Sunday 2 September 2018

Afternoon Tea at The White Horse Romsey


Afternoon tea is quintessentially British, so it was only right that on the day we visited *The White Horse Romsey it was a very rainy Sunday, although that did add a little something to the day making it feel that bit more cosy. I'd be lying if I said I didn't love going for tiny cakes & warm scones with friends while having a catch up over hot pots of tea.
I've heard of The White Horse before & only ever good things so I couldn't wait to see what all the fuss was about. After all, they have recently been awarded Highly Commended in the afternoon tea awards. We were definitely in for a treat.




We arrived to a very warm welcome and shown to our table in the Tudor Room, a beautifully cosy room, open fire, large leather chairs and timber on show throughout the room which is thought to be from as early as 1450. This hotel & brasserie is full of history and the current owners are dedicated to preserving its history.



Once we were all settled down and the giant chair I opted for had taken me hostage for the foreseeable future our lovely waitress came over to let us know what we were in for and tell us about all the tea's on offer, I was unaware of the sheer variety that was available. They had over 23 choices of tea ranging from your good ol' breakfast tea, to popcorn tea. Of course there's coffee available too.
We all had a good root through the drinks menu, ordered & in no time at all we had some big old china tea pot's ready for us.


We were all a little miffed about the rain at the start of the day but once we were inside the Tudor Room sipping away on our tea we all agreed it was perfect weather for the day, it really set the tone. While we were all chatting away & catching each other up on our weeks, a tray of surprise cocktails arrived (surprise ones are the best kind) with the added touch of Mocktails as they knew we had driven there which was such a lovely thing to do.


Now, we've had tea, we've had cocktails &  now it's time for the food. I have no idea why I do this but if I'm visiting somewhere to see what it's like, I never look at the menu beforehand. Maybe its the element of surprise, or maybe it's not wanting to go in with high expectations. I knew The White Horse is renowned in Hampshire for being one of the best so I guess I didn't really need to pre look at what was to come.


First of all we started off with the finger sandwiches, I'll be honest, I'm a very very fussy sandwich person. I just like them fairly plain, give me a ham sandwich and I am delighted. I wasn't very adventurous with these ones, luckily everyone was happy to surrender their ham ones for me! But here's what they all were;

Finger Sandwiches

Egg & Mustard cress

Hot Smoked Chalk Stream Trout & Horseradish

Traditional Cucumber

Honey Roasted Ham & Mustard Mayonnaise 

I can vouch for the ham sandwiches being good & the other 3 girls enjoyed the rest! We polished off the finger sandwiches & got straight back to cups of teas, to our delight, the main event was quickly in front of us.



Who doesn't love warm scones & mini pastries? We had a big selection to choose from & one tower for two people, which meant no picking and choosing who gets what.

Cakes & Pastries

Sacher Torte A white chocolate sponge with
 strawberry jam & berry mirror glaze

Chocolate Delice

Lemon Custard Mille Feuille

Shortbread Millionaire

Fruit & Nut Flap Jack

Macaroons with strawberry & cream cheese 

Passion Fruit Jaffa Cake

Freshly Baked Fruit & Plain Scones
with Dorset Clotted Cream, Lemon Curd & Strawberry Preserve 




Now if that isn't one of the best looking afternoon teas ever, I don't know what is! All of our faces lit up when we saw these arrive & we could not get stuck in quick enough. But of course, where there's scones, there's a debate. I pronounce scone like you would phone, I also Jam first and then add the cream. Looking around our table we all did it differently, but I definitely did it the right way around.

We didn't really know where to start, there was so much choice & I can honestly say every single item on these towers were delicious, mainly because I'm the only one that didn't clock the take away boxes available and ate everything possible ( bar a couple that did make it home with me).
There was something there for everyone, fruity, chocolate, sweet & of course the old faves in there too.


I could not fault the service, food or anything at that matter. Possibly my most enjoyable afternoon tea experience & we are already planning for a cosy autumns day to go again! 
I had such a lovely day spent at The White Horse with friends & would definitely recommend visiting for afternoon tea, or maybe push the boat out for a sparkling one.
I can definitely see why they got awarded Highly Commended, you can have a browse at their Afternoon Tea menus here.

Thanks so much for having us in!
Emily-May x

* Complementary experience in return for a review, all words are of my own, please see disclaimer.

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