Cuthbert’s Tea Shoppe at Dickens Fair

Tea: ☕️ ☕ ️
Food: 🍰 🍰
Ambience: 🌸 🌸 🌸
Overall rating: 💖 💖
Tags: historical, english

Reservations at Cuthbert’s Tea Shoppe in Victorian London (the Cow Palace in Daly City, for five glorious weekends) are a hotly sought commodity. Many attendees fight their way to the reservation desk early in the morning in hopes of snagging a slot. A little-known secret: Cuthbert’s also offers online reservations. To accommodate so many avid tea-drinkers, they run a large shop. They seem to struggle to handle the load — the separate entrance for those with reservations was not clearly marked, and one H.A.T.S. member, as well as a tea drinker in a neighboring party, were not brought tea until they requested it.

Afternoon tea is a set menu. Each tea drinker received a pot of black tea (brewed from a bag, but tasty) and added milk and sugar (unfortunately in cube form) to taste. Two small, plain scones were presented along with butter, lemon curd, jam, and clotted cream. The lemon curd was pleasantly tart, though the clotted cream was too airy. Sandwiches followed: cucumber, lox, watercress, and egg salad. These were plain (no dill in the cream cheese, for instance) but delicious. The quality of the lox was excellent. Crusts were not fully removed, though an attempt had clearly been made. The final course was a trifle of strawberry compote, shortbread, and vanilla custard. The ratio of ingredients was custard-heavy, though we enjoyed the combination.

Tea, scones and sandwiches at Cuthbert’s. Photos courtesy of Joy McWilliams.

The shop fits right into Dickens’ London, with Christmas garlands and period fashion plates festooning the walls. If you’re lucky, neighboring groups of tea drinkers will be dressed in Victorian attire, adding to the historical ambience. The afternoon tea includes a two-cup teapot as a souvenir.

Morning tea in the Dickens family parlor captures the ambience of the fair; Ilana heads to afternoon tea, dressed for the occasion.

Note that Cuthbert’s only operates during the Great Dickens Christmas Fair, in the weekends preceding Christmas.

Date attended: December 8, 2017
Attendees: Erica, Ilana & Marissa

Price/seat: $27
Location: Cow Palace, Daly City
Reservations: cuthbertsteashoppe.com (seasonal)