I’m a York girl through & through. Growing up in such a beautiful city, with so much culture, history and landscape is something I am forever grateful for. Ask me where I spent my summers as a teenager, the answer would be York Museum Gardens, that would be anyone’s answer. Where were you guaranteed that everyone would meet before they went for a trawl around town and the resounding answer would be York fountain (I can’t believe that they are demolishing it soon?) and hey, where did I get my first pair of baggy, pink cords. Hello, Forever Changes, DUH. The little emo/punk rock kid in me is squealing inside remembering all those great memories. But the one thing that is synonymous with York, both for those young & old is the iconic Betty’s Tearoom. Every weekend we would see streams of tourists snaking round the building on St.Helen’s Square & it was no different on this foggy Saturday morning. I was asked to come along and sample the Lady Betty’s Afternoon Tea in the Belmont Room & give my verdict on this famous York delicacy.
We were booked in for 11.30 in the Belmont Room, this meant we could take the flight of stairs and bypass all those who were queuing. On arrival we were greeted by the host who showed us to our table. In the background the delicate grand piano was being played which set the tone for a real, regal affair. Chairs pulled out and pushed back in again our waitress for the day was Elizabeth who brought over our menus to select what tea we would like. We decided to go with the Betty’s Afternoon Tea which was a black tea. I’d had this before and was so excited to have this again. There’s something really refreshing about it & I’ve never quite had a cup of tea like it.
Of course an afternoon tea is not complete without a glass of champagne, we went for the classic white champagne – Elizabeth explained that it was quite dry and plenty of apple tones running through it which were apparent upon our first sip. We both decided that it was very yummy and some champagnes can be quite tart and not very pleasurable to drink, but this was perfect, which is exactly what I would have expected from Betty’s.
We didn’t have to wait long before our first course was brought out to us in the shape of a prawn & avocado Marie salad for our appetisers. Which, was delicious. James doesn’t like avocado too much but it was a resounding thumbs up from him. I think the sprinkle of paprika also gave it a really nice kick. I was now just desperate for more.
Neither of us was sure what to expect next, except for the fact we had already really enjoyed our first course and surely the next would deliver and it did. In the form of a smoked salmon crouton roll and a pork and apple pie. You’d normally think, how on earth would these two work on the same plate? But in all honesty, it tasted amazing separately and when you accidentally got a little bit of each on your fork. My only fault was that there was not more of it as it was extremely moreish, but I needn’t have worried as out Afternoon Tea was now on it’s way and little did we know we would both be stuffed by the end of our booking.
When Elizabeth brought it over, she recited the menu word for word, leaving no details out. How she managed to remember it all was beyond my comprehension. I was super excited to get stuck in, the bottom layer were the daintiest, but tastiest sandwiches of them all. Consisting of egg mayonnaise and cress, coronation chicken and ham and sun blushed tomato’s too. Getting stuck in, James declared that his favourite was the chicken and I loved the ham. After ploughing our way through those it was time to battle the middle plate which had two different types of scones, traditional fruit scone and a lavender scone. Both of which were delicious (of course, who am I kidding here?) the lavender scone sounds a little bit different but in actual fact it wasn’t too obvious until you remembered that it had lavender in it. It’s probably all psychological but with lashings of fresh clotted cream and strawberry jam it tasted heavenly.
This is where we started to struggle the top layer looked divine. But tummy’s were starting to moan and groan with how full they were. We were determined to make our way through it and first up was the pink cube that was a raspberry & chocolate mouse. OH. MY. GOD. I cannot even begin to explain how delicious this was. I am probably drooling as I write this because I’ve not stopped thinking about it since. It very nearly tipped us over the edge although I think I could have made room for about ten of these had I had the opportunity.
We were also fixed with a chocolate praline slice which was delicious but sharing one was enough as it was quite dense, the macaroon and meringue were a fresh contrast to the heavy chocolate deserts. James finished off the coffee flavoured shoo pastry. That was it, we were done. We had completely conquered the Lady Betty’s Afternoon tea. Elizabeth brought over another pot of tea so we could enjoy the rest of our time till 1pm and James & I just chatted away. It was so nice to be in this tranquil, luxurious setting but feeling totally comfortable. Some places can be quite pretentious but Betty’s is an experience that no other can match.
You can pre-book the Lady Betty’s Afternoon for £32.95 per person, I recommend this option if you are celebrating or have a special occasion, it’s also nice that you don’t have to queue to get in and you have your table for an hour and a half which is a perfect amount of time to enjoy everything. I was lucky enough to be invited along free of charge to experience Betty’s pre-booked service. I would hand on heart pay for it again & I probably will be heading back with my sister for her birthday in December. If you don’t live near York, they also have other cafes in Harrogate, Harlow Carr, Northallerton & Ilkley. Giving you the opportunity to taste their wonderful cake & tea all over Yorkshire. I also wrote about the non pre-booked experience at Betty’s here if you fancy heading there on a whim.
Have you ever been to Betty’s? Do you think you’ll book in for this experience for a special occasion? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
Bee xxx
Follow me on Twitter | Instagram | BlogLovin | Pinterest
