A Birthday Afternoon Tea - Moat House, Canterbury

On Saturday I had a wonderful surprise my friend Jill (whose saying when talking of me named this blog) came down from Oxford to celebrate my Birthday, initially this was going to be a whole afternoon into night affair but my lovely friend who had organised all the wonderful surprises was admitted to hospital so we postponed, but when a girl has traveled that far to see an old friend a celebration is deserved.

So myself Jill, and my friend Max headed to The Moat House in Burgate in Canterbury for a Champagne Afternoon Tea, we were seated upstairs in a little room with a ginormous chandelier and given a huge menu of teas; I chose Russian Caravan that was strong, smokey and quite delicious, Max opted for a strong tea with fruity hints called Monkey's Smile that Jill likened to tea with a hint of Malibu and Jill ever the classic opted for Lapsang Souchon.

  As well as this there were about 7 cakes to choose from I went Victoria Sponge, Jill for Carrot whilst I think Max chose most wisely with the Lemon Cake which looks to have lashings of lemon curd in the middle.

Then the Champers arrived, before the tea and the cake and sandwich selection.

The finger sandwiches were a nice selection of cucumber and cream cheese, ham and mustard, smoked salmon and cream cheese, the scones were homemade, one fruit one plain and surprisingly light, the jam and clotted cream were plentiful.

I didn't taste Jill and Max's cakes so I am thinking they were really good as no tastes were offered.  However, I make a pretty good Victoria sponge (even if I say so myself) and I cannot lie despite it being tasty it was a little dry and nowhere near as good as the scones.

The cake I should of chosen

Nice but a little dry

So would I go back?  Hell yes: homemade cake, loose leaf tea with tons of variety, good scones, vintage china and a quirky charm, what is there not to go back for, and if you like a cream tea I think you could be well pleased with this one.  I will leave you now with us posing with our vintage tea cups.