Appropriately named
Annies sits in the narrow Old Bank Street, just off St Ann's Square in Manchester City Centre, a little spot of sparkling lights and gold highlights in a dark rainy street. It is a restaurant and a tea room, but I had never really heard much about it until recently, and so felt I should go along and investigate, booking a few days beforehand to reserve a table for Afternoon Tea on a Saturday afternoon. What could be better?
As we arrive, we walk into what I now know is the upstairs area, which is more of a casual cafe/tea room with classic and kitch tones to its decoration. A staff member welcomes me and after I explained we had a booking, she lead me downstairs to the main restaurant.
The main restaurant feels like a different kettle of fish. As it's a basement area, there are no windows, HOWEVER... this somehow works because of the clever placement of lamps, candles, fairy lights, and full wall mirrors, giving the place a curious and interesting night-time lounge feel, and due to the darkness behind the lamps, makes it feel like somewhere to explore. It also has some of the same kitch quirks from upstairs, including lights made from bowler hats and top hats, and classic plates on the walls. Owner Jenny has been quoted as saying she wants a "home from home" feel, which was ironically on the nose for us, as we were sat by a standing lamp which is the exact same one we have at home in our living room, and the same cutlery we have!
As our coats are taken and hung up, we are introduced to the host/manager who remembers me from booking with him over the phone, but much to his surprise he hasn't booked us onto the system, which he said was for no reason other than jokingly admitting "I'm crap", before leading us round to our table, which further to his confusion is bedecked in "Birthday Girl" banners and balloons. He removes them and leaves us with the Afternoon Tea menu and a drinks menu, but oddly not a tea menu, which is the main part of an Afternoon Tea!
After we get settled into the deep and comfortable armchairs, we're joined by a waitress to take our order, and who tells us the sandwiches that come with the Afternoon Tea, happy to replace some with others per our taste if need by, but she can't remember off the top of her head, and so dashes off to bring us the Tea list. The menu was nice, but not very clear about what the teas actually were, or who they were by; ie: "Palm Paradise (Flavoured Black Tea)", but it didn't explain what the flavouring is, this applies to the rest of the tea menu. I'm sure the other teas are delicious but I'd rather have a bit more detail about them before I have to decide, and time to look over them before my order is taken. As it stands, we order the Earl Grey. You can't go wrong with Earl Grey at Afternoon Tea!
The music playing varied between soft bluesy jazz numbers, Adele, and Robbie Williams. I imagine you can't go full "tea room" style in a venue like this, as it has a definite restaurant feel to it. The only thing about the layout I found strange is that the ladies were on the far left of the restaurant, and the gents on the far right, nowhere near each other. Also sadly, our table was right on the main "traffic route" to the ladies, but that can't really be helped.
Our Afternoon Tea is promptly brought out to us, and is beautifully presented, (but purists might sneer that the tiers are in the wrong order, with sandwiches on the centre tier! tsk tsk tsk!) ;).
The tea is delicious, but at this point we realise that the darkness of the venue makes it a little hard to see everything clearly, resulting in a couple of... shall we say "mis-pours"? But to be frank, the pleasant atmosphere and ambience was worth it. We started with the sandwiches, which were tasty, but lacked a little something, perhaps a chutney or something. The scones were absolutely perfect, very light and fresh, they split perfectly, and were lovely and soft. Maybe lacking a bit of fruit, but they were delicious so I don't care. The top tier was the cakes, which on this instance were a strawberry tart, a vanilla slice, and a small Victoria sponge. The sponge was lovely and light, and perfect for an Afternoon Tea, but as tasty as the other two were, they were a bit too big to be finger cakes, and we had to ask for a couple of forks (which resulted in two staff arriving at our table both presenting two forks at the same time!), the host delivering a great gag about us being "forking demanding" (ha!), but more than happy to oblige. The strawberry tart fell apart in my hands when I tried to take it from the cake stand to move it to my plate, so it was more of a "splodge" on my plate, but a very tasty splodge!
Overall the Afternoon Tea was very nice, and the tea was delicious, but in my opinion it was a bit expensive at £39.90 for two, considering what was offered, but I suppose that's to be expected from a City Centre venue, especially given the fashionable recurrence of Afternoon Tea.
As we pay, there's a hilarious moment when the waitress takes the card machine and walks around a bit trying to get signal. To be expected from a sub-ground area, but it must drive them mad having to do that all the time!
As we leave, the host/manager tells us that next time we should remember that we're meant to take the experience over a few hours, lounging and chatting, rather than just an hour. We were only visiting for a lunch break, but when we next visit, especially if we bring my parents or our friends, that's definitely some advice we will be considering! I can definitely see it being somewhere to take friends, family, or even have a party, works Christmas do etc.
Nice work, Annies! I'll come back soon, maybe just for a slice of cake and a brew in your upstairs tea room rather than the full Afternoon Tea, but let's not rule it out... that was a nice Afternoon Tea! But get that Tea List sorted, I'd love to try some of your other blends if I knew a little more about them, and who they're by!
Annies
5 Old Bank Street
Manchester City Centre
M2 7PE
(0161) 839 4423
http://anniesmanchester.co.uk/
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