I felt reasonably excited to visit “Bill’s”, a (fairly wide spread) chain doing all day coffee, lunch and dinner, hoping it might be a less victim-of-its-own-success version of Carluccio’s. So in I went for morning coffee with a friend – all very civilised! We ordered a portion of scones, which gives you two scones (one each), cream and jam. In theory, ideal; in reality, very disappointing. I am not sure why it is that so many cafes make such appalling scones, but my best assumption is that the scones were frozen or made the day before, then microwaved to serve the described “warmed scones”. If not, they just make very heavy scones in the morning. To give Bill’s the benefit of doubt, perhaps they would be better if we have ordered them in the afternoon when scones are more traditionally ordered? Also, all the other customers were having a cooked breakfast, which looked lovely. On the plus side, the tea came in the largest enamel tea pot I have EVER seen and, like Mary Poppin’s bag, the tea kept coming out of the spout and I seemed unable to pour out every drop… All in all, maybe in the morning, pick Bill’s for a traditional breakfast and lots of tea, but not so much for the scones.
pistachioplum 