Local Eat Treats #39 Milkshakes and Burgers for Afternoon Tea at Malmaison

As the popularity of afternoon tea continues to rise, more and more places are offering slates, plates and tiers of sarnies, scones and cakes somewhere in between lunch and dinner time. But with so many people jumping on the bandwagon and making the most of this extra meal in the day, how do you stand out from the crowd? Malmaison Cheltenham might just have the answer.

With mini burgers and milkshakes on the menu (well strictly speaking it’s a smoothie but let’s not get our knickers in a twist), along with the more traditional offerings of fruit scones and a whole host of sweet treats, Malmaison Cheltenham certainly managed to get my attention.

So one hump day, after work, I met up with the lovely Sara who blogs about her travel adventures over at All Aboard the Skylark for an almighty feast of food and nattering. I’ve noticed that those who partake in afternoon tea are always good at talking – for hours. Hours and hours. We managed four! And that was without any alcohol!

Malmaison Cheltenham serve afternoon tea every day between 3pm and 5.30pm and the one we had comes at a cost of £17.50 per person. I’d highly recommend booking in advance and asking for a table in their gorgeous conservatory if possible. That’s where we sat and it really is lovely.

Rather than finger sandwiches, here you get wraps and a mini burger each. The chipotle chicken and avocado wrap didn’t have the kick I was hoping for but the burger was spot on, as was the hot smoked salmon wrap. It was good to have something a bit more substantial as I always find afternoon tea somewhat lacking in the savoury department, so this got the thumbs up from me as I’m not a sweet or a savoury toothed person – I’m both!

Next up we moved onto the sweets, starting with the fruit scone laden with clotted cream and strawberry jam (and butter for me too). Oh and we both agreed, it’s jam first, cream second.

We had a little break at this point, topped up our tea pots (we were on Darjeeling) and nattered some more to make some room for the second tier consisting of a strawberry & vanilla pavlova, salted chocolate brownie, lemon & polenta cake, rhubarb & custard pot (in place of the peach & Amaretto cream) and a frozen summer berry smoothie.

I worked my way through the whole lot, with my favourites being the brownie and the milkshake (aka smoothie). The lemon & polenta cake didn’t do a lot for me, but there was so much to choose from, it really didn’t matter at all.

By the way, if you wanted something a little stronger than tea, you can pay a bit extra and either have a glass of champagne or a fabulous cocktail to accompany your feast, but being a school night we wimped out and stuck with a cuppa. 

What a fabulous afternoon tea with a twist, great company, gorgeous surroundings and a very handy location – just a stone’s throw away from the town centre.