Wednesday 12 January 2011

Exeter Cafe Review: SW Food Bloggers at Boston Tea Party




We had a get together of some South West UK food bloggers at the Boston Tea Party cafe in Exeter at the weekend.  It was the first time in the cafe for Choclette (choclogblog), Liz (feastsandfestivals) and Matthew (matthewsfoodblog), but I think they were impressed by the place - for its sheer size and great place for meeting up with people.

The downstairs looks like this - rather small and always hectic, but in a buzzy way:


And everyone gets a BIG surprise when they get up to the top of the staircase (tray, teapot, cake all in one piece - phew).  The upstairs room is vast and has a huge array of mismatched furniture, some enormous long refectory tables, sofas, original artwork on the walls and posters advertising everything cultural that's on in the Exeter area.



I suspect that some of the student frequentees actually live here.  They know which seats have access to the sockets for when their laptop batteries fade. They can make that drink and muffin last for many an hour.  I have on occasion spent a lovely afternoon here with a cuppa, a piece of rhubarb and custard cake and a favourite novel.  Simple decadence.


OK, so that's the ambience sorted.  They have loads of types of tea on offer - all served as leaves in clever tea pots with built-in strainers.  The cakes are great - my faves are the Portuguese custard tarts pictured above, but also good are the Devon apple cake, chocolate brownie, chocolate fridge cake - a fellow blogger reported that the coffee and walnut cake was average rather than mind-blowing.

Thanks to Choclette and Liz for coming up from Cornwall to have coffee and cake with Matthew and myself - really enjoyed having an inspiring chat about food and our blogs.

4 comments:

Choclette said...

Thanks Kate for organising this and introducing us to a great new place. Really liked it and have been telling everyone about it and that they should visit if in Exeter. The eclectic mix of furniture, people and stuff was particularly pleasing. My only complaint was the length of time it took to wait for a cup of tea whilst standing in a queue. Good to meet you again and to meet Liz and Matthew. Looking forward to the next one.

Unknown said...

It has a great studenty vibe and feels both lively and laid back. Coffee and walnut cake but perhaps not quite moist enough - Matt's flapjack however looked fabulous! And we had a great time - four foodies in a great cafe - how could we not?

Northern Snippet said...

Sounds like a really great place to meet up,buzzy and chatty.What a great space!

Shaheen said...

I think its lovely to meet with other like minded food bloggers.

Also enjoyed the review. I like the sound of the place, laid back.

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