J G Ross, Oldmeldrum

Today I went with The Mothers to J G Ross Bakery in Oldmeldrum for afternoon tea.

I live in Oldmeldrum so I am familiar with this place.  It can often be hit or miss but I am always keen to support the local shops and businesses in Oldmeldrum.  The cafe is a fairly new addition to Oldmeldrum, opening in September last year.  I have been on a few occasions, both for takeaway and sit in options, with varying success.

Unfortunately, this visit was not one of the better ones.

We arrived in the shop at around 2.30pm, perfect time to miss both the dinnertime rush and the after school customers, and were given menus and told to pick a seat by a rather somber member of staff.  Two out of the three booths were already occupied, we sat at the third.  The few other tables in the shop were empty.

Last time we were in, mum had spied the offer of afternoon tea on the menu so was keen to try this.  It costs £12.95 for two.  We waited quite a long time to be served, despite the place not appearing busy, however thee were only two members of staff there which seemed a little short for a bakery with cafe. We asked the young waitress if we could pay slightly more to make it for three people.  She seemed a little confused by this, but took our order nonetheless, asking which sandwiches we wanted.  Mum and I were not overly fussed, but mum-in-law is vegetarian so obviously asked for any available meat-free option.

We were brought cups of tea and coffee.  Unfortunately, there were wee blue bits in the tea!  It looked like teeny tiny bits of a J-Cloth.  Not ones to complain, The Mothers just picked them out.  I had coffee which was nicely made, however, the cup I was given was quite dirty.  Again, following in the footsteps of my companions, I just drank from the not-quite-so-dirty side.

We had a tower of goodies delivered to us.  The bottom tier was a mixture of chicken mayo and cheese sandwiches.  I'll admit, I found these options a little uninteresting and 'safe' but they were nonetheless lovely.  One of my favourite things about J G Ross is their brown bread.  Its lovely, soft, squashy, thickly cut and seedy, so I was pleased that some of the sandwiches were made on brown bread.  Scones were next up.  We had one plain, one fruit and one wholemeal.  They were of good size and lovely.

To my horror, each of the mothers put both butter and jam on theirs!  Ugh!  Who would want cloudy, salty jam?!

The traybakes on the top were plentiful, although, again, a little uninteresting.  They consisted of teeny pieces of rocky road, tiffin and a coconut slice.  It would have been nice to have something a little less chocolate-based, as these were all rather heavy and similar in texture.  I'll admit that I completely forgot to take a photo of the afternoon tea tower in all it's glory, however I did get one right at the end of the few traybakes which were left.

We paid at the till and were asked if we enjoyed our food.  In typical British fashion, 'yes, lovely' came out of our mouths.  The young lady perked up at that point, stating that she was pleased as it has been her and her colleagues first ever afternoon tea order, admitting that she couldn't remember exactly what was supposed to go on it.  We commended her for a job well done.  I have certainly been in a similar position myself and it means a lot to have a customer compliment you for an effort you have made.

No doubt I will be back, if only to keep another empty premises from appearing in the beautiful place I live.

Patisserie Valerie, Union Square, Aberdeen

I know, I know, I've only just started this blog and I'm already posting duplicate locations.

*hides face in shame*

I really just wanted to use up that second voucher!

This time I went with Alan.  He was desperate to go after hearing about my previous experience.

We arrived late and, again, we were seated inside, next to the table I previously sat at with Mother Hubbard.  We had a different waitress this time who, although pleasant, was not quite so chatty as the last lady.  The tea (breakfast for Alan and peppermint for me) arrived along with our tower of goodies.  All the sandwiches, scones and cakes were the same as last time so I was wise as to what was going to be my highlight of the tea.

Unfortunately, the sandwiches were again slightly dry as if they had been sitting out for a short while, but this did not put us off - especially Alan who never turns down food.  I let Alan have three of the four scones and he enjoyed them with all of the jams.  This time, instead of marmalade, there was honey, much to his delight.

The mini victoria sponge was delicious - I did not try this last time as I was so full - and they were so light I could have eaten several.  Again, the carrot cake was delicious and one of my favourite parts of the tea.

We noticed the 'Summer Menu' on the table which offered three courses for around £13 (or two for £10).  We left thinking that we might come back to try this offer as many of the courses sounded a bit different and very enticing.

Again, another lovely afternoon tea at Patisserie Valerie.

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.