High Tea

Why has this never arrived in N.Ireland, we get haggis, square sausage, etc, but never a high tea. We get afternoon tea with tiddly sandwiches, cakes and you come away still hungry. You definitely wouldn't with a high tea.

And just to throw this into the mix - I have, on a few occasions, been to a wonderful cake shop/bakery in Edinburgh which does a 'beforenoon tea'. It's a fantastic treat - set up on the same basis as an afternoon tea (which they also do), but you get lovely little mini bacon rolls, warm cheese scones with chive cream cheese, along with little granola pots and a selection of sweet treats too.

My Scottish in-laws always took us out for high tea as a special treat at a local hotel when we visited. As a Londoner found it strange to have cakes and pastries after usually fish or steak and chips. But then the High Street had more bakers than I had ever seen but not a single greengrocers. This was in the sixties before super markets came to the town. The morning rolls and tattie scones were a heavenly unknown delight to me.

paddyann54

jam pieces

Seriously paddyann? I don't believe you're a weegie.
It's jelly pieces wumman!

Blondiescot

And just to throw this into the mix - I have, on a few occasions, been to a wonderful cake shop/bakery in Edinburgh which does a 'beforenoon tea'. It's a fantastic treat - set up on the same basis as an afternoon tea (which they also do), but you get lovely little mini bacon rolls, warm cheese scones with chive cream cheese, along with little granola pots and a selection of sweet treats too.

Oooooh, I like the sound of that.

I always feel that a savoury afternoon tea would be a huge success if introduced. This sounds just what I envisaged.

Blondiescot would you mind sharing the name and address of the bakery please.

When I was young you had lunch midday and tea (main meal) in the evening. Except on Sunday of course. I was brought up on a council estate in north Kent by parents who were brought up in the east end of London. I think meals and what they are called varies very much depending where you are.

MawtheMerrier

Scotland and I am sure the North of England. Wakes too?
Yes, it is a knife and fork meal and I get incredibly irritated at people who refer to “posh” afternoon tea - the sort with dainty tiny sandwiches and cake stands of equally dainty scones and fancies, - as “high tea” !

I’m with you on that.

We were a typical working class Glasgow family. Breakfast was porridge or cereal such as cornflakes or eggs in one form or another.
Dinner around midday was perhaps mince and tatties or steak pie, peas and carrots followed by pudding usually with custard during the colder months or evaporated milk and tinned fruit in summer.
Tea at around 5:30 was maybe a pork or lamb chop or an egg or sausages with chips followed by fruit loaf, biscuits and cake.
Supper was maybe shortbread and warm milk or ovaltine.
We rarely ate out. Even our annual holiday was bed breakfast and evening meal in a boarding house in Morecambe or Arran.

However, maybe once a year we would be taken to the theatre and, joy of joys, to a tearoom where we would get High Tea. I always chose Lemon Sole with half a lemon and chips. There were cakes etc. to follow but for me the highlight was that perfectly cooked Lemon Sole with the sophistication of half a lemon to squeeze over it.

Esspee

Blondiescot

And just to throw this into the mix - I have, on a few occasions, been to a wonderful cake shop/bakery in Edinburgh which does a 'beforenoon tea'. It's a fantastic treat - set up on the same basis as an afternoon tea (which they also do), but you get lovely little mini bacon rolls, warm cheese scones with chive cream cheese, along with little granola pots and a selection of sweet treats too.

Oooooh, I like the sound of that.

I always feel that a savoury afternoon tea would be a huge success if introduced. This sounds just what I envisaged.

Blondiescot would you mind sharing the name and address of the bakery please.

Of course, Esspee - it's Mimi's Bakehouse. The original is down by the shore in Leith, but they have several others around the city now too, including one in Corstorphine. The website tells you where all their branches are.

Alioop

Why has this never arrived in N.Ireland, we get haggis, square sausage, etc, but never a high tea. We get afternoon tea with tiddly sandwiches, cakes and you come away still hungry. You definitely wouldn't with a high tea.

You obviously didn't see my post about my memories of high tea being served in Northern Irish hotels in my childhood in 1950s and 1960s. Was very normal then and, as I said in my post, something we always had in Kensington Hotel in Belfast before heading home to Fermanagh after a day at Balmoral show. I don't know when it ceased to be a thing.

Regional differences come into play so much and cause so much confusion - imagine how a foreign tourist must feel.

At school during Home Economics (East Midlands, late 60s) we learned that High Tea had to have a cooked element and Afternoon Tea was a daintier affair with triangular sandwiches (marks off for not trimming the crusts) with a slice of cake. To add scones as well would have been seen as rather decadent.

Mothers (mine was a Londoner) didn't agree with the above descriptions either. You can't please them all,

Never heard of it as you described. Can't imagine a main course with tea and toast!

Esspee

paddyann54

jam pieces

Seriously paddyann? I don't believe you're a weegie.
It's jelly pieces wumman!

Not at all, it’s ‘pieces an’ jam! ‘ , or maybe ‘jeely pieces’ at a push!

in 1938 we lived in London. On our way up to Scotland we stopped overnight in Harrogate and around five p.m. were served high tea. Soup, a large ham, cheese and all sorts of cakes and a pot of tea. We thought it was laid on just for us but were told it was the usual thing.

We had high tea whilst staying near Arbroath. It was local Arbroath smokie with salad and chips and then a huge trolley was wheeled out with sandwiches scones and cakes. Absolutely fabulous meal

I know here in Ayrshire a high tea is a selection of tiny sandwiches and miniature cakes, think shove in the mouth whole, not big enough to bite, with a hot cuppa. IMO very overpriced for what they are.
traditionally eaten late afternoon, 3-4pm, to tide you over between lunch and dinner, so only really designed to be a snack rather than a meal.

pooohbear2811

I know here in Ayrshire a high tea is a selection of tiny sandwiches and miniature cakes, think shove in the mouth whole, not big enough to bite, with a hot cuppa. IMO very overpriced for what they are.
traditionally eaten late afternoon, 3-4pm, to tide you over between lunch and dinner, so only really designed to be a snack rather than a meal.

That’s afternoon tea

I’m Scots and yes I think it’s a Scottish thing, I remember loving a high tea as a child. Generally served around 4-5pm and had instead of dinner. You’d have a main of fish n chips for example served with bread and butter and a pot of tea. Cakes afterwards. Never too much food and thoroughly enjoyed.
I’ve always felt that afternoon tea piggybacked onto the idea but just not quite the same!

Esspee

We were a typical working class Glasgow family. Breakfast was porridge or cereal such as cornflakes or eggs in one form or another.
Dinner around midday was perhaps mince and tatties or steak pie, peas and carrots followed by pudding usually with custard during the colder months or evaporated milk and tinned fruit in summer.
Tea at around 5:30 was maybe a pork or lamb chop or an egg or sausages with chips followed by fruit loaf, biscuits and cake.
Supper was maybe shortbread and warm milk or ovaltine.
We rarely ate out. Even our annual holiday was bed breakfast and evening meal in a boarding house in Morecambe or Arran.

However, maybe once a year we would be taken to the theatre and, joy of joys, to a tearoom where we would get High Tea. I always chose Lemon Sole with half a lemon and chips. There were cakes etc. to follow but for me the highlight was that perfectly cooked Lemon Sole with the sophistication of half a lemon to squeeze over it.

Gosh, your working class life and diet sounds very sumptuous compared to mine!

That’s what I was thinking, Riverwalk! An annual holiday sounds luxurious. I had three holidays in my entire childhood and a few weekends staying with friends. I didn’t go to the theatre until I was an adult, though we did go to the cinema.

I didn’t feel deprived, though, as many of my classmates were just the same or had much less than we did.

Doon the watter for us Espee ,Rothesay or Millport usually ,and it was always pieces n jam never jeelie in our house .We did go to the theatre though .my Mothers eldest brother worked behind the scenes in the costume department and my Aunt married into a theatrical family famous not just in Scotland but with great success across the world one of them was in films with stars like Judy Garland . Still in touch with some of them now .

I've long known that high tea, is very different to afternoon tea!
Due to the timings of when it is served it sounds like a mix of lunch and 'teatime' so a little like brunch is to breakfast and lunch. Maybe?

I had to prepare and serve a High Tea for my Home Economics exam in the 70’s. I remember doing a mixture of sweet & savoury dishes, I clearly recall making an egg & ham pie & cheese scones, I think I made butterfly cakes but can’t remember all the sweet stuff.
I do remember being in a bit of a flap trying to get it all done in the time but all turned out ok. Rather a lot of high carb food but I do love an egg & ham pie, not made one for years.

Paddyanne that wouldn't be the Logan family, would it?

Blondiescot thank you. We will make a trip to Leith once we get back from our trip north next week.

Riverwalk My dad was a foreman plumber in the shipyards so I suppose we had a better standard of living with the extra income. Even so my first 5 years we lived in a room and kitchen with a shared toilet under the close stairs.

I do love a high tea. A highlight in autumn & winter with the children was a walk along the beach at Elie or St Monan’s and then on to the 3 Craws at Anstruther for high tea. Fish‘n chips bread & butter, scones, squidgy cakes and tea. The place was always heaving and we sang ‘3 Craws sat upon a wa’’ all the way home. These days we are all more into Afternoon Tea with vicar’s sandwiches, savouries and dainty cakes with a glass of bubbly! I still eat my dinner around high tea time - better for the digestion