My friend Sarah sent me a text the other day telling me that she was in a really nice tearoom in Petersfield called Madeleine’s Kitchen eating a lovely quiche and that I simply must try it – Madeleine’s Kitchen that is, not the quiche đ
So of course off I trotted a couple of days later with Geoffrey in tow. When I first arrived I realised it couldn’t be the same place as they only had one large table in the window. I soon realised that this was their deli’ on one side of Lavant Street, just along from Annie Jones Restaurant and the larger tearoom was across the road within One Tree Books, an independent bookshop.
There were three members of staff who all greeted us warmly. I asked about a couple of things on the specials menu ie., was it three different soups or one đ – it was three. And what on earth was/is ‘Pissaladiere? It’s a pizza.
The menu was slightly different to other places, it had a kind of Mediterranean feel to it with plenty to choose from.
I ordered a flat white for myself (which was very nice) and one of the two quiche’s of the day. Geoff had a black Americano (which was a little too strong for his liking) and Coronation chicken sandwiches with a sausage roll on the side.
As we were the only diners and there was no music – it being a book shop I guess – it was very quiet and I did feel that I could be heard chewing and swallowing. Eek. Apparently when my friend visited, the place was full.
My quiche, bacon rocket & tomato was served hot with three salads, rocket, a chickpea salad and coleslaw. It was all very nice.
Geoff enjoyed his meal too adding that the bread was very fresh.
We each had another coffee with our cakes, both flat whites this time, and it was hard to chose which cakes to have so we decided to take home another cake each for later.
To eat in I had the raspberry bundt – never heard of it before, it’s German but after Googling it I recognised it, it’s normally a larger cake in the shape of a ring – which was very nice although it could have contained more raspberries. I think I found two, so slightly disappointing on that front. It was fresh though with nice icing on top.
Geoff went for the Pasteis de nata, or Portuguese tart which is like a custard tart but much nicer.
To take home, and I thought this was the best, was the lemon curd mini sponge with pistachios on top (I don’t recall the correct name for it). That was delicious.
The chocolate cake, again I don’t recall the correct name, was also very nice, almost like a brownie.
As I mentioned previously the staff at Madeleine’s Kitchen were very friendly indeed, attentive and helpful with the menu and going though all the cakes. We popped back over to the deli’ afterwards just to have a quick look and they sold the salads and quiches there amongst countless other goodies so that’s worth a visit too. I noticed Little Bee Bakery dropping off some items as we were leaving. We reviewed some of their cakes way back in 2009 plus I’ve seen them in Chococo in Winchester too.
There’s nowhere to put bicycles so it’s no good for when on a ride but when visiting Petersfield by other modes of transport then yes, we’d be more than happy to return.
Ambience 7
Value 7
Service 9
Quality 8
Return? Yes
Overall score of – 7/10
Living life, loving cake
A x