I’ve recently seen a lot of internet chatter about Mimi’s Bakehouse in Edinburgh. I mentioned on my Facebook that my boyfriend and I were going to try afternoon tea and got a lot of positive feedback from friends. Plans firmed, we booked afternoon tea for today at 2.30.
I’m glad we booked – it was very very busy! People waiting in a pretty long queue for a table but as ours was reserved we waltzed right in. Might have got a few sneers but who cares eh?
We received a warm welcome and after checking our names they showed us to a nice seat right next to the main window. Great for people watching and getting a view of the place, bad for photos! So apologies if the lighting in some of the photos is a touch wonky.
After sitting for a few moments and getting comfy a server came over and confirmed we were looking to have the afternoon tea. We chose our tea (winter berry for me, an Earl Grey Darjeeling infusion for boyfriend) and settled down to look at the place. Firstly, it was VERY busy! And as a result, pretty loud. I don’t know why but I suppose I expected it to be quite quiet and understated. It definitely wasn’t. Though the fact it was busy is a testament to it’s charm and the quality of both the food and the staff.
The tea arrived and we let it sit while taking a few shots of the table.
The tea I ordered was delicious. Very spicy and full of orange. Sadly boyfriend didn’t enjoy his tea as much – it was very bland and he couldn’t taste either Darjeeling or Earl Grey. Very disappointing.
We waited about ten more minutes for the food to arrive, during which we were tempted by the early arrival of the cream and jam… As it sat taunting us we had a look about at the surroundings. There was a huge sideboard with kitchy baking items and knitted cupcakes (very cute) and baking utensils hanging from the walls.
Soon our food arrived on a very cute cake stand with tiers of sandwiches, tray bakes and small cakes and scones. We started with the sandwiches. They were advertised as ham and mustard, smoked salmon with cucumber and lemon and egg with cress mayo. Sadly we didn’t get any ham sandwiches but were certainly compensated with the addition of more salmon sandwiches.
We debated whether the bread was homemade or not. I suspect it was because it looked quite rustic and doughy. The sandwiches were absolutely gorgeous. The salmon tasted very fresh and the egg and cress tasted tart. You could really taste the cress which isn’t always the case with it in sandwiches. They were very dainty with the crusts cut off – perfectly designed for afternoon tea. There were 6 salmon sandwiches and 4 egg and cress. Just the right amount.
The next item to be tested was the scones. There were two each – a plain and a spice and sultana one. And we’d received clotted cream and fresh, homemade raspberry jam with our tea.
The scones were delicious. Very crispy and buttery – just the way I like them. In fact, looking back, I couldn’t fault them. They were exactly as I’d like my scones to turn out. The jam was lovely and runny too which just the right amount of tartness.
The last tier for us to tackle (we were actually feeling pretty full already!) was the traybakes and small cakes. There was Mimi’s famous Aero Mint Tray bake, a mini cupcake with rich chocolate buttercream swirled on top, a raspberry chocolate fudge brownie and a meringue pavlova with fresh cream and fruit.
The first one I tasted was the mini cupcake (of course…)
There was a Mini Egg on top, the buttercream was chocolate and the base was vanilla. Sadly I was pretty disappointed (as was boyfriend). The egg had obviously been sitting and the shell has lost it’s crispiness and was chewy, the buttercream was very overpowering (and there was too much of it) and the base was very tasteless. I was surprised as I’d had very high hopes for it. The buttercream actually made me feel quite sickly as it was so chocolatey.
The next item I tried was the Aero Mint Tray Bake.
Now this more than made up for the disappointing cupcake. I couldn’t have enjoyed it more. It was a tiffin base with a layer of minty chocolate and chopped up mint Aeros on the top. It was crispy and rich, without being sickly. I loved it and could easily have eaten a larger piece. Boyfriend enjoyed it too and liked the new take on the tiffin concept.
Next up was the brownie.
This photo was actually from the full size ones at the bakery bar because I forgot to take one of it on the stand. The brownie was lovely but could have done with a bit more chocolate. Interestingly boyfriend thinks it could have done with less time in the oven and I think it could have done with more. Such is differing tastes with brownies eh? I like mine quite cakey but he prefers his gooey. The raspberries were a welcome addition and brought it together quite nicely.
The last items were the fresh fruit Pavlovas (boyfriend’s favourites!)
They were just as pavlovas should be – crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. There was a raspberry and blackberry on top and some fresh fruit coulis. They were well piped and looked great as well as tasting fresh. Sadly as this was the last item I tried I couldn’t finish mine (never thought that would happen…) so boyfriend graciously helped. 
We were pretty full by this point. I even commented that whenever I go for afternoon tea it doesn’t look like a lot of food til you start eating it – then you realise just how much those wee plates hold!
I went up to the bakery bar where the waiting staff were getting cakes for the customers. They said they were fine with me taking some shots so I got up close and personal with the cakes on display.
Overall we’d go back – but not for afternoon tea. It was a very reasonable £13.95 each but there were far too many other gorgeous looking options to go back and neglect them. The gentleman on the table next to ours ordered their French Toast with Bacon and it looked incredible. In fact it’s pretty much what I’m going to have when I go next. Similarly when I went up to take photos of the cakes there seemed to be a lot of options that we didn’t get a chance to take advantage of. I had planned to take a cute cupcake home but decided against it when I realised just how full I was!
We also were given a loyalty card with our bill. Not sure exactly how much you need to spend to get a stamp but between our two teas we only got a single stamp. I’m sure we’ll make a damn good attempt at filling it up.
Like I said, we’d go back. But for cakes and coffee. We both appreciate a nice quiet atmosphere when having afternoon tea and the bustle of the bakehouse didn’t really offer that. But for a lunchtime cake or sandwich with a pot of tea you couldn’t go wrong.
