tea and scones at the Wisteria Cafe in Echuca!

A Devonshire tea (also known as a Cream tea, Devon cream tea or Cornish cream tea) is tea taken with a combination of scones, clotted cream and jam.

The name "Devonshire tea" comes from the county of Devon in England, where it is a local speciality. The exact origin of "cream tea" is disputed, although there is evidence to suggest that the tradition of eating bread with cream and jam already existed at Tavistock Abbey in Devon in the 11th century.

 

When Devonshire Tea is served, it is usually served with the 'proper teapot', the nice plates, cups and saucers.  Atmosphere plays a major part in the serving of Devonshire Tea too ...  even pleasant music that fills the air in ways that smells and sights cannot.

So it was with these expectations that we headed off to the Wisteria Cafe in Echuca to partake in their "Devonshire Tea".  Even the name of the cafe conjures up these expectations, wouldn't you think so?

We arrived at 3.20pm and sat down to order the tea, which arrived soon after by a very pleasant waitress.

BUT ......

The tea was served in stainless steel pots, heavy duty plain white cups, a stainless steel jug of milk, small basket with paper napkins that contained four scones that had obviously been warmed in the microwave!

The jam was no better than supermarket 'home brand' jam served in a small dish alongside the dish of cream.

BUT WAIT .... there is more ....

as soon as we were served (at 3.30pm) the staff started locking up around us. We were quite surprised as we hadn't even poured our tea at this point!

We asked if they were closing and was told they close at 3.30pm!

We felt we had to gulp down our "tea and scones" and depart as soon as possible.  To be fair, they did not ask us to hurry, but we felt we had to as we were the only ones there at that time. Politeness would surely dictate that we should have been told this at the time of ordering our "tea and scones", we then could have made the decision to return the following day and have our "tea and scones" at a more leisurely pace!

We then asked do they stay open later at weekends, to which we were told "oh we stretch it to 4.00pm on some days"!!

This being a 'tourist town' I would have thought even at the weekends they could stay open a little later.

So our expected Devonshire Tea at The Wisteria Cafe did not eventuate, we simply had a very quick serving of "tea and scones" in an outside garden. If the cafe had advertised the afternoon tea as simply 'tea and scones' or just an 'afternoon tea', it would have been quite pleasant in itself and perhaps the disappointment wouldn't have been so great. I think I expected a Devonshire Tea in the historic town of Echuca to be served with a little more finesse.

 
Cannot locate a website for The Wisteria Cafe, but there are reviews in Trip Advisor and UrbanSpoon.




*please note*

the above blog post was not for a social media event, this particular post is for the enjoyment and interest of our loyal followers !!

We, however, are available for Social Media work at anytime. Be it bakeries, restaurants, festivals, wineries, galleries, cafes, coffee shops, markets or anything that needs to have some focus and would be of interest to others!!

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Leone and John Fabre

 

An afternoon with Miss Marple!

Yesterday a few of us did the trip up to Sylvan (Victoria, Australia) to see the Tesselaars Tulip Festival, on the way home we did a slight detour to have afternoon tea at the Miss Marples Tea Rooms in Sassafras.

I have read a few of the recent reviews on this establishment and they are:

was in the area on Friday with a group of friends on a photographic trip. After the morning shooting we decided to stop in and grab something to eat. Our party of 8 or so sat down but one was still outside and planned to join us in 10 minutes. Upon arrival he asked one of the waitresses to place another chair at the end of the table. The woman was downright rude and told him that she would not, that he was ill mannered for trying to jump the queue. Our party tried to explain that he was with us, but she didn't believe us, or him, and embarrassed him by telling him that he was lying.

The food was overpriced and nothing special. We will not be going back, when there are other options in the same street who do not humiliate their customers.

Overall, a nice place to take out of town or international visitors for the English-style environment.

Waited for an hour and a half which was fine as its a popular destination however the waitress made us feel like a total inconvenience and ruined the experience. Was supposed to be a lovely Sunday afternoon tea. If your working in the hospitality industry then aren't you supposed to be hospitable? Disappointing Miss Marples.

We had a wonderful lunch here last weekday. Delicious Cream/Devon Teas, open sandwiches and the atmosphere was so cute. I have recommended Miss Marple's to many visitors and none have been disappointed.

So I was anxious to see what it was like on a personal level.

We did have to wait, but all up only about 20 minutes, which allowed us time to visit the Tea Shop next door.

We found the staff to be pleasant and we were served without any wait or fuss. My only comment would be on the 'scones'. I found them to be more like a dry tasting sponge and nothing like I would expect a "Devonshire Tea" scone to be like either in taste, shape or size!

Other than that, it was a very pleasant afternoon tea. Regardless of some reviews, I would suggest that everyone needs to go here at least once in their lifetime!

Miss Marple's Tearoom

03 9755 1610

382 Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd
Sassafras, VIC 3787

please note the above blog post was not for any social media event, this particular post is for the enjoyment and interest of our loyal followers !!

We, however, are available for Social Media work at anytime. Be it bakeries, restaurants, festivals, wineries, galleries, cafes, coffee shops, markets or anything that needs to have some focus and would be of interest to others!!

email:

Leone and John Fabre