Comptons Steep Hill Tea Rooms

One of the goals of our getaway to The North (the Midlands are North if you live in London) was to have scones and clotted cream. Since I wasn’t sure of the little villages around us, I gave Mr. Snarky two options… Nottingham or Lincoln. He decided on Lincoln. When we arrived I noticed a boom in cafes that were now opened and noticed a couple of changes. Of course to my delight my favourite tea room was open again!
As we approached though, I did notice a new name and a remodel of the inside… This worried me a bit, but the menu looked the same, so we decided to go in. The waiter was a cheeky fellow, but very nice. We both decided on the sweet Afternoon Tea… yes they have a savoury Afternoon Tea. Mr. Snarky had the Ham Sandwich with Plum Chutney and a slice of the Chocolate Fudge Cake, in addition to the fruit scone that comes with. I chose the Tuna Sandwiches and a slice of the Carrot Cake.
The tea comes in the original patterned china that the old Steep Hill Tea Rooms used, but they now use bags of tea… no more loose tea and tiny strainers :(. The Afternoon Tea Platter came out looking magnificent, but with the wrong sandwich for me. The portion sizes were quite large so if you are thinking you should have lunch first, don’t… have Afternoon Tea for lunch. Mr. Snarky went to let the staff know that they had given me cheese sandwiches instead of tuna. They apologised and brought out tuna, but told us to keep the cheese, although Mr. Snarky would be the only one able to partake given my intolerance.
They don’t give a choice of scones anymore… so fruit it is. And you do not get a small container of clotted cream that is so thick it spreads like butter. You now get a large, single serving of Rhodda’s clotted cream… but it is so liquidy that it gets a bit messy. The scone was lovely and the sandwiches were quite big… not dainty at all. Mr. Snarky’s Chocolate Fudge Cake was absolutely lovely and so rich. My Carrot Cake was moist, but lacking in some spices, making it sweet, but a bit bland.
They do not take cards, cash only and make sure you have exact change because apparently they do not have much change… according to our waiter.