Before we begin we'd like to apologise that these pictures aren't of the best quality as they were taken with an Iphone not camera. The Orchid Hotel is a pleasant hotel to come across in Bournemouth. It's two streets away from the East Cliff opposite the rather tacky Celebrity Hotel. I've walked down this road many times and never actually noticed this modern building tucked slightly away from the road. It's definitely my type of hotel, it's recently been refurbished and it's very modern. I really love the layout and before I get started talking about the tea I have to say that they had lovely toilets haha with Orla Kiely soaps and moisturiser! The room to have tea in has been the smallest I've ever been in but on a plus side it meant it was completely full and it was really nice to have an atmosphere whilst eating.
The best part of this tea was the good service and the fact that as soon as we sat down a jug of ice water was brought over, without asking. This has never happened at any afternoon tea and very little restaurant meals in the UK. It was also really nice to have a pot of hot water delivered with our tea so we could top up as we wanted. Basically The Orchid Hotel has got drinks down!
This tea is on the pricey side at £18.95 per head! This includes finger sandwiches, home made cakes, home made scones, tea or coffee and a glass of prosecco.
The tea looked really pretty with vintage inspired mismatching plates. We were given two tables as we had 3 glasses of drinks each, in addition to three pots of tea and jam and cream! So it was a very comfortable tea and was a relaxing afternoon.
However pretty it looked it couldn't disguise the food unfortunately. There were 9 sandwiches with cucumber, ham and salmon. Tom demolished the ham and the salmon and I decided to keep to the cucumber! They really have become my favourite sandwich since having afternoon teas. The scones were really horrible, we both really disliked them. Firstly they were so tiny, which did turn out to be a plus once we tasted them haha. For some reason they were really salty, not a nice experience. There were only two cakes, one was a chocolate brownie with a nutty ice cream on top and the other was a lemon posset. They were both more of a pudding than something to have with afternoon tea and felt like it was something served in their restaurant for dessert. I didn't enjoy either of these sweet treats and Tom only liked the brownie.
We both decided that we won't be hurrying back for tea but would definitely recommend anyone who was looking for a hotel to stay in to go there! We shall be giving them 2 tea cups as we loved the hotel and the service!
Sophie & Tom
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