Bournemouth Marriot - Gluten Free Afternoon Tea

For many people, the highlight of the past week will have been a mixture of Thanksgiving and 'Black Friday'. The latter, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a day on which thousands of people queue outside shops for hours on end in the freezing cold, before beating each other to a bloody pulp as they try to grab key items such as TV's at dropped prices before the person standing next to them.

For me, however, the highlight of my week was a far more civilised experience, courtesy of The Marriot Hotel in Bournemouth, who invited myself and fellow gluten free blogger Vicki (The Free From Fairy) to try out their brand new gluten free afternoon tea! Ohh, the excitement was through the roof, I can tell you!!

On arrival, we were given the option to sit by the window or in a HUGE separate room that we could have all to ourselves...since it was too dark by then to see the beautiful view, we opted for the separate room, and once seated were able to choose our tea. Assam for me, Early Grey for my sister, Peppermint for Vicki and a coffee for her husband. There were a LOT of options so there's something for almost everyone. When the tea arrived, there was a real sense of ceremony, as the length of brewing time for the leaves was set with the help of egg timers - one for the peppermint and another for the black teas! Perhaps unnecessary, but it was a quaint, fun little addition we all thoroughly enjoyed.

But, of course, what you want to know about is the food! Well...how about this:

So...what you're seeing here is three separate platters of sandwiches, all gluten free, and then broken down further into dairy free, vegetarian, and a mixed selection for the meatosaurs. On the tiered cake stands, there were fruit and plain scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam; then chocolate and raspberry brownies, rocky road brownies, lemon and white choc eton mess, raspberry eton mess and thin slices of 'almond, peanut and caramel tort' (that were clearly Almondy tarts, but still very good).  As you can see, there was a LOT of everything!

The sandwiches were filled rolls, cut in half. As a veggie, I was worried my options would be limited, but I was provided with tomato, cucumber, egg, and cheese. The rolls were dense but very nice, and there were MASSES of them!! The scones were beautifully flavoured. They hadn't risen very well (except the ones that were also dairy free, for some reason!?), but my goodness they were good!

Everyone agreed though, that although the chocolate and raspberry brownies were tasty (that perfectly gooey texture reminiscent of raw cake dough. Yum!), the real hero was the raspberry eton mess. A marshmallowy, sticky, thick Italian meringue (I think), layered with tart raspberry coulis, and finished with a tiny spear of milk chocolate, it was so incredible that we each had two of them! I'm afraid the pics didn't come out too well, but here's a close-up:

I'm ashamed to say that we didn't manage to eat it all, but the staff are kind enough to provide small, compostable, cardboard boxes so you can take home any leftovers (with the exception of the shot glasses of eton mess, of course!).

After eating until we couldn't move, the executive chef, Matthew Budd, joined us so we could talk to him about his policy on providing allergy-friendly food, and sustainability. We were all  impressed with his dedication, which sees him attempt to offer foods free from as many of the 13 known allergens as possible, and also replace gelatine with vegetarian alternatives wherever possible. Fellow coeliac vegetarians will appreciate what a rare gem that makes him and his team!

Priced from just £16, the Marriot have not only answered the much-asked question of where a coeliac can find a really great afternoon tea, but also where they can get it at a reasonable price. For that, I really cannot thank them enough and I'm already plotting a second visit! Book now, because I have a feeling that once word gets out, they'll book up fast!