cute little sandwiches (I particularly enjoyed the ham and chutney ones myself) and generally rambled on about all sorts of things.
At “half time” with waistlines rapidly expanding, we were served cupcakes and butterfly cakes, macaroons, a stunning looking (and tasting!) victoria sponge with fresh strawberries and cream, scones and fruit cake with wensleydale. I’ve never been a fan of fruit cake but it’s the perfect accompaniment to a strong cheese and something I will make sure to eat again.
I couldn’t fault this event, not one bit. I only wish I’d made more effort to talk to more people but I was glued to my seat gorging on the amazing food. Perhaps when I get a bigger place I’ll be able to host one myself. Thankyou Lynn for making it such an enjoyable event! Read Lynn (Bakelady59) ‘s blog here: http://bakelady.wordpress.com. You can also find an underground restaurant in your area here.
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Thank you so much for a lovely review. Those pictures are fantastic. Was that really my baking. Glad you enjoyed yourself and pleased that you made some new friends. Hope to see you again soon – at your own Tea party.
[...] Lets keep the summer going with two more Underground Afternoon Tea Events at a secret location in Leeds. For a review of my last event read Katie’s Blog post and Laythetable [...]
Nice review- your pictures are much better than mine and thanks for the link!
Aww thank you so much for the link – what fantastic pictures!