Crafty Cat Tea Lounge, Shrewsbury
I blame social media for a lot of things. I also adore social media. I’m its ultimate prey. Teetering on, addicted to it. Refusing to actually admit my addiction with the fear and realisation that I have a problem. How do you list under hobbies ‘your phone’ without sounding or feeling like your life is insufficient in some way? That sort of mind bending pressure in itself is something to blame social media for. I didn't actually intend this to get so philosophical about social media, so we’ll try to climb back out of this rabbit hole.
Before I started, my point around social media was supposed to dance around the pros and cons of social media and the food world. I love its impact as much as I can't stand it. It makes food entertaining, it draws people into the food world, stimulates people to cook more, to eat out more, to try new things and to enjoy and value food more. It's allowed businesses to shake their thing on a massive scale. It's allowed the smallest of businesses to show off what they do on the biggest of stages, but with that comes some pressure. A bizarre sort of hunt to be ‘the next big thing’ and to be the next big trend. It's no exaggeration to say that social media has the marketing power to fill your venue. It can literally make or break your restaurant, cafe, pub or whatever it is you're slinging.
There is temptation to chase every trend, to keep up with what people are scrolling through but here lies one of its pitfalls. Just like every social media post you make, the trends it creates become sort of throw away and will eventually get lost in the continuous chaos. You scroll through the sea of endless content, moments that peak your interest, moments that grow into a trend that you see over and over again in different guises. Largely you just keep moving, occasionally you stop and it makes you say to yourself, ‘I’m going to go there’ or ‘I’m going to try that’ From a business point of view, it's also created an ultimate place to ‘share’ creative ideas. It’s an ultimate source of ‘inspiration’. Great ideas are everywhere being taken, replicated, adapted and sent back out to the world and so it can become imperative to follow social media and to keep up with the ever moving trends.
It's a constant opportunity to get more customers through the door and I’m not saying there's anything wrong with that, it makes great business sense. My problem with all of this is that what it creates is a lack of diversity in our beautifully diverse food world. It squashes authentic inspiration and ideas, and just like the constantly throw away content on social media, the trends change and move like the wind. Where’s the substance behind everything? Where is the consideration behind why we do something? There’s a temptation to suddenly be doing something just because everyone else is, not because its the best way to go.
My case in point - sourdough. Suddenly everywhere has to be serving sandwiches open and on sourdough. Don’t get me wrong, sourdough is a wonderful thing but is it really the best bread for every sandwich and is every sandwich best served open? I’m not sure, like so much of the food world, there needs to be a certain level of time and place for everything. For me, that is where the foundations of good food lies. It's in the understanding of time and place and largely of restraint.
There is definitely a sort of ‘trendy’ blueprint for new openings appearing. These days anyone can spend a couple of days on pinterest or scrolling through Instagram and create mood boards for the greatest interior design without the need to splurge on an extremely expensive designer. A look for your venue that isn’t born out of your own vision but merely out of what you think ‘looks good’ from an endless amount of examples and other people's work that you’ve scrolled through. Nothing based on your own authenticity but instead, an average summation of everyone else's ideas and with it we start to lose authenticity, uniqueness and diversity. Places can start to feel very much the same as each other, the same formula, the same presentation, the same spotify playlists, slightly tweaked so as not to appear a complete copycat. The Scandi styled, holistic health centre chill out, waiting room vibes, with a sea of laptops from remote workers, serving green milkshakes masquerading as coffee that taste closer to a pile of grass cuttings than anything enjoyable. But it's all the trend so buckle up and chug it down your gullet…..YOU MUST ENJOY IT……
Hitting that ‘instagrammable’ brief will without question make your venue popular but as with so many of these trendy joints, when you look underneath, something is missing, there’s a lack of substance. Something is missing and a lot of the time, it’s what I always see as the base of good food. Some old school love, care and attention with plenty of authenticity from the creator.
This is where the crafty cat tea lounge comes into its own. Its kitsch wall paper, tea room vibes and knitted cats all surround a core that is set around love, care and attention for both the food and each and every customer. A determination to give each customer everything they want. To treat them like royalty. Not simply to create a following on social media or to follow trends but to demonstrate care and attention towards their customers and to do what is right when it comes to the food. This is surely what hospitality is all about and Crafty Cat Tea Lounge has it in bucket loads.
It’s a consistent approach; I’ve eaten here a few times now and every single time I am blown away by all the small things they get so perfectly right. They don’t attempt to step out of their lane with outlandish flavour combinations but prefer to focus on seasoning things right and nailing each item on their menu. A menu packed with familiar favourites all delivered with a beautifully balanced generosity. They make just about everything on site. The seasoning is always just right and enjoyable. Their flavours sit in the crowd pleasing lane and never stray. You’ll always find a delicious, regularly changing soup served with a breathtakingly good home made cheese scone on the side. The sandwiches are filling focussed, without being overbearing and always in good bread, not sourdough, because lets face it, despite what social media wants us to believe, sourdough doesn't make the best sandwich bread (there, I said it again!). Crafty Cat Tea Lounge is all about showing respect for their ingredients not just in preparation but also in storage. It feels as though, the moment an ingredient arrives on site, it's placed on a felt cushion and given its very best life possible. From the bread to the fresh vegetables, you can sense the care and attention.
Looking after these small details, so often overlooked or uncared for, is what makes all the difference to the quality of your finished product. This is exactly what Crafty Cat does so well. This approach of care and attention spreads into their attentive service, communication from kitchen to customer is fantastic, expectations are really well managed and it all adds to a really comfortable experience. No shortcuts, it's a focus on customer experience and just about that consistent care and attention.
I can't possibly write about this place without mentioning their afternoon teas. The show stopper, the centrepiece, the main attraction, the masterpiece, whatever you want to call them. There’s an audible gasp when they bring one of these ornate wonders out of the kitchen. I can’t tell you the amount of work that goes into putting one of these afternoon teas together. Everything, short of the bread, clotted cream and locally sourced artisan macarons is made from scratch, the sandwiches and fillings are carefully selected and always sourced as locally as possible with a constant consideration thats more rare than you think in this day and age. On arrival the sandwich fillings are proudly announced. Local organic eggs, locally sourced high quality sliced ham - more care and more attention to the details. I give myself an internal high five when I hear the words ‘cucumber sandwich’. A selection of cakes, all homemade. Of course there's a homemade scone, sitting beside some seriously sensational homemade jam and clotted cream - the ultimate and if we're being honest, only cream choice for a scone. Scone or S-cone, jam first or second, it's all irrelevant when the quality is this high but of course forever the voice of reason I had one half jam first, one half jam second. A few locally sourced, artisan macarons add a little ooh-la-la. A choice to add something extra but carefully sourced to make sure they live you to the Crafty Cat’s own standards. It's important to point out that both myself and my wife are gluten intolerant. They do a gluten intolerant friendly afternoon tea without any compromise. This is one of the most dietary intolerance friendly and inclusive cafes in Shrewsbury.
The loose leaf tea is fantastic, I keep forgetting to ask what tea it is they use. I can easily envisage the decision of which tea to use was not taken lightly. A careful process of testing to select the right one. It's always generously strong but never stewed. Its loose leaf, not bags. Loose leaf tea always adds a little theatre especially when served in an ornate tea service as with the afternoon tea. Which really helps to make you feel a little more like a well off Georgian trying to climb the social ladder. If you aren’t having the afternoon tea, the tea arrives in the most generous of tea pots, more bucket with a spout and handle and with a built-in filter. Like everything here, it's a show focussed on your experience first and foremost.
You can’t go wrong with this place. It’s crowd pleasing food made with passion but more importantly endless amounts of care and attention. It's generous in all the right ways with the warmest of welcomes and fantastic service. It's simply great food, done well and you will find a huge amount of consistency, high quality consistency with an abundance of care and attention to even the smallest of details. You can take as many minimalist, chill out vibes with fancy Parisian styled flaky pastries as you want; in my opinion, authenticity, love, care and attention should be the only trend we should all be celebrating and the one we should not allow to die out!
It's important to point out, if you want to go for the afternoon tea, and you really should, you do have to book in advance, otherwise the regular menu is available all the time! They also take large bookings for private parties, so for whatever reason, gather a troop, book the afternoon tea and let Sally and the team take care of you in the wonderful way that they do and in some even more exciting news, they have just started doing takeaway afternoon teas! Imagine the scenes sitting in the Quarry Park on a sunny afternoon enjoying one of their afternoon teas? I’ll see you there!
