Brew House Café, Kenwood House

This month’s scone tasting started with sampling the delights of the Brew House Café, adjacent to the magnificent Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath, in what was once its service wing. 

A visit to the café was the perfect way to end a wonderful afternoon exploring Kenwood with my twitter friends. We arrived to find that the café was hosting a Spring Rhubarb Festival organised by Company of Cooks, their caterers. The café is self service and needless to say Mr TD and I made straight for the scones and we’re luck to secure the last two. The scones were already assembled and attractively presented. While the taste and texture of the scone was very nice there was too much flour on the top and it detracted slightly from mine and Mr TD’s enjoyment of eating it. I have to confess I was in a bit of a quandary for how to score the accompaniments as it was served with fresh and not clotted cream, and as my friends would tell you that’s a big no-no for me personally, however the rhubarb jam was utterly amazing and totally delicious so I decided it deserved a 2. The café itself is charming and has both indoor and outdoor seating and is set in a fantastic location. Please note the rhubarb festival was only temporary but they do offer other scones (which I will need to go back and sample) as well as lots of other tasty treats, both sweet and savory.  Mr TD I would love it if you wrote a guest blog for the London Scone Review sometime.

Ratings:  Scones: 1   Accompaniments: 2 Service: 2 Ambience: 2 Overall:  7/11

Bill’s, Islington

I have to give a big vote of thanks to Kitty Blake, who I follow on twitter, for helping me discover my next scone extravaganza. I was going shopping at the Angel Islington and I fancied combining my visit with a cream tea so I looked at Kitty’s Tea at Three website, and discovered Bill’s, which much to my shame I hadn’t heard of before (turns out they have several branches in London and in the South East of England) as this was this month’s best scone eating experience. The restaurant is located on a side street and would be easy to miss if you didn’t know it was there. However once inside I fell in love with its colourful and eclectic decor in this restaurant come grocers shop. I was thrilled to fine that their menu charmingly has a “Pudding and Tea Time at Bill’s” section, which offers a delicious array of sweet treats but I resisted the distraction and ordered the scones. The scones arrived warm and very cutely presented on a board. Although they had too much flour on the top, I had learnt from my previous experience and dusted this off  before I ate them. I must say these scones really stood out for me as they had such an amazing flavour (I think I detected a touch of almond), they were warm and had that perfect melt in our mouth texture. They were accompanied with generous portions of Bill’s strawberry jam and clotted cream. Add to that great service and the whole experience was impressive.

Ratings:  Scones: 3   Accompaniments: 2 Service: 2 Ambience: 2 Overall:  9/11

The Gallery – Fortnum and Mason

I have to confess that I am totally in love with Fortnum’s ice cream parlour but I have to admit I had never sampled their scones so I thought it was about time I rectified that, so the other week I visited The Gallery, a contemporary open planned restaurant located on the ground floor on the Mezzanine level.  I ordered home made scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserve and for a special treat I ordered a pot of Dancong Honey Orchid Oolong, which is one of their special single estate teas and was exquisite to drink. The two scones arrived warm and I particularly liked that one was fruit and the other plain.  It was very nicely presented with a generous portion of jam and cream. However the clotted cream was too hard and it was very difficult to spread on my first scone and detracted from my enjoyment, but by the time I was ready for the second one it was at the right temperature and my next scone was very satisfactory. When I went to pay the bill I mentioned it to the waiter, as although it hadn’t ruined my meal it had detracted from it. The waiter immediately said that the manager likes to be informed of any customers’ comment and he brought him over to me. I received an apology and unexpectedly as I was leaving the manager came over and gave me a complimentary box containing four Fortnum and Mason truffles. I was very impressed with their prompt response to my comments and their commitment to customer service and it makes me feel confident about returning to their restaurant in the future.

Ratings:  Scones: 2   Accompaniments: 1 Service: 2 Ambience: 2 Overall:  7/11

Patisserie Valerie, Chelsea

The other week after a wonderful visit to the Chelsea Flower Show with twitter friends we went in search of some nearby refreshments. The weather remarkably brightened up as soon as soon as we left the flower show and we were able to sit outside. I ordered a Madame Valerie Cream Tea which included a pot of tea. The two scones arrived warm and accompanied with a generous portion of clotted cream and apricot jam. The scones were nice and it was a pleasant end to a very special day.

Ratings:  Scones: 1   Accompaniments: 2 Service: 1 Ambience: 1 Overall:  5/11

Until next time…

Disclaimer: All views expressed in Scones of the Month (Year) are always my own honest opinion. Unless otherwise stated I have received no “treats” from any of the venues.

If you enjoyed this blog you might like to read about Scones of the Year 2013 or other editions of Scones of the Month.

The author of this blog is a qualified City of London and City of Westminster Tour Guide who leads guided walks combining world famous landmarks with hidden treasures often missed by the crowds

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