12 Bridlesmith Walk, Nottingham, NG1 2GR

The Walk was the second stop on our tea tour of Nottingham and we weren’t disappointed. It has restaurant opening hours and opens for lunch onwards, on the Saturday we went we turned up 15 minutes after opening time and there was a queue. This cheered us no end – tea that causes queues must be good.

We didn’t have to queue for long, though had we wanted to sit outside we could have jumped the queue but we decided against it as it was a bit nippy.

Afternoon tea was on the menu but even we were tempted by the other things on there. Everything on the menu sounded excellent and the food on other tables smelt wonderful. I’d love to go back and eat more some other time.

There was no tea menu on the menu but we asked for our favourites and got them. We ordered an afternoon tea each which took a long time to arrive. We asked the waitress and she said they were putting the finishing touches to it. When it did arrive we understood why it had taken so long. Everything was fresh and tasted heavenly. The only problem is a familiar one – there were a range of cakes and pastries and none were the same. How to decide who gets what? How to decide what to eat if we’re not even sure what they are? In the end we took the honourable way of splitting every item into quarters and tasting each one. They were all lovely. My only negative point would be that the service was very slow, even drinks took a long time to arrive. It was very busy but perhaps more staff on a Saturday would be wise.

Later we discovered that they will be introducing a tea menu and had tea sample boxes with vials of each type of tea to smell and choose from. We also spotted that the customers outside in the garden had blankets provided to keep out the chill. A momentary worry that we chose the wrong option was dispelled when we reassured ourselves our tea would have got cold if we had gone outside. On cue, a waitress came past with a tray of teapots in hand knitted tea cosies. Oh well, next time.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? Yes.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £15.95 for afternoon tea.
Cake? Yes, so much of it!
Go again? Yes.