Metrodeco - Brighton

38 Upper St James St, Brighton, BN1 1JN
www.metro-deco.com

Written by Ceri Roberts

It’s always nice to discover a whole new meal that you’ve been missing out on, isn’t it?

And considering that just about everyone’s thoughts turn to biscuits at around 3pm, afternoon tea – complete with sandwiches, scones and cakes – feels like the ultimate indulgence.

Admittedly, it’s been a few years since afternoon tea first became popular – largely thanks to celebs like Kate Moss and Sadie Frost holding birthday parties and baby showers over tea and cakes in some of London’s swankiest hotels.

Unfortunately, afternoon tea in a London hotel costs upwards of £35 per person, which means it’s out of most people’s price range unless it’s a very special occasion.

So when we heard about the popular – and affordable – afternoon tea at Metrodeco, a 1930’s Parisian-style teashop in Brighton’s Kemp Town, we were keen to try it for ourselves.

Metrodeco is a stylish tea room that’s spread over two floors. All of the amazing art deco furniture, including chairs, tables and mirrors, is for sale – so you could pop in for a quick cuppa and come out with a fabulous leopard print armchair.

You can choose from 18 varieties of besopke blended tea, and even buy some extra to take home with you. And then there are the cakes. The amazing cakes.

We skipped lunch to make sure that we were able to do justice to our tea – and it’s a good job that we did.

We were presented with a towering display of food and started off with a selection of generously filled mini rolls: smoked salmon and cream cheese, ham and mustard, egg and cress and cheese and tomato.

We then moved onto perfectly baked scones with clotted cream and jam – before starting on the selection of cakes and pastries: mini eclairs, pastel-coloured macaroons, chocolate torte and delicate fruit tarts.

The teas all sounded so delicious that it was hard to choose between them, but we decided to be adventurous and try the Graham Greene & Chocolate, a green tea blended with cocoa shells, and the vibrantly-coloured Pink Pride, a white tea blended with fragrant rose petals.

We spent a very enjoyable couple of hours sampling everything on offer, and the food was so irresistible that we even went home with a doggy bag. 

At £14 per person, the Mdtea afternoon tea is an affordable treat, and one we’ll certainly be going back to enjoy again.

Metrodeco are laying on a special afternoon tea for Mother’s Day: for £16 per person (or £21 with Champagne), you can enjoy afternoon tea with your mum, while a local jazz band plays in the background – and mum gets some flowers, too.

So why not treat your mum and earn enough brownie points to keep you going all year?