Highly Recommended

Well, I am shocked, I have never come across an English Tea Room of this brilliance, no really, it is such a lovely traditional English Tea Room it brings a tear to your eye.

I visited the The Mad Hatter Tea Room on Saturday 12 December 2009 early afternoon. I had discovered it the night before by accident, as I was at a meeting only a few doors up in the same street and the front of the tea room took my eye at 11.30pm at night. I just had to have lunch the next day.

The Tea Rooms are based on the Victoria era and 1930’s music is playing in the background. A Victorian Parlour is also available upstairs which takes your breath away, with an old piano and old furniture with a stunning display of old yesteryear items and old family photographs.

Old table cloths, old furniture which includes an old featured sideboard, with old yellow walls and old black beams are absolutely superb. The Victorian Parlour is stunning. If you decide you want to go to the toilet, then you will sit on an antique Victorian toilet with a pull chain seen in yesteryear. Christmas decorations all year round is different!

There are also 100 very old black and white photographs from the 1800’s on the wall of significance. They are all family members of the owner, Mr Peter Clements-Bullet who I met and is actually dressed up at The Mad Hatter with the hat and clothing. A very pleasant chap, he gave me a tour of the facilities, provided the history of the tea room, family and the building.

Tea was served on an old tray with top up water. This idea is really catching on over the past year in English tea rooms! I had a jacket potato with cheese. It came with salad and sauces/dressings were offered. I am not overly keen on salad, but hey, this was a salad to eat. The food was exceptional.

I had telephoned Sandra from the tea room with excitement about the tea room and also to the fact I was introduced by Peter to a customer who was a former British Ballroom Dancing Champion. Sandra has been practising Ballroom since she was 4 years old, via the East Kent Dance Academy, so this added a different dimension to the visit. Sandra had also asked me to take home some ‘yummy’ cake, which I did.

STATUS

This tea room is exceptional. I highly recommend it, but sadly, it is only open on Saturdays from 11.30am until 4.30pm although plans are in place to open the tea room more often within the next 24 months when the shopping parade extends bringing extra people to the area. Free parking is available for one hour only but paid parking is near by.

SANDRA’S NOTE: Joe brought me home a large wedge of Victoria sandwich in a container. It looked incredible but the taste was phenomenal. I have never eaten a tea room cake like it. It was moist with a good texture, filled with lashings of homemade strawberry jam and fresh cream. It reminded me of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five picnics. Yum!!

Click here to view additional photographs
Click here to view The Mad Hatter leaflet