Breakfast At The Edensor Tea Cottage, Edensor
Published On Thursday 18 Jan 2024 by Sticky Beak
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The last day of our short break with friends had arrived and we were all loathe to say farewell. In order to eke out those last few glorious hours together, we’d booked a table for a late, lazy breakfast at somewhere His Nibs and I had been before and really liked: Edensor Tea Cottage.
Snow had fallen the day before and was still laying on the ground, so this (already) pretty village looked breath-takingly beautiful as we parked our cars close to the tea cottage. In keeping with the rural prints that adorn the venue year-round, were some great festive touches, such as a huge Polar Bear head that poked out from one of the deep windowsills. Twinkling lights, a tree and baubles completed the cheery, welcoming Christmas decorations and we looked at them appreciatively as we sat down at our table near to the roaring log burner.
All the venues on the Chatsworth Estate deliver great customer service, and so it was at this quaint Tea Cottage. Our server was a very pleasant young lady who chatted away amiably as she accurately took our order for food and drinks.
Edensor Tea Cottage offers both Breakfast and Brunch options; breakfast ends at 11.45am, whilst brunch finishes at 3pm – both menus offer a great choice, so there’ll be something for everyone. Bestie and I do like a cuppa in the morning, and we both love ‘proper’ tea i.e. loose leaf tea, so I had the breakfast one, she had Darjeeling (both £2.90). Ginger Ninja and His Nibs had Hot Chocolates (standard option is £3.30), with GN going the whole hog and adding whipped Cream and Marshmallows to hers (£3.90). The Bolton Wanderer had a black coffee (£3.20) and, with our food orders having gone in to the kitchen team, we settled back to savour our chosen refreshments.
Whenever we’ve been to the Edensor Tea Cottage it’s always been busy and it was on this particular day too, so I would definitely recommend booking ahead if you want to visit. Children are most welcome, though we didn’t see any on this occasion; so are dogs, both inside the cottage and also out in the garden area.
As per usual, we’d all been yapping away (as if we hadn’t just spent the previous 72 hours together!), so before we knew it our food was being placed carefully before us. Brown sauce and Tomato ketchup was also brought over, at the request of His Nibs and TBW who’d both ordered ‘The Works’ (a full English breakfast, £12). Bestie and GN both went for pancake stacks (£9.50) with Chilli Jam, Streaky Bacon and Maple Syrup on – Ninja swerved the Chilli Jam though. I went for the Eggs Royale (£10), a delectable confection of Smoked Salmon, free-range Poached Egg, and Hollandaise Sauce on Toasted Sourdough.
One of the things I like about the Edensor Tea Cottage team is that they list the local businesses they support by using their produce and, I know it’s cliché, but you really can tell the difference when you’re not eating mass-produced foodstuffs. The chaps both commented on how flavoursome the Bacon and Sausages were, and I have to say that the aromas wafting over our table were incredible. I was passed the slice of Black Pudding that had lain on The Mans’ plate, closely followed by the whole Field Mushroom; irritatingly, the grilled Plum Tomato didn’t make it to my plate - not as if I didn’t have enough to occupy me though! You can’t beat the rich, deep taste of well-made Black Pudding, and this particular one was gorgeous. Accompanying the breakfasts were thick slices of toasted Bloomer bread that had individual pats of butter thoughtfully placed on top of them to allow it to soften, making spreading it a lot easier. No-one likes struggling to spread butter, do they?
Next to me, BB and The Ginger One were chowing merrily away at their soft, comforting Pancakes and smiling as the sweetened morsels hit their tongues. The contrast of the crisp, crunchy Bacon against the fluffy Pancakes was great for stimulating the senses, as was the distinct difference of the sweet and savoury elements in this dish. You get a good portion too; the high stack of Pancakes was fully-loaded with several slices of Bacon, dripping with sweet Maple Syrup. A decorative swirl of Chilli Jam provided a lovely presentational touch as well as imparting a hefty dose of heat on the palate!
I, too, was a very happy birdie; my plate looked more than a smidge inviting. The bottom-most layer was a thick slice of toasted Sourdough that had the most magnificent crust on it; I do love that characteristic crust, but crikey, it’s a devil to cut into! Sat on top of this breadalicious treat was a deep layer of rose-pink Smoked Salmon whose silky texture and delicate flavour soon had my taste buds in rapture. A pair of the most brilliantly sunny-yolked, free-range Eggs perched delicately atop the Salmon slices, and the combination of their tastes was indulgence at its finest…and that was before I factored in the Hollandaise sauce. One of the wonderful things about Hollandaise Sauce is that, although it is rich and buttery and silky and scrummy, the inclusion of citrus just gives it a gentle sharp tang at the edge that brings balance to big, indulgent flavours. This was just the dish that called for Hollandaise, and the balance was exquisite in my mouth.
Visitors to Edensor Tea Cottage will know that they also have a selection of cakes, tarts and traybakes for you to takeaway too – yay! If you’re my friend, it’s a given that you’re a bit of a glutton and love food, so it was expected that we’d all be taking a sweet treat to have with a cuppa once we’d all got back safely to our respective nests. I wasn’t at the counter when everybody made their selection, so I can’t tell you what they had…but I can tell you that prices for our treats were between £3.75 and £4.50.
The total bill (including an extra black coffee and the takeaway treats), for the 5 of us, came to £88.65 which we all thought was more than fair, given the quantity and quality of the food and the level of service we’d received. Hot Wings happily given here again, to Stuart, Sarah and their marvellous team.
Edensor Tea Cottage is open 7-days-a-week, Mon-Fri 9.30am-4.30pm and Sat-Sun 9am-5pm. For more details on current offerings and to book a table, visit the website www.edensorteacottage.co.uk or give the team a call on 01246 582315.
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