Cafe Review: Bea's of Bloomsbury in Holborn

Last time I went to Bea's I had a horrible experience. It just all went wrong, from the service to the cupcakes. That said Bea did exactly what she should do, she emailed me afterwards, apologised and offered me free cupcakes. That almost won me round but it was all still a little too fresh for me to try again.

However, it was always apparent that my experience was not the one people normally had. Every other review was gushing, every other cupcake devotee noted the moistness of the offerings.

So, eventually I returned and I am glad I did. First things first, I judge all cream teas by the Palm Court at the Langham (review here). However, the Langham is about £50.00 with service. Bea's was £10.00 for their afternoon sweet tea. Can you really compare such things? Well, fortuitously for this review, yes. Not only is Bea's good value, it is rather tasty.

Of course I went to Bea's with Jen, the original cream tea fanatic. Her love of a good scone and clotted cream is only excelled by her scorn of a weak cupcake. Bea's did not disappoint. On arrival you can choose from one of 7 or 8 teas. You then receive an almighty plate of cavity inducing snacks.

There are brownies, meringues, cupcakes, scones, other things I have forgotten and some more stuff which I don't actually know the proper term for. The small meringues were particularly tasty. However, in the end it has to come down to the cupcake. We cut into these like trainee doctors, slightly scared as to what we would find after our first visit. Well the red velvet cupcake was the best red velvet I have had had in London. Compared to the foul sweet icing smear and dry sponge offered at the Hummingbird bakery (review here), it was a revelation.
 

Now in the end one has to be realistic, if I had £50 to spend every weekend on cream tea I would go to the Langham but for £10 you can't really go wrong at Bea's and more than that, it is actually great.

Price - £10