Since the Food Show moved to WGSO 990AM (weekdays live 2-4pm) so many people have asked me about The English Tea Room we decided to pay another visit there.
This is an adorable place in a house in downtown Covington. Very British, what you don’t expect is that the owners are from Texas and Louisiana. Tim’s ancestry is UK all the way, but Jan is a girl from Cajun Country. These two are fascinating to talk to whether it is about Tim’s history of home renovations, or Jan’s passion for blending tea (there are 225 on the tea menu)
The food on the menu is the real deal. Tim’s mom is from Scotland, so the Shepherd’s Pie and Scotch Eggs and Ploughman’s Lunch are all a better version than what you would find in the UK. (Tim and Jan have spent their lives in these parts, and the UK is not known for its food.)
If you’re not likely to make it to the Uk anytime soon, this place will suffice. The feel is very British, the style is British, and the food is really very British. I actually prefer the scones here to the nes at my favorite retailer on earth, Fortnum & Mason,
(the Queen’s emporium of choice since 1707.)
The English Tea Room is luckier than most in these times, because they have outdoor space aplenty. The front porch, side porch, other side porch, and back garden can socially distant customers with the best of them. Inside are little nooks and crannies that separate diners.
We dropped in for lunch and were quickly reminded that this is a new world. Empty tables must remain empty. They were gracious enough to find a cranny whose reservation wasn’t till 1:30.
I originally wanted a breakfast of Scotch Eggs, (which I learned is a picnic item in Britain) but settled on a quiche because I can never resist a quiche. We will have to go back so I can try the Ploughman’s Lunch and other things I have had in pubs.
Tom got Eggs Benedict and became oddly enthusiastic about the tea. Overwhelmed by choices, he left it to our clearly British waitress, who was actually from Aberdeen Scotland.
Quite a lovely girl, she was most helpful in choosing two separate blends for Tom, the latter really interesting. Good interesting. The blend is called Mr. Darcy, and it has notes of dark chocolate and hazelnuts blended into the strawberry black tea. This is probably the only place I have had iced tea that I choose and have it iced down.
My quiche was small but had so much flavor that it was the perfect amount. It was served with a fresh salad of mixed greens and a housemade dressing of Bleu cheese and Ranch blended with tea. Tom was smitten with this dressing, and asked more about it than he usually does about something.
He enjoyed his Eggs Benedict as well, but it seemed like a waste to me to order something like that here. Come to think of it, that would apply to my Spinach and Artichoke Quiche too. We’ll have to be more aware of that next time. At least we experimented with the teas, with happy results.
Jan mentioned that she had chocolate chips scones in honor of national Chocolate Chip Day, which was two days ago. But she couldn’t get the chocolate for the day so this was a belated but delicious tribute. I had to have one of these to join the tribute, of course.
And Tom had some vanilla scones with clotted cream and lemon curd that he raved about the whole way home.
Since there is a 14 day self-quarantine in place for London, they’ll be seeing a lot more of us at the English Tea Room in little Covington. It’s quite a lovely substitute.
