Date visited: Friday 13th May 2022
Porth is a small village on the eastern edge of Newquay and is home to one of the finer tea rooms in the area. A short distance away from Porth beach, Gwenna Teahouse has eight indoor and six outdoor tables for those wishing to take tea. The indoor seating includes usual dining chairs, some stools at a bar looking out through a large window, and in a separate smaller room a few easy chairs and a sofa.
The menu offers a reasonably wide choice of breakfasts until 11.30am, lunches from midday, and afternoon teas. On the morning of my visit there were six cakes and bakes on display at the counter. The beverages menu offered a short selection of teas as well as coffees, soft drinks and some alcoholic drinks.
I chose smoked salmon and scrambled egg, a slice of hummingbird cake, and a pot of green tea. It was pleasing that there was no scrimping on the salmon in the smoked salmon and scrambled egg. Hummingbird cake was a new confection for me and was described by the staff as being a carrot cake with banana, walnut and grapefruit. It was moist and fairly light, and an enjoyable combination of flavours. The green tea was served in an unusual angular teapot, for which a refill of water was offered and accepted. As is often the case, the green tea was not green in colour but retained all its flavour.
With this being a warm spring day, whilst the outside tables were busy, inside was quiet. In their few less busy moments the staff amused themselves by trying to guess what customers approaching the outside tables might order. Fortunately, their customer service was far better than the accuracy of their guesses.
For £15, the combination of good food, pleasant location and friendly staff felt good value for money.
