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Showing posts with label Rosie's bistro and patisserie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rosie's bistro and patisserie. Show all posts

Tuesday, 7 June 2011

Rosie's Bistro and Patisserie, Gosforth Shopping Centre, High Street

Who is Rosie, I wonder?  A Cooksonesque heroine?  'Brought up in grinding poverty by her mother, Rosie Halloran is the illegitimate daughter of the fabulously wealthy pit-owning Ritz family.  They own everything in the area, but fiery Rosie cannot be bought and determines to make herself a better life as a bistro owner.  Her business success brings her into direct confrontation with Sir Tetley Ritz - her father!'  Bit too caps and clogs?  Maybe she's more chick-lit?   'Rosie Whittard-Claridges lives a life of luxury where afternoon tea is served every day on tables laid with snowy white tablecloths, delicate bone china, silver cutlery and the finest teas, cakes and sandwiches.  When a misunderstanding with a Premier league footballer in a trendy London nightspot leaves her under the superest super-injunction ever, she flees to the north east to hide.  A chance encounter with a Rington's tea van decides her destiny.  Can Rosie, with only the help of her gay antique-dealer neighbour and her grandmother's cheese scone recipe, make the bistro work, find a footballer more interested in home games, and meet loveable characters who will rescue the reputation of the whole area? 
But enough of this - what about the cafe?
It's not often I venture into the wilds of Gosforth, let alone the shopping centre, but I'd seen Rosie's advertised and thought I'd check it out.  I suspect in a previous incarnation the unit was home to something a little less grand, but Rosie (or her representatives on earth) have transformed it into something fashionably dark. NO sofas that I could spot, only tables and chairs that appear to have been salvaged from an old chapel somewhere.  How do I know that?  They all have a ledge at the back to stow your hymn book and Bible.
If you sit right at the back as I did, you have a nice view over the park. I ordered tea and a scone, boringly choosing the English Breakfast tea from the extensive list offered.  The waitress (clad in black as all good waitresses should be) said 'two scones'.  I agreed and was pleasantly surprised when a dainty plate with a doily and two dainty cheese scones arrived with a tiny plate with real butter.  The tea was leaf tea in a little pot with a tea strainer and of course a dinky little milk jug.  I don't know who Rosie is, but she sure knows how to do afternoon tea!