Abbey Tea Rooms, Glastonbury, England

It was January and it was cold. We had just spent several hours touring around the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. We were in desperate need of a little nosh. Across Magdalene Street,from the entrance to the Abbey, there are several restaurants, snack shops and a tea room, any one of which would have provided what we needed. We chose the Abbey Tea Room and what a great choice it was.

We walked in and took a seat and began to peruse the menu. Two waitresses were covering the entire shops and they were quite busy. We waited a little longer than we should have had to but in the end, it was worth the wait. In addition to the menu, there are blackboards that will tell you what is being offered and there is also a pudding menu.

Parsnip and apple soup and grainy bread

For the soup of the day they were offering carrot ginger and also parsnip and apple. I love parsnip and apple so that was what I chose. My friend did as well along with a scone. My husband had a jacket potato with cheddar cheese. While we were waiting for our food we enjoyed our tea and hot chocolate.

An overloaded jacket potato

The cakes that they are offering that day are on a table on the side of the first room you enter. You can get up and have a look at them if you want. Quite a nice selection was offered including shortbread, a chocolate and cherry bar, brownies, banana walnut cake, and fruitcake. This is just a sampling, there were more than that, the entire table was filled.

The soup was good, the granary bread it was served with was great. It was thick, about three-inch slices and it was filled with sunflowers and other grain. The soup tasted more of apple than parsnip which for me isn’t a good thing but it was served thick and hot and it was very satisfying.

 A delicious crumble and custard

What was really outstanding here was the pudding. We ordered the apple and black raspberry crumble with custard and three spoons. The English always know we are Americans because we share our food like this.

This was the best crumble we had to date in England, it was so good that really I think we all wished we weren’t sharing. The custard tasted homemade. It was served piping hot and it was more fruit than crumble which is a very good thing.

The bill for our little feast was 23 GBP and with a three-pound tip, we left feeling very satisfied for about $40 American.