Bettys Café Tea Rooms (York, 12/15/2010)

"Where Switzerland meets Yorkshire"



http://www.bettys.co.uk/bettys_york.aspx
 

Bettys* Café Tea Rooms has to be my favourite place to eat whenever I visit North Yorkshire, Englandia. This place is the British equivalent to Dottie's TRUE BLUE CAFE in my opinion. (Anyone know who the British Marilyn Monroe was?) To me, it's just not Christmas in Englandland without at least one trip to Bettys, and it has become a treasured tradition when visiting Greg** and Cindy Kipe around the Yuletide. (Does a Yuletide's ebb and flow depend on a December Moon?)

There are six different Bettys locations throughout Yorkshire: Harrogate, Harlow Carr (which is also in Harrogate), York, Little Bettys (also in York), Ilkley, and Northallerton. A few years back, I did the entire Bettys Tour in one week and ate at all six (we actually ate at both Bettys in York the same day for breakfast and lunch). The Bettys in York is one of the oldest locations and we had a late breakfast/early lunch there last week.

Their breakfast spécialité is a Swiss dish called a Rösti. This is made with "Grated potato (or potahto) and Gruyère cheese mixed with cream and fried until golden. Topped with grilled dry-cured bacon, grilled plum tomato (you say "tomayto", Bettys says "tomahto"), chestnut mushrooms and a poached egg." This is not your typical 'merican hash browns, believe me. Not only is the food first rate, but their selections of tea (hence the tearoom nomenclature) and coffee are also superb. Yes, coffee! Their coffee seriously puts St*rbucks to shame, and most of their teas are much better than Twinings (of London).
 


Both Cindy and I had the Breakfast Rösti; I just had mine without the dry-cured bacon (actually Cindy had my bacon and I had her grilled plum tomatoes ~ or tomahtoes). Greg went off-menu and ordered a Ham and Cheese Omelette with a side of chips (as this is England, that means French Fries). For hot drinks: I had Bettys Earl Grey Tea; Cindy had the Ceylon Blue Sapphire Tea; and Greg had the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee.
 




Now, I can review the Rösti in my sleep (and have dreamed of it many times) as this is what I normally order when visiting Bettys, but I did ask Greg and Cindy their opinions of their respective meals. Greg is as predictable as I am when ordering breakfast at Bettys and usually gets the Ham and Cheese Omelette and he has stated that this particular omelette is "one of the best he has ever had"; it must be the local Yorkshire ham that does it. Cindy liked her Rösti, she just wasn't as enamoured of hers as I always am of mine.

















Bettys Earl Grey tea is a great version of this classic tea blend. The first time I ever had Earl Grey tea (Спасибо, Мише!), I thought there was something wrong with it as I did not know the bergamot used to flavour it was supposed to taste that way. After many years of drinking it, it is now one of my favourite blends of teas. The Ceylon Blue Sapphire is one of their best teas, in my opinion; it is naturally light and sweet and really needs no added sugar (or cream/milk). The Jamaica Blue Mountain is not only one of their best coffees, it is one of the best coffees I have ever had; this is an unbelievable winner.
 


No additional hot sauces were needed (or requested) as Bettys offers a couple of different home-made chutneys: apple or tomato. They are both really very tasty, but the "tomahto" chutney goes great with Röstis.
 


If you ever find yourself in Yorkshire (any of the Ridings), do yourself a major flavour and visit Bettys (any or all of them)! It is not just for Christmas, this just makes it a nice thing to look forward to each year at the Holidays.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Breakfast Rösti ~ 8.2 (my rating), 7.0 (Cindy's rating; I think she just doesn't understand the intricacies of the whole Glen Bacon Scale); Ham and Cheese Omelette ~ 7.9 (per Greg's correct perception of the Glen Bacon Scale; he is male, after all, and gets these things); Bettys Earl Grey Tea ~ 7.5 (my rating); Ceylon Blue Sapphire Tea ~ 8.2 (my rating, apparently Cindy can not be trusted); Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee ~ 8.5 (again, my rating; this could easily be the Marilyn Monroe of Coffee and I couldn't entrust this rating to anyone else)


*(This is not a typo ~ or even a "Type P" ~ this is just how they spell the name of the restaurant, without an apostrophe for some reason, and it doesn't denote more than one Betty, I have asked. Someone needs to teach these Brits "kerrekt English speling".)
 
**(This "Greg" is by no means related to the "Greg" in the apocryphal "French Tomato Salad" story that I had related several months back. No, really, "Greg" made sure that I pointed this out.)