Exploring Edinburgh | The most amazing afternoon tea

Just look at this. Pictures speak louder than words so here it is - afternoon tea at The Signet Library in  The Colonnades in Edinburgh.

*scroll to the bottom to see my thoughts*

This was one of the best afternoon teas I've ever had, seriously stunning. Even starting with the setting, you're sat in a library under a very high ceiling surrounded by stacks and stacks of books. It's really cool. The table was like a mirror and pretty much everything else was also reflective and looked really sleek. There were loads of different teas and coffees to choose from so whatever floats your boat, they have something for you! I went for earl grey and it was goooood.

We started with an amuse bouche of parsnip soup, a nice surprise and really tasty. Then it was onto the main event. I don't want to go into too much detail so I'll give you the highlights. The mini game pie was to die for, just a bite of delicious pastry goodness and the mini fish burger (I should stop saying mini because let's face it everything is mini) was very tasty. The bizarre star of the savoury section was the red pepper cheesecake...yeah, that's right. It sounds really weird but it worked, buttery base with a red pepper filling and a crispy pepper bit on top. Might be one to recreate at home! 

Scones were delicious - one criticism was that we could have done with a bit more clotted cream and jam but I'm sure we could have asked for more. I'm usually a little let down when it comes to puddings on afternoon teas because 1. in general there's a lot of cake and 2. I'm too stuffed from the savoury section to even think about anything else. But well-thought out selection of mini pastries was amazing. Again, the highlights were the treacle tart, like a sticky bonfire toffee in pastry and the gin and apple jelly, a nice way to end off the meal. I was also a big fan of the pumpkin spiced macaroon. I'm normally not the biggest macaroon fan but this was filled with white chocolate and it was so tasty I could have had about 17 (obviously not right then and there - I was literally stuffed to burst).

There's a general theme with my Edinburgh posts of "if you're ever in Edinburgh you need to visit insert name of establishment here" but I really mean it with this one. Such a great experience, I wouldn't hesitate about going back!

Where else shall I try for afternoon tea?