Another Sunday, another cheat day!
For this week’s review we went to Patisserie Valerie, marking this our first large chain review!

Patisserie Valerie, of course, is a UK wide chain known mostly for their cake slices and hot drinks. But you would be amiss to forget that they also do afternoon tea (£25 for 2)! My partner and I sat ourselves down at the North Bridge branch on a late Sunday afternoon, after not having eaten after a light breakfast, and were very excited.

This is well worth its money. You get 5 finger sandwiches each (get it??), 2 scones, 1 mini éclair, and 3 mini versions of their famous cake slices. The sandwiches and cakes are wonderful, the scones are unremarkable. That said, the clotted cream and jams are simply divine. You get bottomless refills for your drinks, which can be either tea or hot chocolate- yum!

Although it was all good value for money, and it all tasted very good, it did have the distinct feel of a large chain. Whereas most places we’ve been to before, if not all, had freshly baked scones and cakes, nothing here was fresh. The éclairs especially gave this away, as they had the typical thick drops of condensation on them which come from refrigeration. None of it was baked on the premises, but does that matter when it all tastes good?

I don’t know, so all I can say is this: if you prefer to have your sweet goods baked freshly, don’t go to Patisserie Valerie. If you just want good food and don’t want to spend independent teashop prices for them, do!