My Cup of Tea | The English Tea Room

English Tea Room is a quaint little place, tucked in the posh neighborhood of Alwarpet. Located in Kasturi Rangan Road, in the heart of the city, it is an apt location to those who want to take a quick break to escape from our monotonous lives.

AMBIENCE

The ambience is very soothing to the mind. The interiors are done up in pastel shades with pale green furniture. With big wide windows, there is plenty of natural light and even during the nights the lighting is very soft. I prefer the cane chairs and sofa with comfortable cushions to the normal chairs.

An old collection of Enid Blyton’s books, displayed inside an old weathered glass cupboard takes one down memory lane.

FOOD

Having visited this place earlier, I decided to check out their Afternoon Cream tea and ordered one portion for myself.

The Afternoon Cream Tea comes with assorted pastries, scones with jam and cream, sandwiches, and tea of your choice.

The Corn and Mayonnaise Sandwich with cucumber and tomatoes was seasoned perfectly. The bread slices were pretty thick and were grilled. If you don’t have a great appetite, it could fill you up. The warm Raisin Scones served with strawberry jam and clotted cream was simply out of the world.

The assorted pastries were a piece of brownie and a carrot cake. The Carrot and Cinnamon cake was a letdown for me, while the Chocolate brownie was dense and not too sweet, just the way I like it. The carrot cake had an overpowering flavor of cinnamon that I gave up after the second bite. I opted for hot, Fresh mint tea to go with this wonderful spread. The tea was so refreshing that I wanted to order another one.

The Afternoon Cream Tea (for one) costs 440/- INR and along with an organic green tea for my friend the total bill came to 670/- INR inclusive of taxes.

On my previous visit a group of friends and myself visited this place for dinner. It was during their soft launch period and I must say that, from then to my recent visit, the service has greatly improved.

We ordered a couple of drinks like pink lemonade and some milkshakes but sadly nothing stood out. The Hot chocolate was pure bliss. Dark molten chocolate with fresh marshmallows were a match made in heaven. Just too good.

We ordered Cheesy nachos and some Corn and cheese balls. While the latter was just ok, the nachos was very tasty. The nachos were surprisingly crisp for a while despite being topped with so much cheese and salsa.

For a non-vegetarian starter, we ordered Chilly Chicken fingers. Tender pieces of chicken deep fried with chilly sauce was just great. Thankfully it was not too spicy.

For main course we ordered Pasta Alfredo and Pasta Arrabiata. The Alfredo was a little bland to my taste. Seasoning it a little more could help. Usually not a great fan of red sauce pasta, but enjoyed it here. There was enough sauce to just coat the pasta. I prefer it that way. Well-seasoned and topped with Parmesan cheese, that’s where the meal ended. We were too full for desserts, so skipped it.