Halladay's Tearooms, Southampton - Review

Oooh, what have we got here? A new blog series, huh? If you've ever read any of my Sick Tings posts you'll know that I'm very partial to a cream tea and have had a fair few in my time. I like to think that I'm quite the expert at judging what a good cream tea is and isn't so thought I'd impart this wisdom on the internet. My goal is to find the best cream tea on the south coast documenting it along the way. The current judging criteria are; taste, clotted cream quantity, price, aesthetic and location. Essentially, I'm going to try a whole load of different cream teas in the name of research and report back on each one in a blog post, giving it a full review.

So, where better to start than right here in Southampton? I'd heard a lot about Halladay's Tearooms but had never actually been myself. That all changed this week when Toria and I decided to check it out for lunch. It's located in Bedford Place, and has the prettiest decor, but more on that later. The tearoom itself is very small, it holds less than 30 people, but thankfully we arrived just as another group were leaving so didn't need to wait long for a table. I had the Halladay's cream tea and Toria opted for the breakfast - both were delicious. 

Hallday's Tearooms, Southampton

Taste 

The most important feature: taste. The scones came out warm and were genuinely delicious. They were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and had a caramel kinda flavour. They were actually incredible. They were also fairly light (aka not stodgy at all) so I'm very glad I opted for two rather than just one!

Clotted Cream Quantity 

A deal-breaker, no? There's nothing more disappointing than a scone with a shoddy amount of clotted cream on it, so, this criterion is certainly one of the make-or-breakers for me. I can confirm that a very generous portion was provided that was more than enough for my two scones.

Price

I had the Halladay's cream tea which includes a pot of tea, two scones and costs £7.25. It also comes with lots of fresh berries and two pots of jam, so overall I would say it was a fairly good price.

Aesthetic 

An absolute top scorer on the aesthetic front. Everything in the tearooms is pastel coloured, the cream tea comes out on a two-tiered stand and the walls are decorated with pretty plaques. There are fresh tulips on every table and it's just a bit of an Instagrammer's dream, yanno? 10/10 for aesthetics.

Location 

As aforementioned, Halladay's is located in Bedford Place in Southampton and it's fair to say there isn't an awful lot to do around there, which could be a bit of an issue if there is a huge queue for tables. (They don't take bookings!) It's also about a 15 minute walk from West Quay, so not somewhere convenient to just pop into for a tea after a trip to Primark. 

Overall, with all things considered, I rate the cream tea at Halladay's pretty highly. The food was delicious, the decor really pretty and it wasn't too badly priced considering!

Where shall I try next?

Have you ever been to Halladay's Tearooms in Southampton?