A friend and I tried the afternoon tea at this café. Unlike most places, The Bicycle Café has a Dutch theme to their food and that includes the afternoon tea. As a result, the sweets were not sweet, which was a nice change.
Booking for afternoon tea is on line and you have to secure with a credit card. If you have to change or cancel your booking you have to do so by midnight the night before your booking or your card will be charged a convenience fee.
When we arrived at the café my name was on one of the tables so we knew exactly where to go. The menu outlines what is provided and you can choose which tea you want to drink or you can have an alcoholic beverage. I tried the pear cream fruit tea and it reminded me of drinking cream soda when I was a child. My friend tried the Kyoto Cherry Rose organic green tea and really enjoyed it.
The sandwiches were on the larger side for what you might typically get with tea but they were light and flavourful. I especially liked the maple smoked salmon and cream cheese. The scones were on the smaller side and very light also and were perfect to leave room for the last tier of goodies. The boterkoek, Dutch butter and almond cake, was delightful and not sweet. The speculaas are a lovely shortbread type cookie. The mini stroopwafels were just the right size to add the last little bite of delight.
At $45 a person the tea isn’t the cheapest one I’ve had, but it was definitely of high quality. It is only available Monday to Friday and there is a gluten free option if required.
The café also serves other meals and I’m sure we’ll be back at some point to try them and maybe indulge in some of the baking as well.
I enjoyed the pear cream tea so much I went to Covent Garden Market a few days later and bought myself some at The Tea Haus which is where the café gets their teas.
As the name would indicate, the café has a bicycle theme and you can purchase bikes and associated accessories here as well as get your bike serviced. If you don’t arrive on two wheels, there is a pay and display parking lot across the road from the café at Ivey Park. The café has a large patio out front with long picnic tables.
Open daily from 9:00 am to 9:30 pm.
320 Thames Street, London, Ontario N6A 1A5
226-667-9743
https://cafe.londonbicyclecafe.com
