Thursday, January 22, 2015

Tea & Sympathy


This is the time of year when comfort food is in order - and comfort food usually means food you ate as a small child.
English food in the 1950's was spectacularly bland - but excellent in parts.
Take bubble and squeak - a  mixture of cabbage and left-over mashed potatoes - fried of course.
Bangers and mash...and so on.
Luckily I'm within walking distance of Tea & Sympathy


a wonderfully retro cafe where these things are to be had.


To be washed down with copious cups of tea and followed by custardy puddings to fend off the cold and replenish the calories used up walking there.


It's always very crowded which attests to its appeal. The decor a mishmash of things British


rather heavy on royal memorabilia - so I get to see the coronation mug I managed to smash on the very day I was given it.


Nikky Perry, the owner, can be relied upon to have lots of opinions vociferously aired - currently the fact that proper English Cadbury's chocolate is no longer to be sold in the US. See all about it in The New York Timeshttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/24/nyregion/after-a-deal-british-chocolates-wont-cross-the-pond.html?ref=nyregion


Luckily the shop next door still has some in stock as well as sherbet fountains, Maynard's wine gums and large boxes of PG Tips and all the things much missed by us ex-pats.
A blessing indeed.


14 comments:

  1. Ohhhh...I remember this place in NYC although I don't remember food being served there. Real, warm custard...mmmm!

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  2. Oh what a lovely place !
    I just read that the chocolate on the Cadbury Easter Eggs (that I always have to buy one) has now been changed by Kraft who bought them.
    What a joke they buy something because of how good it is then change it to make money ?
    le sigh

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. You should hear Nikki ( above) on the subject!

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  3. Elizabeth, I can also vouch for the pleasures to be experienced during a stop at Tea & Sympathy. (Did I ever tell you that I actually was given one of their cookbooks? I can vouch for the shepherd's pie recipe.)

    Rotten news about Cadbury's. Maybe this will somehow help me cope with my Lenten chocolate avoidance just around the corner.

    xo

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  4. Elizabeth, I can also vouch for the pleasures to be experienced during a stop at Tea & Sympathy. (Did I ever tell you that I actually was given one of their cookbooks? I can vouch for the shepherd's pie recipe.)

    Rotten news about Cadbury's. Maybe this will somehow help me cope with my Lenten chocolate avoidance just around the corner.

    xo

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  5. What a lovely post Elizabeth and what an interesting place - so un-American and indeed un-British these days - more like when we were kids. I love the look of it. Just as I love bubble and squeak!

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  6. Ooh bubble and squeak :-) Perhaps I need to open something like this in 'kech?! I'm not sure the French would approve. Your coronation mug story makes me sad Elizabeth.

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  7. I like the mugs and cups. Nice place!

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  8. A taste of home. I would really miss British chocolate, even if the EU doesn't think it has enough cocoa in it!

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  9. Am so jealous...this was once my home from home ..... Nicky give lots of tea & sympathy over the years and Welsh Rarebit and introduced me to Rupert Everett and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy!!

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  10. A fun place. Looks like the waitress in first picture is not sure about having her picture taken! No Cadbury's in New York - not good.

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  11. I'll be sure to pack a stash of australian Cadbury's chocolates if I go a-travelling across the seas! It's a good thing to remember it seems. I think I'd suffer withdrawals without my Cadbury's!
    Love the retro cafe - what a place in NYC!

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I look forward to hearing from you!