Bury New Road, Whitefield
I’ve previously spoken very
favourably about local restaurant One88 Kitchen & Bar, in Whitefield.
Recently, they have launched their own take on afternoon tea. I’ve dined at
One88 in the evening on numerous occasions and I’ve also enjoyed a couple of
their impressive towering sandwiches at lunchtime.
Given the exceptional quality
of the food, and that afternoon tea is one of my very favourite pastimes, I
knew I owed it to myself to give it a go.
Lent is looming, and for me
that means abstaining from chocolate and cakes for the 40 day period, so this
weekend seemed like the ideal opportunity for one final blow out.
If afternoon tea is also your
thing, you will not be disappointed. This was one of the best I’ve ever had.
The Traditional Afternoon Tea,
priced at £15 per person, is traditional in all but size. There’s a fine
selection of sandwiches, cakes and scones, beautifully presented on two silver
stands and a wooden slate. As the only people in the restaurant having
afternoon tea on that afternoon, I could feel the beady eyes of the other customers
checking out this impressive display. And I can hardly blame them, as I couldn’t
stop staring at it myself.
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There were two egg mayonnaise
sandwiches and two chicken sandwiches, two quarters of a smoked salmon and
cream cheese bagel and a tortilla wrapped stuffed with cheese and onion.
Elsewhere, you can often tell
that the sandwiches have been prepared in bulk in advance, as the bread is dry
around the edges, but at One88 everything is freshly prepared on the day. The
cheese and onion wrap was a real treat, quite possibly my favourite savoury
item that I’ve ever eaten on an afternoon tea.
I was astounded not only by
the size of the individual sandwiches, but the quantity of them. There were
enough of them for it to be a lunch in itself. Whereas normally the sweet items
outweigh the savoury on an afternoon tea, here there was an equal balance,
which was refreshing.
The scones arrived freshly
baked and warm to touch. These weren’t the little bite-sized nuggets which I’ve
come to expect. There were two full-sized fruit scones – one sultana, one
cherry – served with jam and clotted cream. And they were the perfect scones,
slightly crunchy on the outside, light and fluffy within, and they pulled apart
with ease.
For the third stage of this
banquet of an afternoon tea, there were three generous cakes: slices of lemon
drizzle and chocolate fudge cake and a chocolate and vanilla cupcake. The lemon
drizzle was perfection - light, moist and zingy – and the chocolate fudge rich
without being stodgy. The cupcakes were half vanilla sponge and half chocolate,
topped with a chocolate and vanilla swirled frosting.
Normally at an afternoon tea,
I’m the only one who manages to demolish the whole thing and is left with
nothing to take home. For the first time, I took my cupcake away with me.
All of this, plus a pot of
tea, for £15 per person, makes One88’s Traditional Afternoon Tea one of the
best I’ve ever had in terms of value for money. It’s just as good, if not
better, than anything you can expect to receive in the city centre. Chef and
co-owner David Gale prides himself on offering value for money in all of his
restaurant’s menus. In a personal touch, he asked us for our opinion on the
recently-launched afternoon tea and told us that the selections of sandwiches
and cakes change almost daily, so you’re unlikely to ever receive the same
afternoon tea experience twice.
If sandwiches and cakes don’t
do it for you, there’s a gentleman’s alternative which sounds equally as
exciting – think pork pies, sausage rolls, fish and chips. I can’t wait to give
it a go.
If you’ve got a special occasion
that you’d like to celebrate in an extra special way, afternoon tea at One88 is
the way to go. Pre-ordering is essential.
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