If you are looking for a special afternoon tea in the area, you can’t get much better than sitting atop of an iconic building with the Quayside laid out before you. SIX at the Baltic occupies the top floor for lunch, dinner and Afternoon Tea.
Taking in the majesty of the views from the bar seating, the dining room or even the ladies bathroom, you instantly feel fancy stepping out of the lift at SIX. After some confusion with the staff over the table, we headed to the comfy sofas in front of the picture frame windows looking out across the bridges and the bustling Sunday market.
After a chat and a bottle of a good local beer, we were seated for our afternoon tea. Poor Paul was stuck with both Mothers and me, he didn’t get a word in edgeways! With 4 pots of tea ordered, we settled down and waited for the main event – the cake stand! This was torturous as other tables were ordering from the main menu and we had to watch their delicious mains coming out and boy did they look good. At £16.95 per person, we felt that it sat slightly lower on the price scale of some other city venues but this was by no means reflected in the quality of the food. The views could easily have added a premium.
The stands came with the usual pomp and ceremony and sadly this is where I feel the quality of the service slipped.
The food was perfect and to the high standard I had expected. The sandwich fillings were moist and flavourful and the scones were fluffy and top notch. The cakes were decadent and would satiate the very sweetest of sweet tooth’s. The rhubarb on top of the Pannacotta was tart and mouth-wateringly juicy. My personal favourite was the green Apple Crumble macaron, I could have very easily substituted the rest of my cakes for just one more of these delicious green gems!
The Rhubarb Pannacotta was a little unwieldy to get out of the shot glass as small spoons hadn’t been provided and the waitress never returned with one on prompting. Never to be defeated, we just used the end of our teaspoons!
The dining room had really started to empty out now, with only a few other tables taking afternoon tea. With that said, our waitress sadly kept forgetting to bring us the extra pots of tea we had ordered and kept asking about. After waiting almost 20 minutes, we managed to flag someone else down to ask about our teas which then sat on the edge of the bar waiting to be delivered. The wait staff were all very occupied putting goody bags on a table for a party which is all fine and well, but the priority is to serve the customers you currently have, right?
Thankfully, as this was a laid back and relaxed afternoon tea as a belated Mothers Day treat for both of our Mams, they weren’t too bothered by the wait and we will all most definitely be coming back for lunch!
During the month of April, you can receive 50% off all A la Carte main courses at SIX- hurry up and bag a bargain!
You can read our other food reviews HERE