bea's of bloomsbury - st paul's

i used to be a regular at this place back when i was studying in london. i'd go there very often for afternoon tea. the food is very good there and reasonably priced, one never left hungry. the mood of this place however is very casual, so if you're looking for proper london tea, don't go there .there is quite some variety in food, not the usual finger sandwiches, they have the best baguettes without mayonnaise. they also have the most amazing scones and each person gets a cupcake too.

i absolutely love coming to this restaurant. i love that they have so many variation in the cupcakes and pastries that they offer. they have small sugar bowls placed on every table. i am particularly a fan of the blue cookie monster. the thanksgiving dinner served is delicious with a reminder of home food. their service was friendly and food was priced well.

the place is highly recommended to people who are looking to stop before or after the visit to st. paul's cathedral.the restaurant is well decorated and most of time people need to make reservations for even for a cup of tea. we sat upstairs under a teapot light which reminded me of a scene in alice in wonderland. the tea served was warm and delicious which is perfect for a snowy day. they also served us with a bunch of sweets which i felt were too much in quantity which was not required.

before you plan your outing to this place remember to get a reservation or else you will have to face the 'surly' expressions of the staff. you are not a welcome guest in case you do not reserve your desk in advance. the waiting time makes your stomach ache and frankly you can get better scones and tea at a variety of other places. then why should you visit a place where people do not even greet you with a smile?

a nice little cafe with some good options for tea and coffee . the food however , didn't have much variety , probably because it was late and the place was about to close . the ambiance however is good , the selection in desserts was wonderful too . will go back soon .

the place had some good food , for the afternoon teat menu , and everything was good value for money too . they however insisted that we get a reservation done , and that was really lame . would go back for the delectable blonde tart . a must visit for everyone .

we went to this restaurant this morning. we ordered some tea and coffee, but did not receive our order even after ten minutes. i had to go back again to the counter and turns out that did not even begin with our order as they thought the take away customers were more important. we eventually had to cancel ours. not recommended.

i was in london last month for a business trip, and i happened to visit this place for an afternoon tea after searching a lot for places to have a nice meal and tea. the decor of the place was very well done and had small teapots hanging all over the place. the tea and the big red velvet cake was served almost instantly and both the things were very well prepared.
the service was pretty attentive as well and i had an overall amazing time.

if you are looking for a fine afternoon tea experience then this is not the place that you should be visiting. you might feel disappointed at just about everything. the cakes are baked are not fresh, though the sandwich tastes delicious but it is too small. the tea is served in pots which leak from all sides. you would not want to experience this kind of an outing. the price that is being charged is a premium one and you do not feel that there is value for money. the staff is not courteous and there is a long wait to use to the ill kept wash rooms.

i know, i know, i’m kind of becoming a stalker of poor bea (if it helps, several other blogging friends have admitted the same!), but i really do think her cakes are some of the best around.

friend c has recently gone abroad for six months. by the time she comes back i’ll be wrapped up in the world of babytalk and probably won’t be much of a contributor to my ladies’ fabulous lifestyles anymore, so we decided before she left to go for a joint birthday afternoon tea, just her and i, as we shared the same birthday weekend in january.

we’ve actually done bea’s for our annual afternoon tea before – we just think it’s wonderful. this time was not a disappointment. i don’t know how they’ve done it, taking bea’s of bloomsbury from one great little cafe on theobold’s road to several branches spread across london and still managed to keep the quality of the food and service up.

as i said earlier, the quality of bea’s has not changed over the years. i love that they’ve expanded beyond cake and do some really fun events at their maltby street arch (movie nights, crawfish boils, a saturday diner~). c agreed with me and when she returns to the uk, and hopefully that means london, we will be back for yet another birthday afternoon tea.

c – have the most incredible trip! i am jealous beyond words, especially as it means you get nine months of summer…

kim and i was dying to have some afternoon tea, we suppose to go to the ritz but both on a tight budget. i suggested bea’s of bloomsbury, they opened their second branch one change, st pauls. i booked a table for 2 at 1pm on a sunday overlooking the city surroundings.

extract from their website on their afternoon tea offering

full afternoon tea for £15.00 per person, which includes savoury baguettes, a proper scones, clotted cream and jam, one of our signature cupcakes, a mini valrhona brownie, a mini belgian blondie, and a mini meringue and of course a pot of jing tea.

the cakes are absolutely d e l i c o u s, the lemon marshmallow melts into your mouth with that lemon zest taste. the cupcakes are the best i’ve tried so far, moist, airy and fluffy and the butter cream flavoured without too much butter. the scones wasn’t too heavy and went well with the clotted cream and jam. love this place.

i haven't tried any of their lunch offerings because as fas as i'm concerned this place is all about one thing - cupcakes! boy do they bake a tremendous cupcake!!

strawberry and cream, sticky toffee pudding, tiramisu, nutella and vanilla, red velvet, passionfruit and vanilla.... every single one i've tried is heavenly, cakey goodness. the bakers not only know what they are doing but consistently produce amazing, top quality batches.

this is the premier league of cupcakes and i heartily recommend them.

one slight snag - the pricing on the board states "£2.50 each or 6 for £15"! these things are so good that they clearly don't need to offer a discount but for those mathematically challenged it is misleading...

pleasant break near st. paul's. we booked a tea there for a late in the afternoon. it is a small space and were a bit slammed. the service very pleasant and tea choice great. the sandwiches were a bit disappointing -- no variety, just one kind offered. maybe this was because it was the end of the day but explaining to a 12 year old that whole wheat, feta roasted red pepper was the only choice was tricky. on the other hand the scones, pastries and macaroons were delicious.

if you are fan of cup cakes this is the place for you. specially try the red velvet cake, yummmy.
the place is also famous for champagne afternoon tea. the place is small and gets very busy, so please book in advance.
extensive pastry variety and really good cakes made to order.
prices are reasonable (a cup cake around £2.5).
highly recommended.

beas of bloomsbury is as lovely an eatery as it sounds. with delectable cupcakes and brilliant tea, this is one of our favourite bakeries in london. even their crockery is cute!

they also have lunch options but we usually stop by for cakes. i can easily recommend passion fruit cupcake, brownies, banana bread and moist carrot cake. absolutely brilliant.

they also make amazing scones - very flavourful and very well made (soft inside and crumbly outside) do try the cheese scones. delicious from the word go.