Cream Tea on the Cheap

Some people who read my blog are under the impression that I live in London. Au contraire my dears. Moi, in fact, lives in the boonies. Dining choices in my fair town, are kind of limited. There are no afternoon teas to be had... even if you are a housewife of distinction. Sad, no? Well, you can actually get cream tea. Cream tea is just the scones, clotted cream and jam with tea. Unlike a proper afternoon tea, it does not include the lovely finger sandwiches or mini deserts. Still, the cream tea part is usually my favourite part of the afternoon tea, if truth be told. So, I wondered... how does cream tea at my local shopping centre compare with those in London. In other words, how do the other half (the plebs) live? Moi is about to find out...

Druckers is a chain of patisseries in the UK. They serve slices of cakes, sandwiches and the like. It's a pleasant place to stop for a snack or a light lunch, but it is a far cry from the uber fab places I get to eat at when I'm in London. Here though, it's quite a popular place to eat. You walk up to the counter, make your order, and by the time you get to the cash register, you have your tray of goodies. Self-service daaaaahlings. Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! What is that about?

For £3.40 I got to choose between plain or fruited scones (I chose plain, the fruited ones weren't looking too good). I got my favorite clotted cream: Rodda's, a little pat of butter (which I didn't use-you never get butter as part of proper cream tea), and a teeny Tiptree jam. Could you believe it, they didn't have strawberry???? They only had black currant :(. I was unamused. You would never get black currant in London daaaaahlings. This is served with a tiny pot of tea and some milk.

It ain't the Ritz, that's for sure:

Sitting under the lurid lights, I assembled my scone.

And you know what? In all honesty it was really tasty. I mean, I love Rodda's clotted cream, and the jam was really good too, despite it being black currant. It wasn't as good as strawberry, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment.

It did have the fatty goodness factor. I could even feel my bum expanding as I ate that little tub of clotted cream. BUT ... and this is a big but (pun intended--LOL I kill me)... I would not have cream tea here again. Why? Cream tea is supposed to be a real treat. It just doen't feel like something special in this kind of environment. Now, more than ever, I am aware that cream tea and afternoon tea are just as much about ceremony, service and elegance as they are about the food. For this reason, I could never recommend cream tea on the cheap. It ruins the expereince, and quite frankly, a good tea is a total experience. This was just nice food in a dreary setting. If you are going out for a treat, then treat yourself properly. Stay away from the cheap stuff, life is short, and you deserve better!