Afternoon Tea at Maison Talbooth, Colchester Review

The Maison Talbooth in Dedham, near Colchester is part of the Milsom brand of venues that include a number of east-coast eateries and hotels. We have visited here before, as a hotel guest, but couldn’t resist an opportunity to visit once more. This review is for afternoon tea.

The building is a redbrick country house that nestles comfortably in lush landscaped grounds. Afternoon tea is taken in the lounge which is a comfortable, welcoming space near the lobby.

We had the tea without champagne. The tea included hot, fresh-brewed tea in a pot, a range of sandwiches, home-made scones and cakes to finish. Everything was served on, or in, nice china.

Our afternoon tea began with smoked salmon, ham and mustard, cucumber and egg and cress sandwiches. Each was made from fresh bread, fresh ingredients and was perfectly balanced. The salmon was lovely, sliced very thin and tasted great. The ham was also delicious, given that perfect heat by the mustard.

“Afternoon Tea at The Maison Talbooth tasted lovely.”

Next came the fresh, home-made scones with Tiptree jam and cream. They were served warm and were obviously freshly baked. They were sweet, soft and lovely. The jam was rich, full of fruit and worked perfectly well with the cream.

The cakes were served on a cake stand and were an assortment of both modern and traditional. They included Baileys profiteroles, triple chocolate and walnut brownies, fresh fruit pavlova, Battenberg and Swiss roll.

The cakes were all freshly made too. The cakes were soft and moist and tasted delicious. The fresh raspberries in the Swiss roll were of particular note. The profiteroles had the ideal amount of Baileys, enough to give you a taste but not too much to overwhelm the delicate flavour of the rest of the dessert.

Each element of the afternoon tea was very well presented. Everything was perfectly balanced, the tea was of a high quality, as were the ingredients in everything. The surroundings were nice, the service prompt and everything went to plan. We would most definitely come here again.