A Hot Day in Brighton with Fabulous Tea and Gelato

Here are two little places in Brighton in which they were never there when I was living in Brighton. It was a hot day when I paid a visit to this little beach town. As I was strolling from Brighton Pier through Pool Valley, I popped by a gelato shop called Boho Gelato in Pool Valley before stopped by Blackbird Tea Rooms for afternoon tea chitchat with my cousin. But hey, these two places were awesome, especially, Boho Gelato. What a delicious ice-cream.

Blackbird Tea Rooms @ Brighton

Map: Blackbird Tea Rooms @ Brighton

Charged Price: GBP7.00 per person

Visited: 1 July 2015

Food: 8/10

Atmosphere: 8/10

Value for money: 8/10

Services: 7/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Blackbird Tea Rooms is located in the famous shopping area of Brighton, The Lanes. It is rather small. The atmosphere is lovely which would bring you back to the rustic old time of England. It was a fine summer day when we paid a visit to Blackbird and we were fortunate to be able to grab a table in the backyard. There were on a few tables there in the backyard. Believe me it could be great sipping tea in the old fashion atmosphere here but it was fantastic, in my view, in the backyard on a fine day.

Blackbird Tea Rooms store front

getting more rustic inside

old fashion counter

a perfect day for courtyard afternoon tea

Typical and classic afternoon tea here. We had Cream Tea and Banana, Pecan & Date Cake and we did not disappoint. Scone came in a big chunk. It was not just about the size of scone here. It was delicious too. Soft on the touch and delicate. Wonderful scone indeed. The cake was as well in par with scone. Large slice and yummy. Perfect with its frosting. As for tea, there were around 10+ choices ranging from something classic to more exotic choices: English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Rose Congou, Rooibos, and etc.

In short, this is an excellent place to stop by for tea, snack, and dessert. A must return for me (if I have a chance).

our afternoon break treat

Cream Tea (GBP6.00)

delicious scone with jam and clotted cream

Banana, Pecan & Date Cake (GBP3.90)

Blackbird Tea Rooms @ Brighton

30 Ship Street
Brighton
BN1 1AD
United Kingdom

Open Hours: daily from 08:30am - 05:30pm
Tel: +44 (0) 1273 249 454
Web: http://www.blackbirdtearooms.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/BlackbirdTeaRooms

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Boho Gelato @ Brighton

Map: Boho Gelato @ Brighton

Charged Price: GBP2.40 per person

Visited: 1 July 2015

Food: 9/10

Atmosphere: n.m.

Value for money: 8/10

Services: n.m.
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Needless to say much about Boho Gelato. It is just a tiny shop with all about ice-cream. There are somewhat 24 flavours daily here. Again flavour ranges from something classic to exotic ice-cream. So so delicious ice-cream here. It was smooth, it was creamy, it was delicate, and yet flavourful. I had Cucumber and Rose on a cone on such a hot day and it was wowwww. Cucumber and Rose, what a combination. It somehow support each other pretty well. Freshness of cucumber seems to go unexpectedly well with aroma of rose. I miss it already as I am typing now. In two words, "MUST VISIT".

Cucumber and Rose on Cone (GBP2.40)

mini store of Boho

the menu board

Boho Gelato @ Brighton

6 Pool Valley
Brighton
BN1 1NJ
United Kingdom

Open Hours: daily from 11:00am - 06:00pm

Tel: +44 (0) 1273 727 205
Web: http://www.bohogelato.co.uk/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/bohogelato

Erawan Tea Room @ Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok - เอราวัณทีรูม @ แกรนด์ ไฮแอท เอราวัณ กรุงเทพ

Cuisine: Thai

Map: Erawan Tea Room @ Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok - เอราวัณทีรูม @ แกรนด์ ไฮแอท เอราวัณ กรุงเทพ

Price: THB400 per person without alcohol (what we paid for)

Visited: 3 May 2014

Food: 5/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 5/10

Services: 3/10
Scale: [ 1=poor ----- 5=average/standard ----- 10=outstanding/exceptional ]

It was one fine but extremely hot Saturday that we decided to give Erawan Tea Room at Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok a go. The Erawan Tea Room is located on the 2nd floor of Erawan Bangkok Mall which is the shopping part of Grand Hyatt Erawan. The place is pretty big with large windows through out the area. The inner decoration is somewhat Thai style but with fusion regime of contemporary. For me, though it at least gives comfortable and relax sense, there are still some weird feeling of unbalance mix and match. The part that we do not so in love is the fact that some tables can be so close to each other. When we say so close, we really mean it: just turning back and you can be face-to-face with the next table. Erawan Tea Room surely fails the privacy category.

To travel here is rather convenient as Erawan is just a few minutes walk from BTS Chidlom station, else driving is perfectly fine too with spacious car park. The part that we would particularly like to complaint is the service. Staffs were pretty much ignorant and unfriendly. The first impression was the bad one. We were here for afternoon tea. However, Erawan Tea Room starts serving afternoon tea from 02:30pm, we happened to arrive 15 minutes earlier. The welcoming staff did not look so happily to welcome us at all. All she mentioned was afternoon tea wouldn't be served until 02:30pm and we may return 15 minutes later. I supposed that a good service should be like offering us to take a seat and wait or order some soft drink while waiting. Anyway, let not mention the other not so impressive experience. Perhaps we were wrong to be local and Erawan Tea Room happens to be famous amongst tourists.

Erawan Tea Room @ Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok

shop front

During lunch and dinner, Erawan Tea Room serves ranges of Thai food. However, the famous part of Erawan Tea Room is obviously the afternoon tea. Afternoon tea (THB390 per person) here is different from other places in the way that range of savoury bites and desserts is not the Western style but Thai style with mix and match of some Western dishes. For beverage choice, you can choose any of tea or coffee range from the menu. For us, we went for Thai Milk Tea and Lemon Iced Tea this time. The Summer heat in Bangkok this year is pretty bad and we could not really insist for hot tea. Both Thai milk tea and lemon iced tea were still short of tea concentration. They were too light indeed. For food, they were on average, meaning enjoyable but not a must try thing. What surprise us was the scone. It happened to be better than expected. Scones in many places in Thailand are really not so nice from our point of view. The one at Erawan Tea Room was not bad at all. They were soft but chewy and tasteful. If they do serve clotted cream instead of whipped cream that would be much better.

The tea set came in 2 parts: Savoury Bites and Desserts. Here are the savoury bites part of the day we visited.

Larb Goong Sod - ลาบกุ้งสด (spicy minced prawn salad with chilli and mint leaves in cucumber cup)
Tod Mun Pla Krai - ทอดมันปลากราย (deep-fried fish fritter with cucumber and peanut sauce)
Chor Muang Sai Poo - ช่อม่วงไส้ปู (steamed flower-shaped dumpling filled with crab meat)
Mieng Kratong Thong - เมี่ยงกระทงทอง (roasted coconut, lime, chilli and ginger with betel leaves in crisp basket)
Mar Hor - ม้าฮ่อ (minced pork and peanuts on fresh pineapple)

Thai Milk Tea and Lemon Iced Tea

afternoon tea set

savouries

The range of dessert is as below. They came with the mix of Thai and Western choices. For macaron, the texture was good but the filling was strange, especiall the pandan and lemongrass. The part that we did not like was the seasonal fruit skewer. It was just fruit really and too plain in fact.

Kanom Krok - ขนมครก (crispy rice pudding with taro, corn, pumpkin or spring onion)
Kanom Bueng - ขนมเบื้อง (crispy bean crepe with sweet or salted filling)
Thong Muan - ทองม้วน (crispy sesame roll)
Chocolate Macaron - ช็อกโกแลตมากาฮอง
Pandan and Lemongrass Macaron - ใบเตยและตะไคร้มากาฮอง
Mini Organic Passion Fruit Tart - ทาร์ตเสาวรสออร์แกนิค
Khao Niew Mamuang - ข้าวเหนียวมะม่วง (mango with sticky rice)
Polamai Ruam - ผลไม้รวม (seasonal fresh fruit skewer)
Look Chub - ลูกชุบ (sweet bean paste fruit shapes)
Scones with Whipped Cream and Chiang Mai Strawberry Jam - สโคนและแยมสตรอเบอรี่

Anyway, the overall taste and atmosphere was ok. Only the service that was not so great from our view. We wish they can improve on this as well as the attitude of staffs. What we feel was that the afternoon tea is not really the one must try thing, however, the range of Thai food looks not bad at all. We may perhaps find another occasion to try their Thai dishes. But no more for afternoon tea here.

By the way, do book in advance if you would visit Erawan Tea Room for afternoon tea during weekend. It can be really packed.

dessert 1

dessert 2

scones with whipped cream and strawberry jam

Erawan Tea Room @ Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok - เอราวัณทีรูม @ แกรนด์ ไฮแอท เอราวัณ กรุงเทพ
494 Ratchadamri Road
Pathumwan
Bangkok 10330

Thailand

Open Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm daily

Tel: +66 (0) 2254 1234
Web: http://bangkok.grand.hyatt.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/GrandHyattErawanBangkok