Date visited: Sunday 20th June 2021
The Old Thatch Teashop in Old Shanklin claims to be the best tea room & tea garden in the Isle of Wight, though it doesn’t face extensive competition for that title. It has three indoor rooms and two outside areas for those taking tea. One of the outdoor areas is adorned with a collection of fairy figurines and other trinkets, with advice not to wake the sleeping fairies. There is an extensive food menu, though only a relatively limited range of about six cakes. Although card payments are accepted, cash is preferred. On a sunny day at a time when overseas travel was restricted, the teashop was doing a good trade with many bookings, and not many tables available for customers that had not made a booking. The building’s thatched roof features a thatched teacup and teapot.
I chose a BLT sandwich, chocolate fudge cake and a pot of jasmine green tea, which came to a total of £14.15. The BLT sandwich was good and quite filling, and unusually included black pudding. It was also highly commendable that the tea was served with the tea bag on a separate plate, so one could brew the tea to ones own taste. Less enjoyable was the little pot of cream that came with the cake, which was very light, thin and frothy. The cake itself was an enjoyable chocolate cake with plenty of chocolate cream.
