Late lunch and afternoon tea @ The Bridge Patisserie

baguettes & sandwiches, tea, coffee & smoothies

spinach, pea & mint soup

pork pie and salad

afternoon tea at The Bridge Patisserie

chocolates

Jill and Holly Maguire at The Bridge Patisserie

What was to be an afternoon in Winchester turned into late afternoon in Winchester due to dysfunctional public transport.

I did not wish to eat at the Crown and Anchor, as I had eaten there once and it was not good, though I can always be the eternal optimist and hope for the best.

I took a walk across the bridge as I knew there was a café beyond, and that was how I chanced upon The Bridge Patisserie.

At first I thought tea and cakes, as the name would suggest, but it is more a coffee bar, with additional seating.

Have you anything lunch wise, I asked hopefully?

There was little left, a quiche, a pork pie.

I settled on the quiche, then my eye caught soup, pea, spinach, and mint.

I asked was there any left?

Yes.

It was delicious, served with the last baguette and very neatly arranged on a wooden chopping board.

I regret I did not request the recipe.

I asked for the pork pie, with salad.

A salad was knocked up. The pork pie was from a local butcher. Local if Southampton is local. It was a real pork pie, not a factory pork pie. This too was served on a wooden chopping board.

The pork pie was quite large, I cut it in half and they gave me a box to take half away.

I had the place to myself, until a couple walked in and had afternoon tea and a cake.

I added tea and a cake. The cake was on some sort of almond base with fresh fruit on top and a few raspberries on the side. I am not a great cake fan and it was not really to my liking.

Earlier there would have been a better selection of cakes.

Everything served was fresh, they bake their own bread and cakes. They also had a small selection of chocolates, which I assume they had made.

The Bridge Patisserie is in two halves, a serving and baking area and a seating area. It appears to be two shops knocked into one.

The seating area had the original floorboards exposed. What I did not like was the table and chairs. They did not fit in with the general scheme of things, would have been better old heavy tables and chairs, for example as Café Mila in Godalming.

On the walls an art exhibition by Jill and Holly Maguire.

My one gripe, the location. Noise and pollution from the traffic on a very busy main road.

Afternoon tea or coffee and a cake for around £4-50, quality tea or coffee and cakes baked on the premises. Contrast with Costa, lucky if change from a fiver for poor quality coffee and factory cakes.

I am baffled why anyone chooses Costa when there are far far better indie coffee shops.

Fair trade? I assumed not as I saw nothing to suggest it was, and did not ask, but on their website says fair trade.

• The Bridge Patisserie – TripAdvisor

Tags: art, cakes, coffee, lunch, No to Costa, tea, The Bridge Patisserie, Winchester