After seeing so much online about Octavo's I knew I had to visit. A cafe and a book shop in one what more could you want. Situated in the bay, just a stone's throw away from the bay train station. I came across a voucher on Groupon for an afternoon tea for 2 costing £19, this was my chance to sample their delights.
When we arrived, I was shocked by how much smaller it was. I don't know why but I had images of a coffee shop and then a bookshop to browse. If you do want to browse the books you may have to squeeze past people to see the books.
Once we had chosen a table we were asked what drinks we would like, while they prepared the food. I opted for an English breakfast and my mum early grey. Both came in teapots so there was a fair amount of tea for the dining experience. The pots kept the tea warm throughout and there was just the right amount of milk.
When our food was brought over they were displayed on a glass cake stand so you could see everything clearly. So first we started on the sandwiches, all which were on wholemeal bread, so if you only like white bread make this know. The sandwich which stood out most was the cheese and chutney, these though were grated cheese. The ham sandwich was great quality meat and tasted very fresh. Now moving onto the other sandwich, when first looking at it I had no idea what flavour it was. Kind of orange in colour, I took a bite what was the worst that could happen. To my surprise, it was tuna and sweetcorn but mixed with some spice hence the orange colour. I defiantly prefer the traditional tuna and sweetcorn, this one does have a somewhat acquired taste.
Now moving on to the sweet treats. So if you want a treat and are looking to eat less this is the place for you. On top were four mini cakes in different varieties. One was a mini cream slice with pink Icing and a lemon filling the slice was very tiny, but I and mum split everything in half. The other cake was a mini lemon filled eclair, a chocolate brownie and a profiterole. The profiterole was the best out of the selection, chocolaty and creamy.
The best bit was the scone, sultanas and cherry filled scone. The scone was beautifully warm on the inside, crunchy on the outside. The jam to cream ratio was a bit odd, the cream mound was ginormous.
Once we'd finished our food it was time to leave, we were given a friendly farewell. The afternoon tea overall, possibly was on the small side, but I think it's because we had the offer. Their menu looks great, especially the mac and cheese toastie. So maybe for lunch and I'm in the area I'll pop by for a toastie.