Quintessentially British
- feedmeim
- Jul 28, 2019
- 3 min read
Betty’s Tearooms - Harrogate
It was early on a Saturday morning when we found ourselves in Harrogate looking for somewhere to stop and have breakfast when we came across the world famous Betty’s Tearooms.
To my surprise this was somewhere I had not heard of it before so we decided to head inside to see what made it 'World Famous'.
Once inside we were greeted at the door by the Maitre d’ and brought to the main floor which had windows all along one side letting in ample light on what was a beautiful day. We were seated at a table near the window where we were able to sit and watch people in the gardens across the road.
A little bit excited, we perused the menu and the waitress took our order. We didn't have to wait very long before our drinks arrived and even they provided a bit of a show. The (loose) English breakfast tea was served on a silver tray which included a pot of tea, jug of milk, sugar bowl, tea strainer and the ever important extra pot of hot water. You can see from the picture that all of the silverware was polished and presented impeccably.
A short while later our breakfast arrived and what a treat it was. I had ordered the Swiss breakfast Rosti which came with a very large potato rosti made with gruyere cheese and cream topped with thick bacon, tomato, mushrooms and a poached egg. It was delicious! The egg was cooked perfectly and egg yolk poured slowly over the Rosti when cut. The Rosti was golden brown with a bit of a ‘bite’ and had a generous helping of cheese and cream to make it feel and taste quite luxurious. This is definitely something I would order again!
We also ordered the full English breakfast which came with the same thick cut bacon as the Rosti, sausage, scrambled egg, tomato, mushrooms and toast. I was a little pre-occupied with my breakfast to give this a proper tasting but my breakfast buddy enjoyed it! The eggs were cooked perfectly - a little loose but cooked through and the bacon was nice and crispy without being burnt or dry. The sausage was good but was a little 'herby' which personally I like but my breakfast buddy wasn't a fan.
Full from our breakfast, we had a quick look around the tearooms. There were three (split) floors set up for eating/drinking with a cake shop on the way out. The two upper floors, were lovely and bright with lots of large windows. The floor downstairs (basement) looked to be larger than the others but the absence of windows made it darker than the others.
On on our way out we stopped by the shop for some cakes, the choice was amazing and included, among others, macaroons, cream cakes, sponges and the biggest tea-cake i have ever seen!! After taking a rather long time to decide we ended up buying way too much cake and spent just as much on cake as we did on breakfast.
We couldn't possibly eat the cakes after such a filling breakfast so we saved them for later in the afternoon and they were most definitely worth the wait! They were light and flavorsome and would make a great gift or personal treat.
As a final note, the service we received when at Betty's was outstanding, the staff couldn't do enough for us. They had some great recommendations on the menu and were available to help with whatever you needed without being overbearing.
If you are in the area I would definitely recommend a trip to Betty's but if you are going I have a couple of bits of advice;
- Get there early. We timed it perfectly (just before 9) and were able to beat the queue. We managed to get in and get a table without having to wait but when we were leaving there was a queue of about 20 people. I have since found out that the queue can sometimes end up going right around the building!
- Try and get a seat by a window. I personally like natural light so being by a window definitely helped make the experience that little bit better.
- Try the cake. It was delicious!
This year Betty’s are also celebrating their centenary so have some extra special cakes to try.
An extra reason to go and try it out.
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