Patisserie Valerie

Afternoon tea for four (3)

For Danielle's birthday we got her afternoon tea at Patisserie Valerie as they had an offer on Groupon for £25 for 2 people. It was something different than the usual gifts we would get each other. (Yes her birthday was in July).

Kelly unfortunately couldn't make it as she's living in London but we had her fair share of the food.

It was the first time I'd been to Patisserie Valerie, I have had the macarons that Gabby got me for my birthday a couple of years ago. Sadly it wasn't a good one. 

We walked in & was told there was a 30 minute wait for a table. Told if we wanted afternoon tea it would be an hour wait or anything from the kitchen would take a while but drinks & cakes from the counter would be quick. People were asking if they could book & come back later, the guy said they weren't taking any bookings & that you would just have to wait. There's nothing he can do. The place was full & there just wasn't enough staff to go around which was why the service was so slow.

 It turned out to be a 15 minute wait which was ok. We were seated at a table that hadn't been wiped or cleared & got no service. There's a 15 minute rule of if no-one comes to you, you can go up to complain luckily for them the girl came at exactly 15 minutes from when we sat down. (Hannah was keen to time them). Took out drinks order & food.

Cappuccino 

An eyelash on my milk jug when things were already awful. 

Our tower came around 30 minutes after we seated.

Savoury

Cucumber on white bread

Smoked salmon & cream cheese on brown bread

Egg mayonnaise & cress on brown bread

Ham, spinach & mustard on white bread

Chicken, pesto & sunblazed tomatoes on brown bread

Mini vegetable quiche

Patisserie

1 x mini Victoria sandwich

2 x mini chocolate eclairs

1 mini carrot & walnut cake slice

1 x mini mixed berry mouse slice

1 x mini chocolate mousse slice

Scones

2 x fruit scone

2 x plain scone

Strawberry, apricot & blackcurrant jam, clotted cream & butter

Savoury food were fine apart from the ham mustard sandwich we didn't like them. Found it really weird that you only got 2 slice of each of the cakes between 2 people. The tiniest slices you could eat in one mouthful so not much to share between two. But yet you go 2 chocolate eclairs? Luckily for Danielle & Hannah I don't like them. 

I've turned into a scone after that think I had 4 scones or at least 3/8 of them. Effort in the gym this morning has gone...

Wasn't a great experience at all really disappointed, would not recommend or go again. Service was awful they just can't handle the afternoon tea when it was busy before they even started doing it. The idea of not taking bookings for afternoon tea clearly doesn't work. They really need to have a think over how they are running the shop. I'm sure I could do better!

Hopefully the service does improve & if you plan on going it's a lot better than it was for us today! If you're looking for somewhere to have afternoon tea in Liverpool I would recommend Cuthbert's which I have been to 3x & have blogged about them. Just search Cuthbert's or afternoon tea in the search bar down the side of the page.

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Afternoon Tea

Take 1 the girl didn't know how to use my camera...

Scones, almond cake, chocolate cake, Victoria sponge, macarons, smoked salmon on crispy bread, roast beef on crispy bread, cranberry & brie sandwich & coronation chicken sandwich

Today I went for afternoon tea for the second time at Cuthbert's Bakehouse. It's one of them things where I feel I've done it before so I don't need to go again but I went along as Kelly's American friend Maddie was visiting so she wanted to do British/English things with her. She'd already done all the touristy stuff with her as she's been her since last Sunday & they went to Barcelona from Thursday - Sunday night. 

We got the same things as the last time I went with Holly & Gabby the only different was we got Victoria sponge's instead of bake well tarts which I would have preferred. I ended up boxing the chocolate & Victoria sponge as I don't like chocolate or cream. The scones last time were also nicer.

Kelly thinks she's hilarious

My postcard wall off Kelly is looking good (not really a wall but the side of my wardrobe). We have a thing where if she goes away somewhere she will get me a postcard & if I go away somewhere I'll get her one which is a pretty good deal as I've actually got more from here than vice visa. The London one isn't from her though but from David when he left for London in first year of uni 4 years ago now!

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Work's going well as always...

Baked Blueberry Cheesecake

So I should be doing work I'm not going to lie today was a complete write off. I went to the gym in the morning, came back walked Frodo, had a shower, washed my hair then came onto the laptop to start work & my dad said he was making roast chicken so did I want to bake these cheesecake while the oven is on so I did. Then watched Britain's Got Talent & writing this now so yet to start any work!

I'm not really a fan of cake mixes as being an avid baker I prefer do it all from scratch following a recipe but we got a few of these cheesecake mixes & crème brûlée from Asda as they were reduced to only 20p I think it was so we thought lets just give them a try. I made a baked vanilla one a while back & a strawberry one where you just chill it in the fridge. We still have 1 baked blueberry, 2 strawberries & a crème brûlée mix.

You get 3 packs in the box, dried blueberries, blueberry cheesecake mix & biscuit base but I'd already opened it before I could take a photo!

All you need to add to the mix is cream/soft cheese, milk & butter.

I've mentioned this baking paper in my previous baking posts as it's defiantly the best baking paper I've ever used. There's no need to grease it with butter or oil before & your cakes or anything you use it for comes off so easily with no mess! I think it's like £1.20? I'm not sure but you can search for it online or go in store to find out how much it is cos it is worth it!

I added 50g of soft unsalted butter to the biscuit mix

Then pressed it onto base once it was all mixed together

Emptied the cheesecake mix & added 200ml of cold milk & then whisked it for 1 minute

Once it was mixed together I put the whole tub of soft cheese (300g)

Then added the dried blueberries

Baked it at 200°C for 30mins in a preheated oven. 

It actually looks terrible which is my dad's fault cos I was going to use a loose bottom cake tin but my dad told me to just the lid of the pyrex dish so it just doesn't look like a cheesecake at all! I let it cool & now it's in the fridge chilling to eat tomorrow.

Yorkshire Puddings

For dinner we had roast chicken so I wanted Yorkshire puddings. How can you have a roast without Yorkshire Puddings & gravy?!

We had a bag of batter mix which is super cheap only like 8p from the supermarket. 

Get a 12 cup tray you use to make fairy cakes or muffin tray is better as it's bigger but a normal sized fairy cake one will be fine. Put a tiny bit of oil into cup then put it into the oven at 200°C until it's smokin hot. 

Empty the batter mix into a bowl & whisk 1 egg

Then slowly whisk in 200ml of cold water to the mixture until it's smooth. Take your tray out once it's smoking & pour the mixture evenly into each one.

Put in the oven at 200°C for about 25/30mins until they've risen & have turned golden

They didn't rise very well I think cos I didn't fill each one enough but then I wouldn't have enough. They were still yummy though!

Now starting on getting some work done but I don't think I'm going to get very far! Hopefully tomorrow will be a better work day, well it has to be cos I'm running out of time!! 

Julie

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