Revoiew: Afternoon tea at Food for Friends Brighton

Going back to work after a three day weekend is hard, but for me it was made much better by heading to Food for Friends (in the Lanes) for a cream tea when I finished work (and it was a pretty stressful day, they all seem to be actually…)

Food for friends don’t just do your bog standard (not that anything on their menu IS bog standard mind…) scones and Jam afternoon tea, but a decent array of other sweet treats, along with a really varied selection of Tea Pigs teas (always a winner!)

I chose the Carrot Cake and Sam went the traditional route with scones. Now I must say that he considers himself something of a scone connoisseur, as whenever we go on day trips to national trust places/anywhere else with a tea room, we get scones as a little tradition, and he’s actually been known to make (from scratch!) scones when he had a hankering and M&S didn’t have any in stock, and this is a man who HATES cooking as a general rule and would each a bowl of ready-brek if it meant he didn’t have to prepare an actual meal!

Knowing that the offerings at Food for Friends are not always ‘average’ I knew that the carrot cake probably wouldn’t be 100% traditional, and when it arrived I was impressed! No cloyingly sweet cream cheese topping, but a gorgeous tart crème fraiche, and the texture of the cake was a lot less dense than I expected, but just as carroty, with a hint of something else I still can’t place, and there were lots of walnuts sprinkled around too!

Sam, when asked to describe his scones said ‘succulent with none of the potential dryness you get in scones’, and said the strawberry jam was ‘divine’ (I think he quite enjoys pretending he’s the guy from the Great British bake-off!).

We both had ‘specialty’ tea, I had the Spiced Red, and Sam had the Chocolate Flake, I must admit I thought his was a little too sweet for me, but he’d added a sugar lump by the time I tried it!

As always the presentation was lovely, with the cakes coming out on wooden boards/slates, and the water for the tea in an iron tea pot. It was unnaturally sunny, and we were sat at in the window, which made taking pictures a bit difficult due to shadows and reflections, but for a bit of sun/warmth I’m not complaining in the slightest!

Afternoon tea is served between 12 and 6pm every day, and you can make reservations mon-friday, and it will only set you back £5.95 per person, which is really decent considering the food is freshly prepared on site, using local ingredients wherever possible, plus the restaurant secured a position in the Good Food Guide 2013 and was crowned Best Restaurant at the Brighton & Hove Foodie Awards 2012. They also willingly cater for people with special dietary requirements, and the menu is clearly marked for clarity.

You can read about my last visit here and visit Food for Friends online.