There is an airy chiaroscuro about 'The English Tea Room. It blends the old world charm with the new age quirkiness in a seamless manner to give itself a very vivacious look. I just loved the way they depicted the victorian style era by adding newness along the way not diluting the spirit of the vintage in any way. The rustic and urban are married here beautifully and merged to co exist appealingly. The pastel shades and the predominant teal green colour palette add to the dimensions of this well thought out intricately weaved interiors.
The decor comprising of cane chair seating arrangement gives it a very easy laid back and soothing atmosphere. It looks like a place where you can lose yourself over an Enid Blyton classic amidst aromatic tea and crumpets for company. The gallery set up gives it an artsy feel and more or less gives the impression of a set up espousing nonchalance.
It is located on Kasturi Rangan Road in Poes Garden, Alwarpet in a complex in the 2nd floor and as it's bang on the main road wouldn't cause too much concern in searching up the venue. There is sufficient parking space available for the cars and plenty of side space for stationing the 2 wheelers.
We were here on a dinner invite to try some of their signature offerings. The menu is in the story book style with blots of colour and scattered with interesting options. Attached is a brief summary on the items tried on the night.
Starters : We had a crack at the corn and cheese balls as well as the cheesy nachos. The former were small in size comprising of a pasty mix. A chilli mayonnaise dip would have done more justice as opposed to the salsa sauce which were served. The nachos true to it's moniker of cheesy was in fact insanely cheesy. The tortilla chips were well spread out with a gregarious coating of cheese with a hint of spice and it was enjoyable to slurp this up.
Mains : The mushroom onion pita pocket was our first tryst in this section. They were presented in a conch shell shaped avatar filled to the brim with cheese and inset spread of mushrooms and caramelised onions. The cheese was a little overpowering here subsiding the presence of the main mushrooms. Potato wedges as side were chunky and good substitute. Next on line were the herbed rice with grilled cottage cheese. This was lovely with couple of big sized juicy chunks of panneer doing the golden trick. The smoky barbecue sauce was finger licking good and gave great company to the esculent flavoured herbed rice. Then marching forward arrived the Alfredo penne pasta comprising a bunch of veggies. Though it was delightfully creamy, it lacked salt, felt bland and lacked flavours. A very sub standard pasta at best at the max.
Mocktails : The pina colada was the best of the lot. The frothy layer with the pineapple taste and subtle hinge of coconut worked well in combination. The cherry mojito was immensely refreshing and the rose lemonade with it's purifying essence was fairly decent and the ice lemon tea was more of the mundane run off the mill stuff.
Tea : Tea being prima facie the defacto in the scheme of things, we didn't want to miss out without tasting at least one of their signature creations. We had the saffron khawa green tea, a kashmiri based with spices, almonds, rose petals and a touch of saffron. It had a wonderful aroma around it and the olfactory got quite a punch devouring this luxurious tea.
Desserts : First had a shot at the carrot cake which was like a sandwich with cream cheese layered in the middle. It was soft and fluffy but the carrot taste wasn't too prevalent. Then up waa our final finale in the form of sticky toffee pudding. This one was a scrumptious feast with the rich toffee sauce oozing over a caky layer and a magnanimous coating of custard on top. This brown n yellow dessert surely helped give the finishing flurry in marvellous fashion.
The service was one front where things appeared patchy. It seemed lost and confused and the basic necessities such as re filling of water, clearing plates weren't taken care of appropriately. The pricing appears competitive and in tune with the environment at play.
On a holistic view, The English Tea Room scores more points than it missed. Some areas of amelioration will enable it to 'up the ante' a bit more. It's a lovely no frills place ideal to spend a relaxed and comfortable dosage of your time. It is more than just a cafe and a pretty chilled out space to infuse the insouciance over a wide spread of vittle.
The decor comprising of cane chair seating arrangement gives it a very easy laid back and soothing atmosphere. It looks like a place where you can lose yourself over an Enid Blyton classic amidst aromatic tea and crumpets for company. The gallery set up gives it an artsy feel and more or less gives the impression of a set up espousing nonchalance.
It is located on Kasturi Rangan Road in Poes Garden, Alwarpet in a complex in the 2nd floor and as it's bang on the main road wouldn't cause too much concern in searching up the venue. There is sufficient parking space available for the cars and plenty of side space for stationing the 2 wheelers.
We were here on a dinner invite to try some of their signature offerings. The menu is in the story book style with blots of colour and scattered with interesting options. Attached is a brief summary on the items tried on the night.
Starters : We had a crack at the corn and cheese balls as well as the cheesy nachos. The former were small in size comprising of a pasty mix. A chilli mayonnaise dip would have done more justice as opposed to the salsa sauce which were served. The nachos true to it's moniker of cheesy was in fact insanely cheesy. The tortilla chips were well spread out with a gregarious coating of cheese with a hint of spice and it was enjoyable to slurp this up.
Mains : The mushroom onion pita pocket was our first tryst in this section. They were presented in a conch shell shaped avatar filled to the brim with cheese and inset spread of mushrooms and caramelised onions. The cheese was a little overpowering here subsiding the presence of the main mushrooms. Potato wedges as side were chunky and good substitute. Next on line were the herbed rice with grilled cottage cheese. This was lovely with couple of big sized juicy chunks of panneer doing the golden trick. The smoky barbecue sauce was finger licking good and gave great company to the esculent flavoured herbed rice. Then marching forward arrived the Alfredo penne pasta comprising a bunch of veggies. Though it was delightfully creamy, it lacked salt, felt bland and lacked flavours. A very sub standard pasta at best at the max.
Mocktails : The pina colada was the best of the lot. The frothy layer with the pineapple taste and subtle hinge of coconut worked well in combination. The cherry mojito was immensely refreshing and the rose lemonade with it's purifying essence was fairly decent and the ice lemon tea was more of the mundane run off the mill stuff.
Tea : Tea being prima facie the defacto in the scheme of things, we didn't want to miss out without tasting at least one of their signature creations. We had the saffron khawa green tea, a kashmiri based with spices, almonds, rose petals and a touch of saffron. It had a wonderful aroma around it and the olfactory got quite a punch devouring this luxurious tea.
Desserts : First had a shot at the carrot cake which was like a sandwich with cream cheese layered in the middle. It was soft and fluffy but the carrot taste wasn't too prevalent. Then up waa our final finale in the form of sticky toffee pudding. This one was a scrumptious feast with the rich toffee sauce oozing over a caky layer and a magnanimous coating of custard on top. This brown n yellow dessert surely helped give the finishing flurry in marvellous fashion.
The service was one front where things appeared patchy. It seemed lost and confused and the basic necessities such as re filling of water, clearing plates weren't taken care of appropriately. The pricing appears competitive and in tune with the environment at play.
On a holistic view, The English Tea Room scores more points than it missed. Some areas of amelioration will enable it to 'up the ante' a bit more. It's a lovely no frills place ideal to spend a relaxed and comfortable dosage of your time. It is more than just a cafe and a pretty chilled out space to infuse the insouciance over a wide spread of vittle.
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