As part of my 30th birthday weeked away to York, Chris took me to Betty’s Cafe Tea Rooms for afternoon tea. Chris and I are both big afternoon tea lovers, so this was an absolute must on a trip to York.
As you approach Betty’s Cafe Tea Rooms, it feels like a luxurious building, overlooking St Helen’s square – perfect for people watching! For afternoon tea you sit upstairs, in a grand tea room inspired by the Queen Mary ocean liner.
Once we were seated they asked if we were attending for a special occassion, and Chris jumping at the chance to tell anyone I was 30 told them, and we were given a menu with the afternoon tea options. We both decided to go for the traditional afternoon tea, but you do have the option to add a glass of prosecco or pink champagne.
Now I know sandwiches are not the main reason you’re there for afternoon tea, but I did feel these were slightly lacking, and were a bit small compared to other afternoon tea’s I’ve been to previously. That said, they were lovely! We had cucumber with dill and cream cheese, coronation Yorkshire chicken, ham and wholegrain mustard, and Blieker’s tea-smoked salmon. They went down very quickly, as you can imagine a few small triangles of sandwiches would, leaving more room for the best bits, cake!
No afternoon tea is complete without a scone, and Betty’s Cafe Tea Rooms serve sultana scones alongside jam and clotted cream. Once again I was a little disapointed as I would have assumed the scones would have came out warm, but they were still delicous regardless. The scones were lovely and fluffy, and were amazing with the cream and jam.
The final layer was then a selection of mini cakes; a summer fruit slice, coconut and lime battenberg, and a chocolate cube. I really liked that the choices in cakes were quite different from usual afternoon teas, and it showed you a sample of what Betty’s Cafe Tea Rooms can offer. I wasn’t a huge fan of the coconut and lime battenberg, but Chris loved it. The summer fruit slice was really tasty and fresh, and the chocolate cube was like a mini chocolate mousse.
Once we finished our afternoon tea and paid I was presented with a box with a wrapped fondant fancy for my birthday, which I thought was a lovely touch!
Overall I did enjoy the experience at Betty’s Cafe Tea Rooms, but it does feel like it’s been slightly over hyped. The cost of an afternoon tea is £19.95 for a traditional afternoon tea, so the price is reasonable, there’s just a few things I would have expected for such luxury branded afternoon tea. Although if you’re looking for somewhere with excellent service I can not fault Betty’s at all. The service was lovely, and did feel very fancy and special. I really liked the added gift at the end for my birthday, and the servers were really on the ball asking about food intolerances and could adapt the menu if there was anything you couldn’t have. It was a great way to celebrate my 30th birthday, and if you’ve got a special occassion coming up this is certainly something to check out!
How to find it
Betty’s Cafe Team Rooms is located at 6-8 St. Helen’s Square, York, YO1 8QP, use the map below for directions.
