Harriets Cafe Tearooms Norwich - Revisited

You may have seen my previous review on Harriets Tearooms where unfortunately I did not receive the best service. I must say the customer service team that I spoke to via Twitter after my experience were very helpful and kindly send me two more vouchers for afternoon tea, this time for the Special edition. This time I took my mum along with me and I can certainly say the experience was a whole lot better.

We both went for the standard Harriets Tea blend with our Afternoon Tea which was lovely. There is unlimited refills on the tea and we had a second pot brought over to us when we finished our first. The service seemed to be really great this time and we were seated and served very quickly.

The Special Afternoon tea usually costs £19.95 per person. The bottom tier came topped with delicious fresh sandwiches in cream cheese & cucumber, smoked salmon and Suffolk ham. These were really lovely and the bread was soft and light. My mum didn’t like the smoked salmon so I ate her share too – no complaints from me!

The second tier consisted of scones and you could choose from cheese, fruit or plain. We decided to go for one cheese and one plain each. The cheese scones were served with butter and a really tasty tomato chutney. The plain scones were served with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry jam and tasted lovely and fresh this time. It was nice to have one savoury and one sweet option, it really balanced the platter out.

Finally the top tier was filled with decedent looking cakes. My favourite was the chocolate and caramel cake, topped with a rolo. The macaroons were lovely as were the small pastry treats. No mould in sight! This was probably my favourite tier of the three and the cakes were exciting and beautifully made.

Overall I had a much better experience the second time around and will definitely return to Harriets Tearooms. I put the first experience down to a one off. Will you be visiting Harriets?

Blogger Cocktail Masterclass - Warwick Street Social

A couple of weeks ago now I attended a blogger cocktail masterclass at Warwick Street Social in Norwich. Having never been to Warwick Street Social I was curious as to what it would be like, but looked forward to it all the same. The Norwich Bloggers who planned this event offered some spaces on a ticketed basis, I decided to buy a ticket and go along to have a fun night of socialising with likeminded people. 

I arrived at 7pm and met up with other bloggers Courteney, Kate, Amy, Amy, Lindsay, Sammi, Laura, Laura, and Shelley. The aim of the evening was to choose a cocktail that we could have at the Christmas Meal so we got to have a go at making 6 different drinks with the help of Scott. The first drink was a classic Mojito which was probably the simplest cocktail we made. This was ruled out early on as it just didn’t have that festive feel to it, although it did taste lovely. We then made a ‘bramble’ which is something I have never heard of before but it was lovely. The main part of this drink was gin, added with freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar syrup and a fruit cordial, this was really nice. Me and Kate had a go at making this one and we both thought it was lovely, but again this did not have a Christmas feel to it.

Thirdly we made Pina Coladas, I love a creamy Pina Colada but this didn’t go down too well with the rest of the group. I think Pina Coladas are best served on the beach in a hot country, perhaps not alongside your turkey dinner. We then made a Smashing Pumpkin Fizz. This had pumpkin pureé and Prosecco in so I couldn’t wait to try this. This would have been the perfect Halloween/autumn drink I think, it tasted great but just didn’t have that festive feel to it.

The final 2 cocktails were the most festive of the lot. Firstly the spiced gingerbread one, complete with gingerbread man. This just tasted of Christmas, it was delicious and perfectly spiced. The final cocktail was called Candy Cane, this had peppermint syrup, cranberry juice and strawberry vodka. It was so refreshing and will be served with a crushed candy cane sugar rimmed glass!

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