Bloggers Afternoon Tea Party - Patisserie Valerie, Manchester

Time for Tea

Spending our days taking tea for two, we don't often get to meet many other other bloggers so we were very excited when we were invited along to our first blogger Afternoon Tea event at Patisserie Valerie, Manchester.

Having visited this fabulous high street, Belgian-born tea shop on many occasions for coffee and cake (check out our review), we were rather happy to learn of their brand new traditional Afternoon Tea offering. Served on a three tier stand, this collection of mini treats houses all of the favourites you would expect from a classic Afternoon Tea menu and a little taster of Patisserie Valerie's famous cakes.

The "jam or cream first?" discussion of course came up!

To start we had a selection of finger sandwiches including smoked salmon with cream cheese, classic cucumber, egg mayonnaise and cress, ham and mustard, chicken with pesto and sun-dried tomatoes and for something a little different, a mini vegetable quiche. Our fave was the chicken but it looking around the table, our blogger friends were huge fans of the quiche. 

A couple of good sized scones followed with our own individual pots of jam complete with their own unique message - "Spread a little joy", very cute! Then for the best bit, the patisserie selection which included chocolate eclairs, Victoria sandwich, carrot and walnut cake, double chocolate mousse and a mixed berry mousse slice. The whole table was drooling over the berry slice and we can concur, it was delicious but for us the winner had to be the super indulgent chocolate mousse. 

A taste of Patisserie Valerie.

To top it off we each had a pot of Earl Grey - probably not the most exciting choice we could have gone for being the resident tea experts but you can't beat a classic!

All in all, a lovely afternoon spent with some equally lovely ladies - even with the miserable Manchester rain (Come on, it's July!). 

Patisserie Valerie's Afternoon Tea for Two is priced at £25 and available from most stores across the UK. For more information, visit their website www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk.

The Afternoon Tea Club Reviews: Patisserie Valerie, Metquarter Liverpool

As much as we would like to, we don’t in fact indulge in Afternoon Tea every single day – we know, shock! So last month we were invited by the lovely people at Metquarter Liverpool to sample a brand new menu at one of our old favourite’s, Patisserie Valerie.

Winter warmer mocha.

Now if you’ve ever walked past this wonderful shop on the high street, you will already be well aware of the gorgeous cakes, pastries and treats that Patisserie Valerie offers in it’s gloriously tooth-ache inducing window. But this time we were there to try something a little different, the new set Winter menu.

First course - Soup of the day.

Choose from a selection of Winter warmer dishes in the cosy surroundings of this café and you’ve got a nice little afternoon indeed.

We went for soup of the day which was a delicious tomato flavour with a nice chunk of toasted bread. Other options included meatballs and goats cheese tartine.

Main course - Confit of duck.

For our second course we choose confit of duck served with potato, swede and carrot mash – delicious, and asparagus and peas shaped Girasole Ravioli – another tasty and filling dish.

Main course - Asparagus & Peas Shaped Girasole Ravioli

Diners can choose from either a 2 course or 3 course meal. Desserts on the menu include crème Brûlée, apple cranberry and almond crumble, chocolate fondant or a slice of Valerie’s gateaux.

We opted to go off menu and went for delicious waffles complete with a big dollop of vanilla ice cream – a complete classic but such a goodie.

Classic waffle.

All of this was topped off by a chocolaty mocha and a good cup of tea.

The menu is currently available throughout the Winter season at participating Patisserie Valerie outlets with prices starting at just £9.99pp. 

DISCLAIMER: As is common in the catering and leisure industry, we were provided with complimentary services for review purposes. Whilst this has not influenced our review, we believe in the full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest.