I’m sure by now you’ll know we are huge fans of afternoon tea, but did you know we both adore books too?? We don’t read enough between us to warrant book reviews on our blog but afternoon tea in a book store might just be next level, so I couldn’t wait to visit Octavo’s.
I’ve heard of Octavo’s but hadn’t been, my mum was given vouchers for afternoon tea there for her birthday so we went along for a mother/daughter day when I had some time off work.
They have a lovely bookstore with a huge range of genres, I particularly like the quotes on the walls. They also offer a range of prints and calendars related to Cardiff and books, I can imagine they’d look great as a collection on a gallery wall or up the stairs. We had a wander around for a little while before being seated in a section of the store.
Me and my mum love going for afternoon tea, but although there’s normally a good choice of tea we always choose English Breakfast tea which is what we did this time. We do love a good brew and this was no exception!
So let’s start with the savoury food, the sandwiches were possibly the best we’ve eaten in an afternoon tea. The bread was soft especially with the crusts cut off, the size of the sandwiches were also bigger than a lot of others we have had and had the perfect amount of filling. This included ham and mustard, cheese and chutney, egg and cress and tuna and cucumber. They are afternoon tea classics but when they’re made properly they’re classics for a reason!
Moving on to the middle tier where we have a selection of Welsh treats including bara brith with butter on, Welsh cakes and your traditional scone with raisins. The Welsh treats were the best (not that I’m biased!) the scone was a bit dry and needed the jam and cream on it but the others were very tasty.
The stars of the show however was the top tier, which I guess is why they’re there!
The chocolate brownie was really rich so we only managed to share a slice of this and took the rest of it home for my dad! I’m also not a huge fan of cherry bakewell flavours but oh my this cherry bakewell slice was so tasty!
I’m not sure why I loved this one so much but I ate the whole piece to myself and didn’t regret it at all. The tiny desserts were raspberry cheesecake and pistachio bites which were also super tasty and disappeared very quickly.
As this was from a birthday voucher I’m not sure how much the afternoon tea costs in Octavo’s and can’t seem to access their website (something about a privacy error?!) but based on taste and presentation I would defintely recommend it.
We only drank the tea but there is also a bar inside the book store and I could definitely see myself enjoying a few drinks with some friends whilst choosing books and eating the delicious food. I hear they have a gin afternoon tea which sounds a great way to spend a Saturday! As well as afternoon tea they had a range of other sandwiches, soups and cakes.
How much does afternoon tea in a book store appeal to you?? Will you be visiting Octavo’s?
Let us know if you visit, especially if you try the gin option!!
L xxx