Tag Archives: Ian Duncan Smith

Scones, Top

Georgian Tea Room

No, nothing to do with Mad Max! This is in Edinburgh’s George Street and there is definitely nothing thunderous about it. ‘A warm balmy evening’ might describe it better.

The entrance
The entrance

Built in 1847 as the headquarters of the Commercial Bank of Scotland it currently functions as a bar, restaurant and night club. We often come here when we are in town, fancy a pint … and the Café Royal is just a bit too far away. On this occasion however instead of going into the bar area under the magnificent dome we went upstairs to the Georgian Tea Room. A bit of an adventure, since we had never strayed upstairs before. Needless to say the splendour continues. The tea room certainly does not let the rest of the building down in any way .. all chandeliers and ebony.

Afternoon tea

As soon as you walk in you get the feeling that you are not going to be let down either. It was a special day so we were tr

Internal view of the Georgian Tearoom
Georgian Tearoom

eating ourselves to afternoon tea and it seemed that lots of other people were doing the same. A constant turnover of tables but all done in an atmosphere of absolute calm. Of course, champagne had to be taken first. Recently, a correspondent from France could not understand how Hugh’s champagne bar existed when it was not open in the evening. I had to explain that, in Scotland, we drink champagne all day because, just living here, is a constant cause for celebration!

Anyway the bubbles allowed us time to look at the tea menu which contained six different options. Pat wanted her usual breakfast tea and I decided on the Bannockburn .. no idea why? Dome 06In our last post we were seeking out Scottish tea plantations, however, in spite of the name, the Bannockburn tea estate, which has existed since the 1850s, is situated just a few miles from the centre of Darjeeling. No prizes for guessing where the founders were from. Served in Dudson fine bone china, the blurb said it was fresh yet fruity with citrus and apricot notes; the perfect accompaniment to scones .. and it was! What with the crisp white linen tablecloths and napkins, the silver tea service and the scones being just the right size and melt-in-the-mouth, it was not in the least bit difficult to make a topscone award … hurrah!

Flying pigs

Sitting here in the Dome, cosseted and looked after superbly well, you tend to wonder what the government was thinking about with it’s recent attempt at cutting allowances for the sick and disabled. Little wonder they have decided to do a U-turn. Cafe Royal 02As we write, news is coming in of bombings in Brussels. What is happening in this deeply divided world? Maybe Trump can sort it out .. or was that a pig flying over? You’ll be pleased to know that we did manage to squeeze in a wee visit to the Café Royal on the way home.

EH2 2PF          tel: 0131 624 8624              The Dome

english, Ordinary, self-service

White Peaks Café

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This is our first visit to Kew Gardens. It famously houses the world’s biggest collection of living plants. It quickly became evident that a few hours was never really going to do it justice. It’s big, about 300 acres, and there’s lots to see and do. Orchid collections; photographic exhibitions; tropical glasshouses; museums of botany; loads of beautiful  parkland and big adventure playgrounds for children. There are four eateries all operated by the same external  contractor and they are all different. We ended up in the White Peaks family food hall near the adventure play area. It was busy, busy, busy, kiddies everywhere, but we had kiddies with us too so we were just adding to the general chaos.White Peaks 02

‘Food hall’ is probably the correct description rather than ‘restaurant’. You certainly would not come here for a quiet cuppa .. at least not on a school holiday. If you want that The Orangery, a couple of hundred yards further on, would probably be a much better bet. Fortunately White Peaks is self-service and set up to cater for loads of people all at once. It doesn’t take long to get served with whatever takes your fancy. Predictably our fancy was taken by the scones. Not because they looked particularly appetising, but rather out of our unstinting sense of duty.

Not Claridges

As might be expected in a place like this everything is geared towards fast  food and the scones are no exception; jam and cream in little sealed plastic pots; paper plates; plastic knife. Do they not know that we normally have our scones at Claridge’s .. darling? White Peaks 03This definitely was not a Claridge’s scone but then that would be like comparing apples and pears. Let’s just say that this scone was okay and ideally suited to it’s environment.

If the folks in London are baffled by a peculiar chortling noise drifting downwind from the north, it is probably referendum hardened Scots laughing. They are chortling at the 2014 pantomime of the Scottish independence referendum being played out again. However, this time it’s over the EU. The same predictions of impending doom if we stay in .. oh, and if we leave. Incredibly, the people who want to leave the EU are ferociously arguing that ‘we need to have control over our own affairs‘, are exactly the same people who argued so ferociously to stop that happening in Scotland. The logic is hard to grasp.

Weasel words

The other day Ian Duncan Smith said “I’m tired of hearing that we’re too small, too little, too inconsequential to stand alone”. Is that a wee touch of amnesia Ian? What were you saying a year ago about Scotland? No such worries on this beautiful day at Kew. We didn’t notice any kiddie-winks fretting about the prospects of being in .. or out, although, they are the ones who will be affected most. Whatever the result, it will be made to work so it probably does not matter that much. Dumfries & Galloway Council have resorted to cutting a pack of cards to make decisions. Maybe Westminster should do the same, it would save a lot of trouble?

TW9 3AB     tel: 020 8332 5000     Kew Gardens