Afternoon Tea at Jasper’s Tea Rooms

This week was my birthday and I’ll confess, I’m not a big fan of celebrating my birthday. It’s not that I mind getting older, it happens to us all and I’m actually quite looking forward to hitting the big four oh in a few years, but I simply feel uncomfortable with the attention being on me. I tried to have a low-key joint birthday meal on the weekend which ended up with an entire restaurant and twenty friends singing Happy Birthday to us – twice! I said low key guys!

On my birthday itself my husband happened to be off work and it was the regular day that my mum takes the baby, which I usually spend on my writing work in some form. It seemed a shame to spend the day with my head buried in the computer, despite the fact that my husband had bought me an amazing new chair for my birthday, so we decided to head out for a spot of Afternoon Tea.

One thing I’m guilty of is always looking over the horizon and missing what’s right in front of me and I’ve been trying to change that by opting for local short breaks, local restaurants and taking holidays in parts of the UK we’ve not visited rather than going abroad, such as our recent epic road trip to Scotland. We’ve recently moved and not really explored our new area yet, so I applied some google-fu and found out that there were a couple of cafes in the local Llandaff High Street. We decided on trying Jaspers Tea Rooms, which is a stones throw from Llandaff Cathedral. Llandaff Cathedral is surrounded by some lovely buildings with a lot of original stone work on the streets and buildings surrounding it, which makes it an excellent area for a stroll before or after a cup of tea and cake at one of the lovely little cafes around it.

It’s very easy to visit by car as there’s a good sized car park which is free for the first two hours and then very reasonable prices afterwards (50p for 3 hours), but it’s also on several major bus routes.

Jaspers Tea Rooms

Jasper’s Tea Rooms is a very cosy cafe which was bustling with local folks, but with plenty of tables to spare. It has a very charming setup, being located in several different rooms, each with a couple of tables in, giving it a very quiet and private feel. Decorated with local art work (which was for sale) and homewares, it felt very much like having a cup of tea in someones home. The tables and chairs were all different sizes and shapes and it just felt very unique yet welcoming at the same time.

Afternoon Tea at Jaspers Tea Rooms

We opted for the full afternoon tea which was priced at £13.50 per person, putting it in what I’d describe the mid-range price for Afternoon Tea. If you’re not looking for the full deal, there were excellent options on lunches, cakes, teas and coffees and I’d be very happy to just nip in there for a cup of tea and a slice of cake after a visit to the Cathedral or a walk around the local area.

The sandwiches were a cream cheese with salmon and cucumber, a lovely ham with wholegrain mustard and a very fresh egg mayonnaise. We had three fingers of each flavour for a total of nine, served in a mix of light wholemeal bread which was soft, fluffy and have a very delicate flavour.

The scones on the second layer were light and fluffy, but not crumbly and still slightly warm – delicious! Served with a pot of clotted cream and home made jam. The jam was a great consistency!

The top layer was a very impressive selection of mini cakes, including macaroons, welsh cakes, chocolate eclairs, tiny lemon cupcakes, a good sized traditional Victoria sponge and a real treat of a fresh strawberry coated in white chocolate each.

The traditional china tea pot was wonderfully weighted and the tea piping hot, but it was just a few tea bags in there rather than loose leaf, which really is the only area I could suggest for improvement.

The staff were so friendly and accommodating and asked about any dietary requirements or changes we wanted made so I’m sure they’d be happy to customize it if you wanted to change something. They all seemed to be smiling and enjoying their working day, which is always a good indication. We were offered a top up of our tea but honestly didn’t need it, as we managed to squeeze 6 tea cups out of the pot, which was plenty for us.

I was pleased to see that a voucher for Afternoon Tea for two here was available – this would make a really lovely treat for a birthday, Christmas, Mother’s Day or other special occasion.

If you’re an Afternoon Tea fan like me, you might want to look at some of my other Afternoon Tea experiences such as

• Amazing Afternoon Tea at The Deck, Cardiff Bay
• Budget Afternoon Tea at Wyevale Garden Centre, St Mellons
• Romantic Afternoon Tea at The Exchange Hotel, Cardiff Bay
• Cosy Afternoon Tea at Jasper’s Tea Rooms, Llandaff

If you’ve had Afternoon Tea somewhere else in South Wales and would recommend it, please let me know and I’ll add it to my must-visit list as I love receiving personal recommendations!