Patisserie Valerie, Union Square, Aberdeen

Today I went with my mother to Patisserie Valerie in Union Square for a prosecco afternoon tea.  I found that a voucher given to me by my friend was due to expire tomorrow (Wednesday) so, as I hate to waste anything, I thought we had best use it up.  I also had another voucher for afternoon tea, this time without the prosecco, given to me by my mother in law.

We took the bus into Aberdeen and were greeted at Patisserie Valerie by a lovely lady who sat us inside the shop - I had only ever sat outside in the booths so it was a nice change to be sat inside.  I explained that I had a voucher and she explained that tea and coffee were also included.  She nipped off to get our glasses of prosecco.  As we heard the pop of the cork, mum and I pondered how restaurants keep the rest of a bottle fizzy when only a glass or two is poured.  Our waitress explained upon my asking that there is a special bottle stop which they use to preserve the fizz.

A tower of treats arrived along with our tea (mum) and coffee (me).  On the first tier were wee finger sandwiches (cucumber, chicken and pesto, salmon, ham and mustard, egg mayo).  The sandwiches were nice, if a little dry as if they may have been sitting out for half an hour or so.  My mum found the ham and mustard to be very mustardy - it appeared to have bright yellow English mustard oozing out of the sandwich - so very strong indeed.  The cucumber sandwich had the opposite problem - hardly any taste at all.  It could have really been done with something else added to it.  There was also a small vegetable quiche each which was, to my surprise, slightly warm.  It was lovely.

There were scones, of both the plain and fruit variety, on the second tier.  They came with butter and four different preserves - blackcurrant, raspberry, strawberry and marmalade - and a ramekin of whipped cream.  They were of good size and tasted great.

On the top tier was a selection of mini tasty treats - a victoria sponge, some sort of berry jelly/mousse thing, a chocolate mousse cake, carrot cake and two chocolate eclairs.  These were all delicious, bar the berry one which was slightly gelatinous for my taste.

The waitress who served us (unfortunately I did not catch her name) was absolutely lovely and I was saddened to see that a table of two men in their late 30s behind us were a little rude to her as she tried to make polite chat with them.  She handled this gracefully and I was pleased to see that it did not put her off making conversation with other diners.

We were both fit to burst by the end of our tea, and set up for a days shopping.  I would absolutely recommend this to others.