*gifted experience
Hey Owlets!
I'm back with another review for you today - this time it's afternoon tea at one my favourite places in the country. Rofuto is hands down one of the most incredible restaurants to visit in Birmingham, not just for the food but for the incredible view. The restaurant is on the 16th floor of the Park Regis hotel on Broad Street (about a 15 minute walk from New Street station, or change trains and it's 5 minutes to Five Ways station which is almost opposite the hotel). As if the view alone isn't enough, the restaurant is absolutely beautiful.
The afternoon tea is £25 a head or £35 with bottomless prosecco, which is actually bottomless unlike other places that claim this. I genuinely never made it to the bottom of my glass as it was always topped up before I'd gotten past half way, and the prosecco itself is very enjoyable (perhaps a little too much - Broad Street was swaying a little when I left!). By the glass it's £6.50, so the extra £10 is definitely worth paying if you enjoy a bit of bubbly!
The restaurant is pan-Asian and that theme carries through the whole afternoon tea, which I think is great. In place of the usual sandwiches, you have a selection of fish and vegetarian sushi as well as bao buns which is basically steamed bread with a filling - ours had coronation chicken and wow, they're tasty! We had a few vegans join us for the afternoon tea and this was no problem either, as they were served a special version of everything. In all honesty I was a little jealous of the vegan bao buns, as they were delivered to the table with mushrooms overflowing out of the sides.
The sweets continued the pan-Asian theme which I thought was very clever as it was almost like sweet sushi. My personal favourite was the "bumble bee" as I called it because of the coconut shard "wings" (centre of the photo above). The cartoon bee was a mango and coconut sesame roll, so it tasted just as great as it looked. All of the sweet offerings were fruit-flavoured apart from one; the round pink cake is a salted caramel and Kalamansi (don't worry, I have no idea what that is either) petit gateux. Considering my absolute obsession with chocolate and salted caramel, this was my least favourite. It's like when you've been shown all of these amazing fruit desserts, suddenly salted caramel doesn't hold the appeal that it did before. The afternoon tea also comes with two fruit scones and two plain scones, served with the usual jam and clotted cream, but taking more inspiration from the pan-Asian theme, there was also a pot of lemon grass curd which stole the show.
As much as I love afternoon tea, I never manage to eat more than half because it's so sickly (I love the idea of it, but in truth I'm much more of a savoury person), and that's where Rofuto's afternoon tea shines. This unique take on the classic is light and satisfies sweet cravings without being sickly, and for the first time in my life I didn't go home with leftovers. Without the scones, it's light and is more about taste than substance, but with the scones as well it becomes much more filling, and could easily be a late lunch option without being hungry again within a few hours of your visit.
As well as the great food, gorgeous surroundings and incredible view, I have to mention the staff as they're absolutely amazing. I realise it's their job to be attentive, but you can definitely tell if someone is being genuine or they're paid to be nice, and everyone who served us was friendly and kind simply because they wanted to be which made a wonderful experience even more special. When I visited I was actually suffering with a bad headache, and having given me directions to the nearest shop half way through our food to buy painkillers, our waitress made sure I had cold water and checked on me several times to see how I was feeling, which I really appreciated.
The final photo has to be of the stunning view over my favourite city, as this alone makes the restaurant worth a visit. If you like afternoon tea but you want something unique, or you're looking for somewhere for a special occasion, I honestly can't recommend Rofuto enough!!
Got an idea of where I should go next? Let me know in the comments below.
Love and Feathers,
The Owlet 💜
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