Anteaques

The 2013 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

This review is taken from the current (2013) edition.

Anteaques is to tea drinkers what Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory is to small children. A smell of floral blends wafts between rows of tin caddies filled with weird and wonderful concoctions for the teapot. Forget lunch and savoury snacks, you won’t find them here. This is a place for seriously savouring a cuppa, from chocolate and cherry tea to chilli chai. With 80 different brews to choose from, and each one lovingly described, you will spend a pleasant half hour perusing the menu alone. Even the freshly baked cakes pay homage to the revered drink. Scones are made with dried fruit pre-soaked in tea and a sweet brioche bun is flavoured with green tea. All this is served on vintage china and silver cake stands. The atmosphere, however, is not formal. Tables with white cloths are packed in to the quirky interior alongside the antique trinkets, crockery and fur coats for sale, and the staff are unobtrusively familiar.

• High point: An afternoon tea treat with a difference
• Low point: No toilets